The Light of the World: Part I (John 8:12-9:41)

The Light of the World: Part I
John 8:12-9:41
Jesus is the Divine Light from God to the whole world –
Giving sight to those who were blind from birth.
The Text
John 8:12
      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."

John 9:1-7
      And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his
      disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he
      was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents;
      but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works
      of him that sent me, while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work. As
      long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken,
      he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of
      the blind man with the clay. And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,
      (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and washed, and
      came seeing.

Introduction – the Feast of Tabernacles

1. Water from the Pool of Siloam
      It was during the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem that Jesus came and made a
great appearance there. On one occasion during that Holy Week priests would bring
bowls of water from the pool of Siloam to pour it on the and altar as a water libation and
sacrifice. They were giving scriptures reminding them of all the great times the Lord had
blessed them and given water. That's when Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said, "If
any thirst let him come to me to drink and out of his belly shall flow rivers them man of
living water" (John 7:37-39).

2. The Festival of Lights
      It was also during that week that each evening they had a solemn ceremony of
lights where the Priests came into the outer courts, especially the court of women. They
would light the candle sticks that were in various places through out that court and they
would be quoting scriptures having to do with light and the times that God had intervened
in behalf of His people with light. When God Himself made light and said, "Let there be
light." When God led Israel with a pillar of fire by night. And all those times when the
divine light of God intervened through the Word of the Lord. They would read such
scriptures and remind themselves of the light that comes from God above.

A. Jesus Is the Light of Light

1. Jesus' Declaration Causes Controversy
      It was during that solemn ceremony that Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "I
am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life."
      It caused controversy because by this time in the Gospel of John, we're coming
right in the very heart of that period of conflict in the life of Jesus between Him and the
Jewish leaders. For a long time they've considered Him and just looked upon Him. Then
there were times of controversy and arguments and debating, moving on in to real
conflict, and finally reaching a time of crisis when they will plot to take His life and to
remove Him out of the way.
      So here Jesus stands almost as an agitator in their solemn ceremony and rituals
saying, "You don't really have the light. What you're doing is only symbolic of what used
to be in times past. You don't really have the light because I am the light of the world and
you're rejecting me so you're also rejecting the light." This is what He is saying when He
cries out and interrupts and disturbs a solemn ceremony.

2. Jesus Christ Still Breaks in Upon Man
      I'm glad for the times when the Lord Jesus Christ reaches down into the affairs of
men in this world even in religious circles and breaks in. He breaks in with His presence
and breaks in with His power and breaks in with His claims and breaks in with His divine
Word to upset us and disturb us and turn us up side down, so to speak. He let's us know
when we're missing the mark and when we're not on the beam and when we're not in the
full light and when we're not really operating in the full power of His Spirit. Amen!
      I'm glad that Jesus lets us know when we're off track. Aren't you? That's one of
the beautiful things about Pentecostal worship. Because the Lord has a way of letting us
know when we hit the main stream and oh, thank God what a beautiful and wonderful
thing it is in a miraculous way when we hit the main stream of where God is moving and
where He is blessing and how His Holy Spirit is working and we just get in it and flow
with it. Hallelujah! That's when you get blessed and that's when you get he lped. I'm glad
He can teach us that and let us know that. A lot of people have never found that out and
they sometimes miss it but oh, thank God when Jesus breaks in to set us straight.

B. Jesus Heals the Man Blind From Birth

1. Jesus Is the I Am
      In chapter nine John records an acted parable of Jesus which demonstrates that He
truly is the light of the world. Here is a parable in action. It is the second time Jesus has
said, "I am" with something attached to it. Before He has said "I am". Now He says, "I
am the light of the world." In chapter six He had said, "I am the bread of life." He's going
to say "I am" some other things too before this book is over. Seven times He'll say things
on that order, "I am" with something added to it. This is the second time.
      This is the sixth miracle sign that Jesus has performed in the Gospel of John. John
only records seven of the great miracles. This is the sixth one. It is the healing of the man
that was born blind. I want us to look at that. As they walked out by the temple, close to
the temple, what they saw there in that man who was born blind was really something
peculiar and strange. What the disciples saw was so different from what Jesus saw.

2. Jesus Saw a Man
      The Bible said that Jesus saw a man. I'm glad that He looks upon us for what we
are and not as other people see us. I can have all kinds of opinions and ideas about you
and I can jump to the wrong conclusions and I can do all kinds of things as I think about
you but Jesus knows you and me. He knows exactly what we are, who we are, and He
sees us as men and women before Him. I'm glad Jesus saw a man.

3. The Disciples Saw a Theological Debate
      The disciples only saw a subject for theological debate. They said, "Who sinned,
this man or his parents that he should be born blind." They weren't interested in his
condition or his situation. Their main concern was to solve that age old eternal problem
of good and evil in the universe. They wanted to explain why and perhaps to lay the
blame where it was supposed to be as if that would do much good.
     You can't solve all the riddles in this universe and you can't always understand
why some things happen as they do. You can't always interpret carefully the evil that's in
the world or the misfortunes that come or the trouble s that come. It's not easy to look
upon it theologically and understand it clearly. I don't think the Lord wants us to waste a
whole lot of time trying to figure so much out anyway.

4. Man Wants to Place the Blame
      That's what these disciples wanted to do. "Who sinned," they said, "his parents?"
You see, the Rabbis in those days had such a mixture of teachings about these things until
they thought that an unborn child could be mean. Perhaps he kicked too hard and was
deformed. Or perhaps the mother would do some outlandish thing and the child would be
deformed. So they were ready to lay the blame either on the child – the man who was
blind – or else his mother.

5. Jesus Says, "It Doesn't Matter Who’s to Blame"
      But Jesus said it doesn't matter who’s to blame. That's not the point. I'm glad the
Lord looks at things like He does. While we're laboring and struggling over our hang-ups
of what's wrong, what caused it, and who’s to blame, some of us just steep ourselves in
that kind of thinking day and night. We want to look at problems and we want to
understand why it's that way and who caused it – as if that would help. That doesn't really
help. You can understand the problem and who caused it and lay the blame all you want
to but that won't ease any pain, that won't clear any confusion, and that won't take away
any stain or stigma of reproach. That won't help a thing. It's only when the grace of God
and the power of God is put into operation that things begin to change that are worth
while. Hallelujah!

6. Every Problem for Man Is an Opportunity for God
      Jesus does not want us to dwell in that whole cesspool of negativism and thinking
that keeps us from seeing the works of God performed in our lives. So He rebuked them
and said, "neither this man nor his parents but that the works of God could be made
manifest in him." You see Jesus saw a man who was a problem yet as a opportunity for
the works of God to be manifested. Every problem that we face, every trouble we meet,
every trial that comes, there lies within it the opportunity for God's grace to abound.
     Where sin does abound, God's grace can much more abound. Where there is
trouble, there is an opportunity for healing mercies of God to flow. Where there is
condemnation and where there is failure, there is an opportunity for Christ Jesus to step in
with power and authority to wash it away, hallelujah, and bring victory and grace by His
glorious power. As far as Jesus is concerned, your problem is an opportunity for the
power of God to be manifested and for the works of God to be wrought. Hallelujah.

7. God Desires Simple Obedience
      Jesus took clay and made a mud poultice. He even spit on the clay and then just
smeared it all over this man's eyes and said, "Now, you go wash in the pool of Siloam."
Oh, hallelujah!
      Ridiculous? Yes. Common place? Down to earth? Yes. But a miracle was about
to take place. When that man acts upon what Jesus says, a miracle is going to take place
no matter how foolish it may seem. When God tells you to do anything even if it seems
silly or foolish, don't argue with Him but obey Him and that's when the miracle power of
God is turned loose and put in operation. Hallelujah! Oh, praise His holy name.
      I can just almost see that fellow as he went staggering off down through there
toward that pool in a hurry and bumping into things. He wasn't waiting and trying to feel
his way this time. He was just a blundering and staggering on and people laughing at him
and somebody hollering and saying, "Hey blind man. Where you going with that mud in
your eye." I can almost see him as he turns and says, "I'll see you later." He's on his way
to a miracle. Hallelujah! Would you say Amen? Oh hallelujah!

C. Levels of Unbelief

1. Man Either Believes the Truth or Resists the Truth
      As always, when the light of truth comes breaking in upon men, they respond in
one way or another. Either they rise in that light to different levels of faith and
enlightenment and understanding or they harden their hearts and close their minds. They
start descending on levels of unbelief and darkness.
      When the man who was born blind came back seeing, the first thing that
happened to him was his neighbors all got around him. Then they brought him to the
Pharisees. His parents were questioned. It created quite a stir. In the process of it all, this
man walked step by step the stairway into light and power and beauty while others as a
result of the same miracle, moved step by step down into the depths of unbelief and
darkness.

2. The Pharisees' Claim of Knowledge
      Let's look first of all at the descent into darkness of the Jewish leaders. It's a little
bit sort of surprising because you see, three times in this chapter, they boast of their
superior knowledge – Verses 16, 24 and 29. They say, "This man's not of God," as if they
know it all and have the gift of discernment and all kinds of things you see. They say,
"We know that this man is a sinner." We know, we know, we know. Everybody that says
I know or we know may not know what He's talking about.
      They said a third time, "We know that God spake to Moses, but as for this fellow,
we know not from whence He is." So here they are with their superior knowledge
claiming to know and understand and yet all the while sinking down into unbelief and
darkness. It is sad. It is tragic that some people in this world who claim to know the most
are blind and deceived. They don't know God in reality.

3. The Pharisees' Five Steps of Unbelief
      But look at these levels of darkness and unbelief that they went through. In verse
six as they put this young man on the spot, they disagreed among themselves about how
Jesus was or who He was, what kind of man he was, whether He was a sinner or not. This
led to division and led in verse 18, to doubt. It says, "...they did not agree considering
Him."
      And that led in verse 24 to disapproval. They said, "we know that this man is a
sinner. We don't approve of him. He doesn't have the right credentials." And it led finally
in verse 34 to disowning. They said, "You're all together born in your sins. Do you teach
us? We who know so much – do you dare to teach us?" And they cast him out. They just
simply disowned the man and cast him out of the Synagogue.

4. The Royal Road to Backsliding
      Now look at those steps. If you want to find the royal road to backsliding and
even blasphemy, that's it. Start out with disagreement. Start out with an attitude of
disagreeing with God and His Word and His Will and disagreeing with the Holy Spirit
and disagreeing with the church and how it operates and how God works and moves and
leads and that will le ad to division and backbiting and all kinds of things which in turn
within that kind of environment and context will lead to doubt.
      Soon your very faith and your very soul will be challenged. After a while you will
start looking with disdain at what is right and at God's holiness and His people and His
church. Look on with disapproval – then pretty soon you throw up your hand, wash your
hands of the whole thing and disown it, push it out of your life. That is the road to
backsliding – steps that lead down in unbelief and darkness.

Jesus is the Divine Light from God to the whole world - Giving sight to those whower blind from birth.