Thank you so much, Shannon. Those of you who have children that are pre-K through second grade, you may take them to kid's side if you wish, or you may stay here with us this morning at this time. I invite you to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 8. In the Pew Bibles, if you are using them, it would be page 985. Thank you, Joe Hepp, for leading our worship team this morning in John Tice's absence, and thank you, worship team. Thank you, John, for communion. Good time of worship. Appreciate that so much. It gets me ready to share with you God's word. Herbert George Wells, known by most people as H.G. Wells, was a prolific English writer. Wells was born in 1866 and died in 1946. Among some of his best known works were The Invisible Man, you may have seen the movie, The War of the Worlds, and The Time Machine. But Wells was also an active writer of short stories, and one of the stories that I have come across that Wells wrote is The Country of the Blind. It's an interesting story, and the story tells about an isolated paradise-like valley in the wild wastes of the Andes in the country of Ecuador. Seeking refuge from an evil Spanish ruler, Wells writes about a company of people who found themselves trying to escape this evil Spanish ruler and they worked their way through the wilds of the Andes Mountains, struggled and found themselves in the beautiful valley amidst the icy gorges of the Andes of that area. And they decided that they would settle in this valley. high up there in the mountains. But a strange disease suddenly came over their community, and it seemed to render all of the children blind. Even those that were born to them became blind. And in time, the community eventually became a community with no ability to see. A blind community. And then one day there was a stupendous volcanic eruptions high in the mountains that poured lava down and completely sealed off the valley from access to the outside so that no one could leave and no one could come in. But one of the original settlers of the valley had been out of that location, and after the volcanic eruption, could no longer get back to his home with the rest of the villagers. And before he died, he told to people who were around him outside of his home community, a story about his life in the lost valley of the country of the blind. And his story became legend. Then 14 generations later, a chance that a man from the outside world came to the Lost Valley. His name was Nunez and he was a mountaineer. One night after making camp with a group of mountain climbers that he was guiding, Nunez suddenly slipped on an icy spot that he didn't see in the dark. He slid down a long slide of ice and over a long high cliff. He did not die. In fact, he didn't suffer any broken bones because he found himself landing in a deep cloud of snow that broke his fall. And the next morning, in spite of his yelling up the mountain to his climbing company, they couldn't hear him. They couldn't see him. They had thought he had been lost and had disappeared. So he started to make his way down into the more level areas that he could work his way down into, and as he came to one ledge and could look over the side, he suddenly saw, far down below, a valley with cultivated fields and well-organized huts. And suddenly it came to his mind, I wonder if the legend is true. Is this the country of the blind the story tells about? So he made his way ultimately down into the valley or the community, the village of the blind in the country of the blind. And as he was making his way down, it suddenly came to his mind a proverb. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. And Wells goes on in his story to describe how the mountaineer entered the village and then tried to tried to demonstrate and express to the people the supernatural gift that he had of being able to see. But they couldn't understand the meaning of sight, and first they thought their visitor was sorry because they could hear him tripping over a bucket that he hadn't noticed. Thought he was rather clumsy. And soon they mocked him. And eventually, in order to stay in the valley, he was permitted to do that, and he had a desire to marry one of the beautiful young girls of the community, but they said that would not be possible unless he underwent surgery. You see, they had detected in Nunez this tendency of his eyes to flutter. and for his eyes to be somewhat bulging out, and they thought that this must be a disease which caused him to repeatedly talk about this problem of being able to see. So they said to him, you may stay with us, but you must undergo a surgery for us to remove this problem that continually afflicts your mind and causes you to speak of this strange ability that you claim to have of seeing. So eventually the day of the surgery came, but Nunez was having doubts. And on that day, he happened to look up and he noticed on one side of the mountain a pathway that he thought, that looks like a way I could climb out of here. And in his despair about losing his sight and the conflict about staying, he suddenly said, I've got to get out of here. And he fled, and he found his way up out of the crevasses that surrounded the hidden valley, the country of the blind, and he escaped. The country of the blind, the place where the man was sight, nobody could understand. Well, when Jesus came to Jerusalem, he came into a city where there was institutionalized religion. The people all thought that they were very religious, especially the religious leaders. But they were, in the view of the Messiah, they were spiritually blind people. And our passage begins this morning in John 8, verse 12, by describing what happened when Jesus offered to these spiritual leaders and their followers The gift of spiritual sight. And when Jesus made this offer, what was their reaction? And after their reaction, how did he engage with them? And that's what we want to look at this morning. Their reaction to his offer of sight and his trying to engage with them like Nunez the climber had tried to do in explaining the wonder of being able to see. So we began this episode, first of all, by seeing Jesus' declaration, and you see this in verse 12, look with me. If you wanna follow God, Jesus is saying, you must follow me. Then Jesus spoke to them again, I am the light of the world, anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life. So, He presents himself as the one who illuminates people's darkness. Now, the Jews understood the ideas of light and darkness. They understood them to be ideas of seeing the truth or living in evil. They understood that. But Jesus was saying that this darkness is a natural existence that all of his listeners are born into. It is a darkness of incapacity to see divine truth and to understand the Lord God. It's because everyone is born spiritually dead and separated from God, which are teachings of Jesus and teachings that were carried out through the teachings and writings of the apostles that followed him. Now, you need to understand how poignant, how striking this statement of Jesus would have been at the time and at the place in which it was made. because this is one day or perhaps two days after the climax of the Feast of Tabernacles, in which, as we have seen in chapter seven, there was the ceremony of the water being poured out around the ceremonial place of sacrifices, the platform there, and that was symbolic of the water that preserved the Israelites in the desert, but at the same time, Each evening, on the temple platform, there would be the lighting of these massive, huge, golden candelabras in the Court of the Women, which was the most actively used court because, of course, men and women could both go there, and that's where the treasury boxes were kept, where people would come and bring their offerings. So for seven days leading up to this moment, There had been each evening the lighting of these massive candelabras, which would cast light all over the platform of the temple, and it would reflect off the golden dome of the temple, and it was a beautiful sight, and the people rejoiced in it. But it wasn't just for casting light for the evening enjoyment of the celebration. It was also to create memory of another aspect of the wilderness wanderings, which the whole The whole Feast of Tabernacles was a celebration and remembrance of. Part of the wilderness wanderings of the Jews had been the presence of the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire that led the Israelites through their 40 years of wilderness wanderings. And you may remember some of our studies about the cloud, how it was at the nighttime a visible pillar of fire, and it had been that which separated the Egyptians from the Jews so that they could be prepared to cross over the Red Sea and escape from the Egyptian army. During the daytime, this pillar of fire in the light of day would be somewhat eclipsed or cloaked in a massive cloud of smoke that looked like smoke coming up from a huge furnace. And it would rise up and it would spread out and create this incredible canopy that would provide shade from the brilliance of the heat of the desert sun. So at night, the fire would warm the community of a million people, and at daytime, it would provide them with shade. So there was protection, and there was also preservation for the nation of Israel, symbolized by the cloud, which symbolized the presence of God moving with them, in fact, guiding them wherever they were to go, in their wilderness wanderings. And then when the tabernacle was finally completed, the pillar of cloud would, it settled down over the tabernacle, symbolizing, again, the presence of God and the holiness of the tabernacle. So all of these things would have been in the mind of the celebrants of the Feast of Tabernacles, only when Jesus came to present this teaching The ceremonies of tabernacles had been concluded and the candelabras were no longer burning. They had been extinguished. So when Jesus comes in and says, I am the light of the world, it would have been a striking moment because he certainly could have swept his hand over and pointed at the unlit candelabras. and certainly they would have made the connection. He is saying that he is the pillar of fire that our ancestors followed. He is saying, I am the very presence of God among you. So you catch how striking that moment would have been. And so Jesus is making the point, if you want to follow God, You must follow me. Follow me and the guidance of God that guided our ancestors will be yours. Follow me and you will have God's remedy for the morally blinding power of sin that is inside your heart. So what Jesus is saying in verse 12 is profound. they would have grasped it. It would have been striking. And I hope you catch how impressive his statement would have been at that moment. And of course, light was also a well-known way in which the rabbis taught about what the Messiah would do when he came. He would bring light, and they would make reference to Isaiah chapter nine. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light, which is almost immediately followed by a child will be born to us, and he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father, Who is Isaiah referring to? And the rabbis would all say the Messiah. So this whole motif of light made tremendous significant reference in prophecy to the coming of Messiah. And so Jesus is saying, look at me. I am the fulfillment of your prophets. I am the one who brings light. And of course, if you remember the event where Jesus was brought to the temple for dedication and ancient or aged Simeon was there, one who must have known the prophetic writings and was clear in his mind what to be looking for for the Messiah, for there were a remnant of Jews who in faith had a clear perception of what the prophets were describing. And you remember what Simeon said when Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus into the temple to be dedicated? He said, Now, Master, you can dismiss your slave in peace as you promised, for my eyes have seen your salvation. You have prepared it in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory for your people Israel." As he held the baby Jesus, light for the Gentiles and glory for your people Israel right here. Simeon was crystal clear of the significance of light. And when Jesus referred to himself as the light of the world, he was saying, not just for you people, you Jews, but also for the Gentiles as well, which, of course, for the Jews would have been another striking statement. Oh, no, no, no. The God of Israel is our God exclusively, Jesus in his preaching ministry. No, He is also the God of the world, of the Gentiles, a God without distinction on those he will cast his grace and love. And when Jesus referred to following him, follow me. It's a present tense verb which suggests it needs to be an ongoing process. This is not something that is, I will follow today and decide tomorrow if I will not or I will. No, it's an ongoing, wholehearted discipleship, not some kind of casual adherence. Whoever follows Jesus in that way, with wholeheartedness, will have eternal life. And they will have the light for living the kind of life that is a kingdom kind of life. What a marvelous statement for Jesus to declare at that moment, at that time. Well, the Pharisees were listening. What were they going to say? How are they reacting to this striking statement? In their hearts, all they could say was, let's give a legal response to this outsider. They thought legalism would save them. So when they heard Jesus claim to be the light of the world, what did they do? Basically, they tried to sidestep the fundamental issue that Jesus was speaking to, and that was darkness in the heart. Darkness that needed light. rather than engage Jesus in that topic, they decided that they would pivot to a technicality. And that's what you see come up in verse 3. Look at verse 13. So the Pharisee said to him, you are testifying about yourself. Your testimony is not valid. Now what is this all about? Well, in Judaism, a man's testimony about himself was not regarded as legally valid. You could not testify on your own behalf. Deuteronomy 19.15 states, one witness cannot establish any wrongdoing or sin against a person. Whatever that person has done, a fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. And in the rabbinic writings of that day, the law of not testifying on your behalf and having to have a corroborating or at least a second witness was quite widespread in the way the Jews would conduct examinations of testimony. The rabbis taught that no testimony should be believed unless it could be backed up by a secondary witness. No one could testify concerning themselves either. And as far as the Pharisees were concerned, if Jesus was going to claim to be the light of the world, then he was obligated to produce some kind of witness to this testimony, or else none of the people that followed them should listen to Jesus. Well, what was Jesus counter to the Pharisees' legal objection? Essentially, what he says in the next few verses is, you can dodge me, but you will never escape my judgment on your spiritual blindness. Let's see this. Look at verse 14. Jesus said, even if I testify about myself, my testimony is valid. What makes you feel free to say that, Jesus? That's a good question. And he has a couple of reasons. The first one is, no one else is qualified to give testimony like I am. It's like, what makes you say that, Jesus? Fair question. Look at the second part of verse 14. He says, because I know where I came from and where I'm going. But you don't know where I come from or where I'm going. You judge by human standards. Now, what is this all about? Basically, Jesus is countering their arguments, their objections, by asserting, I'm the only one qualified here to give testimony about things of God. He's saying there can be no human witness to the things I'm talking about because no one else has the kind of knowledge that I have because I come from heaven. And you don't know about where I came from. You don't know about heaven. I know about it from personal experience. You only know about it from what you read. I've been there, you haven't. I'm going back there and you are not. You judge by human standards. So in terms of knowing God, only God can testify accurately to the things about God. And since he was from God, he was the only one qualified to give an authoritative testimony. That's what he's telling them. And furthermore, their judgment was limited by what he described as human inadequacy, and that was the inadequacy of their fallen natures. The omen translates flesh, you judge by the flesh, which is the Greek, by a reasonable translation, you judge by human standards. But it brings up the point that you judge by limited standards. You have limited perspective. I have perfect perspective about what I'm talking about. And the Jews, they wouldn't let people of questionable character come into courts of law and give testimony. People of questionable character, like thieves or violent persons or chronic liars, tax collectors and the like, they didn't let them come into their courts and offer corroborating testimony. So by that same principle, Jesus is saying, compared to me, you're not qualified. No one's qualified to make judgment about the things that I am telling you. That's because in relationship to me, you are corrupt. You do not have adequate perspective. You don't have perception that's needed. For that reason, you cannot judge me impartially. You can't even judge me in any way accurately. So Jesus swore by his own testimony and then invoked the only other qualifying witness of truth that there is. He invoked his Father to confirm that his testimony that he is the light of the world is true. You see, this is his second reason for arguing. Jesus' testimony is valid because he says the Father is a second witness to my claim. Look at the second part of verse 15. Jesus says there, I judge no one. And if I do judge, my judgment is true because I'm not alone. And here he goes. But I and the father who sent me judge together. Even in your law it is written that the witness of two men is valid. I am the one who testifies about myself and the father who sent me testifies about me. So he invokes the father's testimony to confirm to them that his witness is authentic and it is valid. and the only other potential or possible testimony to confirm his divine testimony is the Divine Father. Now it could be asked, how does the Father testify to Jesus? And fascinatingly John spends almost half of chapter five, laying out the three main witnesses of the father to all of his testimony. And if you went back to chapter five, you would see that Jesus talked about the witness of the Old Testament scriptures. And in that very dialogue with the Jews, he says, you think you have Moses. Moses wrote about me, you won't come to me, so you violate Moses. That really bothered them. And then he said, you also had the prophetic witness of John the Baptist. You rejected him. And then he said, right in front of your faces is the testimony of God of all the supernatural works of power that I do. You reject them as well. Talk about blindness. Well, Jesus is then confronted by their question. In verse 19, look there. Then they asked him, where is your father? What a startling statement. First of all, where is your father, indicates they don't get that he's talking about the God of heaven. And then secondly, what this is really is what happens today so much in politics, when someone cannot defeat a good argument, they attack the person. This is what is happening here. They're going after Jesus. They are insulting him by dredging up an old rumor about the fact that he must have been an illegitimate child. Because it was known that Mary had not had relations with Joseph before Jesus was born. Oh, he must have been illegitimate. That had long past been buried, but here they bring it up. It's the best they can do, and it's despicable. But that's who we're dealing with. Now here's an example, beloved, of a question that should not be asked. This is an illustration of a question that is being asked not for truth, but to avoid truth. They didn't want to know about the true father. They were simply trying to avoid the discussion. And I would suggest to you that when you find yourselves being backed up by an attack about your character, when a person cannot handle the discussion about the scriptures and about the truth, and they try to smoke you out with some kind of false question, do not engage. Say, no, I'm sorry, I'm not going to get into that. character assassination, misrepresentation, and those kinds of things. I don't get into that and leave it there. But then Jesus parried this insult by declaring to them that they were ignorant. Oh my. Folks, Jesus didn't walk around wringing his hands. Oh, what should I say? What should I say? He said straight up, You are ignorant. Do we think about Jesus that way? Oh, that wouldn't be nice. With these cats, Jesus wasn't into nice. And there will be times when we are never right to be ungracious, but there are times, folks, to be direct and say to people, I'm sorry. But there's every indication here that you really don't know what you're talking about. And this is one of those situations, Jesus says in verse 15, look there, you know, neither me nor my father, if you knew me, you would also know my father. It goes all the way back to all those prophecies about the Messiah. Here is the most exquisite fulfillment of all of the prophecies and you don't get it. What's it going to take? Well, it's going to take a miracle of regeneration in the heart. That's really what it comes down to. That's what it comes down to for all of us. God has to do the miracle of changing us from the inside out. by his making us born again, so that then we can see. This is a real jab in the Pharisees' pride. Of course, they prided themselves on knowing God, and Jesus told them straight out, you reject me, you reject God. End of discussion. That's an amazing claim. That's a strong claim. That's a strong claim today. And John even interjects, after Jesus makes his statement, that the Lord wasn't hauled off by the authorities after having said that. That's how striking it would have been thinking about the environment, the situation, the context in which this is being said. You don't know God because you don't know me. If you knew me, you would know God. Oh, are they going to drag him off now? Verse 20. He spoke these words by the treasury while teaching in the temple complex, but no one seized him because his hour had not yet come. Until the hour The Lord Jesus Christ was untouchable. Now let's reflect a little bit about what we've seen in this paragraph. First of all, verse 12, I'm the light of the world. He's claiming to be the one who brings the light of God into this world. He also said, if you knew me, you would also know my father. So here are two claims. And again, let me beat the drum. They do not allow for neutrality. It's impossible. He says, I'm the world's ultimate source of true knowledge about God. No one else is qualified to give any testimony like I give. Nobody else has the validation of God's testimony to back them up like I do. Okay? Now, if you understand what Jesus is saying, you have only two decisions to make. Number one, he is the Lord God. And if I want to know God, and if I want to be in heaven, I must bow before him as the only true voice of God and yield my life to him. One decision. Then there is a second and only second decision, and that is you reject him. He's a deceiver. The man was delusional. That's it. Now, there's some of you today here in this room who are thinking that you're just sort of going to hang out in neutral land. It's impossible. He either is who he claimed to be, or he is delusional and a deceiver. And if you say, I will not have him rule my life, you automatically say, he is a deceiver and he is delusional. You cannot stand in the middle and be intellectually honest. Get out of there. And on top of that, the promise he gives is extraordinary. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life. It's extraordinary. If you follow Jesus, you will have light in your life. The light will be inside your heart. That light will be one that produces trust and hope for the future and casts out fear of what can happen tomorrow. God is in control. But is he in control of you? Is he in control of me? If so, rest in the light. God is in control. And this light will also create a certainty in your heart that Jesus has done what he said he would do. He has paid the penalty for your sins. Your sins, whatever they may be, may be only known to you, have been paid for. Will you accept the payment? It's free. It's a beautiful thing. And this light will also be in your mind. It will give you understanding of the scriptures. It will enable you to understand how to escape sin, the corrupting power of sin, and how to live a life in the joy of righteousness. And that light will give you discernment to see the traps that Satan is laying out all through the world to bring down people, even to bring down Christians. Christians who think they can walk on the edge of the darkness and not be sucked into it and find relationships, find their own souls beginning to be corrupted. Too often, Christians feel justified discounting biblical teaching. We're living in an epidemic of intolerance for truth, There is a flow of the world's postmodern thinking that rejects authoritarian statements, and it's beginning to infect evangelical Christians to the point where they say, well, I don't like that truth. And so therefore, I will not abide by it. That is spiritual self-destruction, beloved. Because truth is for your benefit. Truth is for the health of your soul. God never gives truth in order to mock or beat up his children, but to preserve you, strengthen you, and give you hope. The reason we make life-damaging decisions is oftentimes because we think we can walk on the edge where the darkness begins to come into the light. And Jesus is saying, why do you walk on the edge? Get away from that edge. Walk in the light. Follow me. And I think that's why there's such a falling off of common sense in this country. People are walking in the darkness. That's why civility is declining. People lack moral absolutes, and they think they're cool, they think they're smart, they think they're hip, because I don't have to live in absolute land. Well, every time you use your computer, you expect absoluteness, because there's only zeros and ones. And if they don't work, your computer is dysfunctional. You love absolutes, except when it begins to push in on your moral world. So don't be hypocritical. And that's why so many people are under-motivated today. I think because they lack God's purpose. They have no vision because they're foggy. They are not following Jesus, who is the light. They're off wandering around in their own ideas, their own expectations, their own desires, and they're off track. And as a result, they step on the landmines that Satan plants all over the landscape, and they get their legs blown off, or they get injured, and they cry out to God, why have you let this happen to me? And God says, you needed a lesson. You walk in the darkness instead of following my son. Folks, this does not mean that following Jesus is a walk where there is no challenge, no hardship. Of course, there is the struggle with sin and the struggle with opponents. So many people under motivated, heads filled with worldly distractions. It's like the cartoon of the kid walking along with his iPhone or his smartphone, walking along, walking along, and there's the tree with the sign on it, beware of walkers without vision. At the expectation he's gonna walk right into the tree. You can be the smartest kid in your school, but without divine perspective, guess what? You're going to be a very bright kid who falls into conformity with the folly of other kids who have no idea where they're going, no perspective, no vision, no direction. And you'll be a very smart, lost kid. Parents, are your children becoming very smart, very competent, lost children? That's your job, to get them on the trail of the light. and invest in them for a lifetime of vision. And maybe that means that some things have to go out of their time schedule because it's sucking their life apart from getting on track with Jesus. And finally, Jesus declared that any religion that claims to reveal God but does not fully endorse him as Lord and God is false. Anybody who says they know something about God but does not accept Jesus as the only savior of sinners simply does not know the true God. They are following a false religion, whether it's Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or secularism, or evolutionism. the religions of the popular culture. So who are you like? The people in the Valley of the Blind who do not believe that sight is a reality? Or are you like the Mountaineer Nunez who said, this is too precious of a gift for me to give up. I'm escaping. Do you value the gospel? Do you value the transformation of your heart that has come as a result of the light of Jesus Christ that came to you through the gospel? Do you treasure your salvation or do you just take it for granted casually? Escape from the valley of the blind. I urge you. Do you want to be wiser than the smart people, the cool people, the rich people around you who don't know God? Then memorize what Jesus says. Follow where Jesus goes. Believe in what Jesus says. And you will see. Pray with me. Father, we thank you for the confidence, the assurance that Jesus knows what he's talking about. Thank you that he is direct with us, that we can see through his conversation with the blind people of his time what we need to do and how serious we need to be about the power of sin and the world to distract us and draw us into the darkness. Help us to walk in the light as he is in the light. In Jesus' name, amen.