Verse 53 John chapter 7 verse 53 and from there we will read all the way down to John chapter 8 and verse 12 John chapter 7 verse 53 through John chapter 8 verse 12 scripture reads as follows and everyone went to his own house but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people came to him and he sat down and he taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery and when they had and when they had set her in the midst they said to him, teacher this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stone but what do you say? This they said testing him that they might have something of which to accuse him but Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger as though he did not hear so when they continued asking him he raised himself up and he said to them, he who was without sin among you let him throw a stone at her first and again he stooped down and wrote on the ground then those who heard it being convicted by their conscience went out one by one beginning with the oldest even to the last. Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman he said to her, woman, grab those accusers of yours has no one condemned you she said no one lord and Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you go and send no more. Then Jesus spoke to them again saying I am the light of the world he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. Amen. Please pray with me and for me as I speak to you from this subject Jesus the light of the world let us pray oh great God and King he who was great and greatly to be praised that we give you the glory the honor of the praise you're worthy we thank you for your son Jesus Christ who is the captain of our salvation it is he who brings many sons and daughters to glory we thank you oh God that we have been brought near by the blood we no longer fear your wrath Father God for you have extinguished your own wrath with your own blood thank you oh God that you have allowed us to be a covenantal bond with a great and awesome God oh God that I stand before your people I ask oh God that I would decrease and you would increase in this place I pray oh God that you will open ears and minds and hearts oh God so that we may receive all that you have for us in your preached word may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight oh Lord my strength and my redeemer amen it was the last day of the feast of tabernacles and there was exhilaration upon the people of Jerusalem the feast of tabernacles is a thanksgiving festival that lasted seven days was followed by an eighth day of holy convocation and animal sacrifices it commemorates the divine guidance granted to Israel during the nations wandering in the wilderness in a cloud by day in a pillar of fire by night during the festival the people erect and dwell in temporary shelters made out of palm and other tree branches now after their celebrations we read in John chapter 7 and verse 53 and everyone went to his own house and then in John chapter 8 and verse 1 we read where we read but Jesus went to the mount of olives each day of the festival of tabernacles and particularly the seventh day when the feast came to a conclusion candles and torches were lit and the entire temple is illuminated the whole temple was bright with light but there was great darkness upon the city this darkness was not just the darkness of night but this was spiritual darkness of the Jews rejection of Christ and the darkness of their rejection by him who is called the light of the world now early in the morning Jesus returns to the temple to teach and he is confronted by the scribes and the Pharisees the scribes and the Pharisees were up to their old tricks and the seats when they tried to trap Jesus with the woman who was caught in a in adultery and so they they quoted Moses on verse 5 saying here's the woman caught in adultery Moses said she should be stoned but what do you say they were trying they were attempting to put Christ at odds with Moses so that he would he would he would lose favor and credibility with the people they were trying to trap him and trick him and now on the other hand if he agrees with Moses they would they would go to the Roman authorities and accuse him of taking their authority inciting an insurrection trying to cause a revolt and uprising and rebellion then his reputation for compassion and forgiveness would be in question the scribes and the Pharisees they they thought they had Jesus on the fence but they did not know that they were dealing with the all-newing God the same God who David wrote about in the 139th song when he said oh Lord you have searched me and you know me you know my sitting down and you know my rising up you understand my thought far off they didn't know who they were messing with they didn't know that this saying Jesus put all the stars in the sky and he named every last one of them trillions upon trillions they really didn't know who they were messing with they thought it was amateur night and Jesus was the amateur but but Jesus he simply and he ignored them and he kneeled down and he began to write in the dirt and many have speculated what he wrote and I've heard some of everything but no one really knows what he wrote some say he was taking all their names down because he was going to deal with them later but I don't know what he wrote down and they know what it really doesn't matter because God is sovereign see they were they were very insistent when they said here she is Lord God in the act Moses demands that she dies Pharisees and the scribes wounded blood so Jesus he he looks up and he says he who was without sin among you let him cast a stone at her first and so here Christ avoids the trap that they lay for him and he preserves his resident as his reputation see he he does not reflect upon the long he does not excuse the woman sins nor does he encourage her accusers now now Jesus could have cast the first stone he really could have after all he was certainly say man but he was more concerned about restoration of a sinner than meaning the demands of the law he was more concerned about restoration than pouncing on this woman as the scribes and the Pharisees wanted to do the church has been considered in many cases like an army and it has been said of a church that we are the only army that wounds it's own it's own in the midst of battle could you imagine fighting the enemy and one of your own soldiers comes up behind you and shoots you in the back that's unheard of but oftentimes we we who are the church when we find someone called and saying we want to meet the demands of the law never mind restoration of the sinner we have to blood and so we make God into a boogey man and we say get him God look what he did get him God look what she did we turn God into a boogey man and we take that individual and we judge them we try and convict them and we give them a life sentence but all when the shoe is on the other foot we want to be restored then we need to be more gracious to our brothers and sisters knowing well that we all the flaw that we all the fallen and we all the frail come on help me somebody it's all right to say men the women's accusers had left there was no one to accuse her so so Jesus asked her neither do I condemn you go and sin no more and some would say that the savior was it was too lenient it was too soft but what we're witnessing is the grace of the all knowing God who sees true repentance that's what it is that was all that was needed a warning for the future Jesus the light of the world you know he did he shines the light on their dark intent never mind restoration you should die but all the grace of God and so now we we arrive at our focal passage in verse 12 and I'll just read I read it again for emphasis then Jesus spoke to them again saying I am the light of the world he who follows me shall not walk in darkness have the light of life the first point I want to talk about this morning is Christ the light of the world I am the light of the world this is one of the seven great sayings one of the seven great I am statements which are statements of Christ which is really a statement of his deity you'll find in the book of John where he says I am the bread of life I am the door I am the good shepherd I am the resurrection of the life I am the way the truth and the life I am divine these these are statements of deity I am Christ I am statement here in verse 12 it's it's not ironic but what he's saying is that I am the substance of that which is promise and prophesy there in the midst of the feast of tabernacles commemorating God's divine guidance in the wilderness by fire candles and torches are lit all over the temple the atmosphere is a glow and Jesus comes in and he says I'm the light and so people I'm sure that was looking around like who is this there's light all over the place that he walks in and he says I'm the light they probably thought he was arrogant but but the pillar of fire in the old testament and the lighting of candles and the new testament is the lesson light I am the greater light the fulfillment and the fullness in other words Jesus is saying not only am I the greater light in the new testament I was the light in the old testament the pillar fire by night yes that was that was Christ that led Israel in the wilderness that that pillar fire that was Christ he who is he which was and he who is to come Paul said that the the light of Christ was brighter than the light from the sun that was the glory of God it's like shine so deeply Paul had to fall down he could not remain on his horse you remember Paul in Acts chapter 9 I think it was in 1999 time magazine voted they 100 most influential and important people in the 20th century
after they had voted they they came up with one individual who ended up being the person of the century and that individual was Albert Einstein always been fascinated by Albert Einstein he's one of the most recognizable figures that our country has ever known and they asked Albert Einstein a simple question and he gave a real complex answer they asked Albert Einstein they asked him to say what is light and Albert Einstein as deep as he was you all know his his papers on relativity E equals MC squared you know that his paper changed the course of modern day physics as we know it today Albert Einstein was a genius he was brilliant but he gave a scientific answer when they asked him what is light Albert Einstein is brilliant as he was people knew him and they they cheering when he came into town as brilliant as he was and as smart and tell us as he was he he was an agnostic an agnostic is a person who believes that the human mind is incapable of knowing whether or not there is a god as brilliant as he was he did not realize that he was simply dust he thought that he was a smart and intelligent as he was because of him it would have been wonderful if they ask him what is light after having given the scientific answer it would have been wonderful if he had say god is light and in him there is no darkness it would have been wonderful if he had recognized the almighty god if he had said if he had said that god has brought us out of darkness into his marvelous light but but Albert Einstein he missed it and he did not believe in god the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 14 a fool has said in his heart that there is no god and so Christ's light Christ is not only the light of the world secondly Christ is the penetrating light he is a penetrating light as the light of the world Christ can penetrate the secrets of men's hearts Christ is not making make this statement as a judgment or as a threat they they had they had just witnessed this dramatic scene in the temple when the scribes and the Pharisees had brought this woman called an adultery and attempted to entrap the savior they had seen him penetrate the hearts minds and consciences of the hypocrites until every one of them wilted and withered under the penetrating light of god Christ he he could have turned the light in judgment on everyone but he didn't this was not a threat this was this was not a word it was not a word to alarm but to bring hope to the hopeless I am the light of the world not only is Christ the penetrating light morally pure and perfect but Christ's light shared light Christ shared light look at John chapter 1 if you were John chapter 1 verses 4 and 5
John was read a little bit of it in our response of reading John chapter 1 verses 4 and 5 it says in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it the light is shining in darkness see we must understand the full meaning of darkness and Luke 16 verse 8 as a regard the unjust steward the world is the opposite of light the opposite of light is darkness the world is viewed as a dark place why because of sin this age is called darkness Ephesians 6 and 12 speaks of the rulers of darkness of this age Matthew 4 speaks of people sitting in darkness Ephesians 5 says people start out in light in darkness and unbelievers have the works of darkness darkness is the state of falling humanity separated from God it is into this darkness that the light shines when the light meet when light meets darkness the first thing that occurs is that light dispels darkness I don't care how dark a rule is when you turn on the light you see how significant the light really is I'm going back in 1992 I guess it was August 25th that night because you know what happened on August 24th 1992 right hurricane Andrew and after the storm blew through the following night there was no power there was no water and I'm telling you I had never seen the night so black the night was as black as a black sack full of black cats admit night I had never seen the night so dark couldn't even see my hand in front of my face but in the distance I could see bells the bells south building they had a light and and I realized to me the the moon really was insignificant because it really didn't shine the way I thought it would with no other artificial light but the night was truly black and when somebody lit a candle somebody turned the flashlight on we realized how important that light was when light meets darkness the first thing that occurs is the light dispels the darkness and Genesis chapter 1 verses 2 and 3 the says the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters then God said that there be light and there was because God understands the importance of light but back to John chapter 1 verse 5 the darkness did not comprehend it to comprehend means to proceed it means to attain and lay hold with the mind to apprehend with mental and moral effort with this meaning the verse could be translated the darkness is unreceptive and does not understand it the Savior came shining and people did not understand it light came to the people who were in darkness and many did not lay hold of the light Jesus said the light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil the light is shining and darkness does the darkness like it nor does it this darkness this age does not welcome him who is the light it's very important to remember that darkness that the darkness did not overcome the light for a while the spirits of darkness thought they overcame Christ through the death through his death on the cross but on the third day on the third day when he arose from the grave the light crushed the darkness Christ was not overcome at cavalry he was the overcomer the light is shining in the darkness in the darkness did not overcome it because light drives darkness away as I prepare to take my seat when I was a child I believed that the moon had its own light now they learn that the moon reflects sunlight when the sun is not seen and the same way Christians reflect the sun as so in light when he is not seen Christ has called us to be the light of the world to shine before men so that God is glorified but we cannot shine before men and glorify God in our fallen condition because we are alienated from God we are shaping in iniquity and born into sin and so Christ bridges the gap between our inherent darkness he reconciles us to a holy God and whom there is no darkness and we now have fellowship with the light because of our covenant to union with our savior let us pray O gracious God our Father Lord we honor you we thank you O God for being light for shining your light on our darkness when we were dead in our trespasses dead in the cesspool of life you came down with your light you shine your light on our condition our helpless and hopeless conditions and it was you O God who delivered us out of darkness into your marvelous light now we thank you for salvation thank you for delivering us thank you O God from saving us from yourself from your wrath you've given us the peace that passes all understanding you've given us Christ Jesus who is the brightness of your glory the express image of your person for I pray that those who hear the words of my mouth I pray O Father God they will take this word and apply it to their lives I pray O God as you regard this word in their hearts watch over them God keep on me camp your angel around us God in the word that we receive today God we do thank you for this word in Christ name we pray amen