I Am Jesus: Light of the World

To the dead man, Jesus was life. To the prostitute, He was a second chance. To the searching, He was the long-awaited answer. Who is Jesus to you? Discover what it means when He says, “I Am Jesus.” This morning we are looking at what Jesus meant, when he said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” Let’s get right into the Bible. Let’s open up it up to John 8. Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, ² but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. ³ As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. ⁴ “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”   THE LAW REVEALS OUR GUILT. According law, this lady was guilty. It was so bad, that she was caught red handed, that she deserved to be stoned to death. You see, the big problem with the people who wanted to take this lady and make her a scapegoat did not bring the other guilty party. That’s a different story altogether that I’ll tell the adults in the room another day. Here’s the big picture: what she did was worthy of death. Just imagine if you were in a situation where you did something wrong and you deserved punishment: what would you be thinking? Think about the last time you lied, stole or lusted. Better yet, think about the last time you used God’s name in vain? Maybe you’re so good that you don’t do any of those things, but what about the last time you broke one of the ten commandments. Yeah, remember honor thy father and mother for that will bring blessings to your life—were you honoring them when you yelled at them and told them to shut up because they don’t know anything? The only thing these Pharisees did was point out that there was guilt in this lady’s life. The laws in the Bible just point us in a mirror so that we can see ourselves as sinners. Otherwise we won’t see our need for a savior. Look at verse 5: The Pharisees ask Jesus, “What do you say?” Now, if Jesus agreed, he’d lose his reputation for being loving. Likewise, if Jesus forgives, he is condoning adultery—breaking the law of Moses. Let’s keep reading. ⁶ They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. ⁷ They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” ⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.  This is really important. This is super important because John does something so interesting here—he uses literary parallelism. He writes in verse 6: “Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.” Then John writes the exact same phrase in verse 8. The first time Jesus stoops down he was writing something—but it didn’t bother the people trying to put the young lady to death. So Jesus says – fine, if those things that I wrote down don’t bother you, then let somebody who never sinned start the killing. I want to say that the Pharisees didn’t get the point the first time because they didn’t think it was so bad. They knew they were sinners, they knew that what Jesus was probably writing down was their sins. The second time Jesus started writing in the dirt, it was clear to them that Jesus was talking about their specific sins. As he was writing it down. It’s brilliant.  Let’s go to verse 9. ⁹ When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. ¹⁰ Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” ¹¹ “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”   LOVE REVEALS GOD’S GRACE. By God’s grace, you are not what you did. It doesn’t matter what others say about you, because they will eventually have to walk away from you because they don’t even stand up to their own judgment. People remind us of our past, Jesus reminds us of our future. Underline that— “Go and sin no more.” Jesus didn’t say—forgiven—I understand that’s just way you are. We may always struggle with: Lust, Overeat, Overspend, Gossip; BUT Jesus says our future should be sinning no more. The law reveals our guilt but love reveals God’s grace. But that’s not where it ends. Let’s go to verse 12. ¹² Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”   LIGHT REVEALS OUR HOPE. Here’s what I mean: this is the wonderful thing about Easter. This is the wonderful thing about our religion. This is why we all need a savior. Because Jesus says about himself, “I am the light of the world”, we have the opportunity to walk out in the light. It means we don’t have to fumble around the grey areas of life. It means that we shall always have a light to guide us when everything else seems so dark outside. We can follow that light into life—a destiny chosen for you by God. Let’s go to our memory verse today. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. – 1 Peter 2:9 You were called from sin to live in the light. Jesus is the light of the world. It’s time to follow Him.