Amen. Amen. Go ahead, grab a seat. Well, we've already had a great weekend with the women's Christmas coffee on Friday night. And so today, we're starting this three-part series from the Gospel of John on the theme of Jesus being the light of the world. So, we'll talk about it this morning, next weekend, and then on Tuesday, December 24 we've got two Christmas Eve services, one at noon, and then a candlelight service at 5pm. I'm very excited about that. I'm hoping this will become a tradition for years to come. Who's ever been to a candlelight service? I happen to have a candle right here. Let's see if we can light this thing up. Can you guys even see that in the back? Can you even tell that's lit up right there? Can you even see that? You know, sometimes there's so much going on you can't really see the most important thing. And the most important thing that you need to see is Jesus. Jesus said in John, chapter 8, verse 12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” And my prayer is that this Christmas, you will see the light of Jesus, and you will worship him like you never have before. So, I invite you to open the Gospel of John and turn with me to John 1:4-5; these are the two verses I want to focus in on with you today, hopefully to inspire you to continue to study the Gospel of John this Christmas season. But this introduction to John is so simple, you can read it, you can understand it, but yet so profound it's hard to grasp all that he is revealing to us about Jesus, even that Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the revelation of God to mankind. Jesus is how God is making himself known to us. And so, these passages about Jesus being “the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and Jesus is there with the Father in creation. In fact, Jesus created all things. Nothing was made that Jesus didn't make. And so, the introduction about the Word is so epic. And then if you look down at John 1:14 where it talks about “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” that's often brought up at Christmas time, the incarnation that the one who is God put on the flesh of being man, and he's one hundred percent God, and he's one hundred percent man. And John is saying, “We beheld the glory of the Father, we beheld it right there in Jesus, full of grace and truth.” And so, I know for myself, I focus so much on those epic statements of Jesus being the Word with the father in eternity past, or dwelling among us at the incarnation on Christmas, that I haven't focused as much on verses 4 and 5. In fact, I've never preached on verses 4 and 5 here at our church.
And so, I just want to look at the three ideas that I see here in these two verses. Let me read them again. John 1, verse 4, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men, or the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” So, we're going to get into this theme of the light shining in the darkness, but before we can even really focus on the light, notice how it begins in verse 4, “In him was life,” and then the life comes to us as the light. But that phrase right there “In him was life.” There is no such thing as life outside of Jesus. He is the originator where all life comes from. That's a profound thing for us to consider for a moment. Because sometimes, I think, you and I, we don't think, like, what that is saying. We think, well, I've got my life over here, and life is somehow just happening. There's like, normal life, regular life, secular life, and then there's my life with Jesus, where I believe in Jesus and that life is over here. No, this is saying in Jesus was life. There's no other life apart from Jesus, not just that he created it, but he is sustaining it. He is the life. He's going to go on to say in John 14, verse 6, “I am the way. I am the truth. It, and I am the life.”
And so, we need to make sure that our thoughts are worthy of Jesus. Do you think that you have life and then you have life with Jesus, or do you understand in him was life? Now, if you've got your Bible this morning, turn it as hard as you can to the left, everybody. Let's go to Genesis chapter 1, because clearly that's what John is referring to here at the beginning of his gospel, when he says “In the beginning was the word.” It's clearly a reference to the beginning of God's revelation that we have in Genesis chapter 1. And John is trying to make it clear to us that if you think about the creation, not just of the heavens and the earth, but the beginning of life as we know it, if you think about that, John wants to make sure that we're seeing Jesus as a part of what's happening here in Genesis chapter 1. Let me read it for us.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
So, when you think about the creation, the creation of the heavens and the earth, the creation of life, well, how does that life come to us? It comes in the way of “Let there be light.” So, there is life, and we get the life through the light. But John is saying, hey, when you read Genesis 1, don't just see God, the Father there. Don't you see the spirit there hovering over this darkness that we're now going to separate between the light and the darkness? Make sure that you see Jesus right there, that nothing was made there, that Jesus didn't make. Jesus is actually the one saying, “Let there be light.” In fact, in Hebrews 1:1-3, it says that God has spoken to us in many ways, long ago and many times. And in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us God's Word to us by his Son, “whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” Jesus is “the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the Word of his power.” Can I get an amen from anybody here at church this morning?
All right, is this a beautiful December 15th that we're experiencing? I mean, is the rest of America jealous of us here this morning as we experience this? Did anybody ride a trolley in here this morning? Man, what a beautiful trolley ride that I had here and here this morning. Wow, what a beautiful day we have. Do you know why it's a beautiful day in Huntington Beach this morning? Because Jesus upholds the universe by the what? By the word of his power. “Let there be light,” and there is creation, even today. The reason the sun rises today. The reason the whole universe is still working the way that he designed it. Today, the reason that you're still breathing and your heart is still beating today is because Jesus is speaking it into existence.
Let's get that down for point number one: “Jesus speaks into existence.” Jesus speaks into existence. And I want to make it very clear that if we ever talk about life coming from somewhere, we need to say his name, speak his name. Where does life come from? Life comes from, not the universe. Alright, can I just go on a little rant here? Has anybody heard people personifying the universe like, oh, that bro got karma because the universe brought it back around. Have you heard somebody saying that? Oh, hey, they watch out if you put too much negative vibes out into the universe, the universe is going to come back and get you. Well, let's just make it very clear that Jesus is the one telling the universe what to do today, that all of the planets, all of the stars, all of the galaxies, they all operate at the command of Jesus. In him was life.
Who here has ever been to the beautiful Grand Canyon? Have you ever been to the beautiful Grand Canyon? Many of us have. I know some families from our church, they had a blessed vacation. Man, you go to the Grand Canyon, you see the splendor of it all. You're just kind of overwhelmed by it. You're there with your family. You ever get in that vacation time, or you're just having a good time, you're seeing beautiful things, your family's there. You're just feeling that positive vibe, kind of a life, man. I got so mad the last time I went to the Grand Canyon, like I was having this very positive experience. Wow, look at this over here. Oh, look how cute my kids are over here. I'm just feeling very, very good about life. And then I went into this display that the national parks of the United States of America had put together. And they started to tell me about the millions and billions of years of erosion that formed the Grand Canyon. And they started to tell me how awesome this person named Mother Nature was to produce the Grand Canyon.
What are we saying in the United States of America? There is no such person as Mother Nature. Can I get an amen from anybody? Speak his name. Look what Jesus is doing. That's who we should be worshiping. That's who we should be in awe of. Yeah, it's another beautiful day at the Grand Canyon. Praise Jesus. We need to speak his name more often. We need to get offended when people are trying to give the glory of the Lord In him was life. No, the universe did it. No, Mother Nature's out here doing something. No Jesus is speaking it. Sometimes you're with a group of friends or your family, and you say something, and then it happens, and you want to act like, yeah, I called that. I said that, like I spoke that into existence. You have spoken nothing into existence. But Jesus has spoken everything that ever existed. It all exists because “In him was life,” and he decided to say, so there is no life, no physical experience, no spiritual reality outside of Jesus. And so, if you're thinking that you've got like a like a life over here, and then there's your life with Jesus over here, you need to think again based on what it's saying here, “In him was life.”
Now go back with me to the Gospel of John, because with each one of our points here today, we're going to have a key word from our verses John 1:4-5. And so, our verse, our key word for this first point is the word Life, which is Zoe in the noun form, and Zao in the verb form. Now this word Life is like a major theme in the Gospel of John. In fact, you know, perhaps John, chapter 3, verse 16, that “God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son.” That's what we're celebrating this time of year, that “whoever believes in him will not perish, but have” what everybody? Eternal life. Okay, so this idea of, where does life come from? How do we get that life? And then what is that life really all about? Moving forward, that's what John is revealing to us.
Okay, so let me show you a couple of passages in John where he's trying to show us that Jesus has life in and of himself, that Jesus is the life. Go over to the end of chapter 4, right before chapter 5. Let me just show you a few examples of how the theme of Jesus being the light plays out in the Gospel of John. And this story here at the end of John 4 is not very well known, so you might not be familiar. Here when the second sign that Jesus does in Cana in Galilee. You might know the first one at the wedding where he turned the water into wine, but look at this in John 4:46, so he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum, a little bit away there, there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea, all the way down in the south, where Jerusalem is, to Galilee up in the north, where the sea is. He went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So, let's just get ourselves into that context here. Okay, it's a very serious thing that's happening, and this is something that some of us can only imagine, where you're concerned for the life of your child, and unfortunately, some of us here can do more than imagine this, but a father is now desperate that his son would live. He's feeling like he's in danger of losing his child. And so, he, when he sees his son here at the point of death, he's like, I'm going to go find Jesus. And so, Jesus said to him, look at verse 48, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe. The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’” if you can, come before he dies, maybe you could heal him, is possibly what the guy's thinking. Jesus said to him, Look at this. “Go, your son will” what everybody? He not even in the same place. He doesn't even see the son. He just speaks it, “go, your son will live.” He just says, life to your son. Look what happens. The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him like this desperate dad, here's what Jesus says. He hears Jesus say, live, and he believes it. He has faith in that. And so, he went on his way. And as he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So, he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, yesterday at the seventh hour,” that's 1pm, it was yesterday at one o'clock, the fever left him, and the father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, your son will live. And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee, just by saying, “Your son will live,” he extends the life of the son. We think, wow, that's an amazing miracle. No, no, no, that's a glimpse. That's a little picture into how life is every single day that Jesus is speaking, and he is upholding the entire universe by the Word of his power, “In him was life.”
Go over to John, chapter 11. Maybe this story you're more familiar with in the Gospel of John. Maybe you know that Jesus had a friend named Lazarus who died, and after waiting a couple of days, so Lazarus has now been buried. He's in the tomb, and he has been dead for days. Jesus comes upon the scene. Maybe you know that Lazarus had two sisters, Mary and Martha. Jesus was close friends with these people, and so when Jesus comes upon this scene where there are so many people mourning the death of Lazarus, Jesus says something absolutely audacious here in John 11:25. he says this to Martha Lazarus, sister, and he says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” I am the resurrection. I am the life after death, and I am the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live? And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Do you believe this? What an amazing thing to say to a lady who is mourning the loss of her beloved brother. “I am the life.” See, here's Jesus acting like the issue isn't when are your lungs going to stop breathing, or when is your heart going to stop beating, the issue is, do you believe in me? Because if you believe in me, then you will have my life. And even if you die, you will live. “I am the life.” Now, after this, Jesus does two very interesting things. One is, even though Jesus is the life, he is the resurrection, and if you know how the story goes, he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead, but before he even does that, he goes over there and he weeps with Martha and Mary and all the other people mourning there for Lazarus like Jesus, he has compassion. Jesus really cares about what people are going through, particularly as they go through the valley of the shadow of death, as they mourn their loved ones. Jesus weeps with them, and then he says, Where's the tomb? And they're like, well, it's been days now, well, it's going to smell bad now. Well, I don't think we want to go over there now, no. Where is it? And he goes over there, and what does he say? Let's go there. Verse 41, and actually start with me in verses 40-44. Jesus said to her, “Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’” And if you know the gospel of John, it's this miracle that just takes Jesus' popularity to an all-time high, and makes his enemies more jealous of him. This miracle is really kind of the inciting incident for the climax where they're going to come to kill Jesus, because once he raises Lazarus from the dead, people are just in awe. The crowds are just growing bigger. Like the guy went to the tomb. He said, “Lazarus, come out.” And the dead man walked out of the tomb. He is the life in him. Was life. One of the coolest things I've ever heard a preacher say in any sermon. Is good thing. He said, “Lazarus, come out,” otherwise all the dead people would have raised up that day, right? That's who Jesus is. Jesus is life in and of himself, and he's going to prove that not only can he heal the son who's about to die and give him life. Not only can he raise his dead friend and give him life, but when they kill him, he still has life.
In fact. Look, go back one chapter to John 10, verse 17. Look at how Jesus says it here in John 10, starting in verse 17.” For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father.” Here's Jesus just calling a shot. Here's Jesus saying, hey, yeah, when they kill me, it's not like they're really killing me. I'm laying myself down. I'm giving up my spirit. I'm willing to lay it down. And let me just tell you right now, I will take it up again, because I have the authority to do that. “I am the life.” So, we need to make sure that the way we think about Jesus, Jesus didn't just come and have a life on planet Earth where he lived the perfect life, and then he laid down his life, and then he rose again to life. No, Jesus is already the life before there's even creation, before the incarnation. In fact, there is no life that is happening anywhere outside of Jesus.
Now go back to John, chapter 1, because with that understanding, In him was life, now we want to talk about the light, okay, the way the life of Jesus comes to us is through this idea of light. The life was the light of all mankind. Now, this theme of light is what we're going to be tracking this Christmas. And you can see once it mentions light here in verse 4, look at how it just takes over these next few verses, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” So, right away we get the contrast between the light and the dark. We'll talk more about that in a minute. But then we get this word about John the Baptist, verse 7, “He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.” So, people are supposed to see this light and then respond with faith. John the Baptist was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. And then here we have a description of the true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. So, in verse 4, “He is the light to all mankind,” or he's the light of mankind. In verse 9, he's the true light, and he gives light to everyone. And the way that we kind of see this life that was already there before creation, this life that kind of exists in the eternal realm, in the spiritual realm, well, the way that we see that is when he came into the world, and now that's revealing to us. The light of the glory that God has is now being revealed to us, and Jesus is that light.
So, I don't know if you associate light is what gives life, but I want to introduce you to our Christmas poinsettias, because they need light. And we underestimated that when we bought these Christmas looking flowers, and we put them up here on the stage. And then we found out that the faithful lady who waters the plants at church has been on vacation this week. We almost killed these poinsettias here at Christmas time, everybody, because they were in this room all week long. And then all of a sudden, some of us are realizing, oh, no, photosynthesis. Do you remember that it's not just, did we water them if they're going to stay. These guys were looking pretty droopy a few days ago. And then we realized, what do they need to have life? They need what? Light. So, Jesus coming into the world is what brings the life that God has in eternity to us, and that's what we want to really look at together this Christmas.
Go to John, chapter 12. Now we're going to talk about this today, next week, and on Christmas Eve. But John 12 shows us the urgency with which you and everyone you know needs to think about Jesus being the light. If you know the outline of this gospel, John 12, kind of finishes the first section of the gospel, which is all the signs of the miracles, the teachings, the conversations that Jesus does. And then in John 13, it all becomes one scene in the upper room, The Last Supper, Jesus teaching his disciples how to live, how he's going to send his spirit, because he's going to go to the Father. And here's what I want you to do. So, John 12 is the end of the first section of the gospel, and then he starts to teach his disciples in John 13. So here towards the end of John 12, look at verses 35 and 36 here of John 12. he says, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” And then, later on, he's going to say, look at verse 44. “Jesus cried out.” That's kind of the last thing he says before he meets with his disciples. “Whoever believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me, and whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
See, so the picture of the world is that it's all dark, and then Jesus coming into the world. It's like, what it's doing is it's peeling back the wallpaper of space and time, and it's giving you a glimpse into this other realm, this other this other kingdom, where there is life, and there is light. And Jesus is like, I'm coming to show you this light. This light that I'm showing you is really from the Father. In fact, if you believe in me, if you can see me, you're really seeing God himself. And then Jesus gives this sense of urgency, like, while you have the light, you need to believe in the light, otherwise you're going to stay in the dark. Like, hey, there's a limited time, there's a window of opportunity. Like, hey, the light is shining right now, and you're either going to see it and believe it, or you're going to stay in the dark, is what's going to happen. And so, Jesus, he doesn't just say, hey, the light’s there, take it or leave it. No, he's like, if you don't believe in the light, let me just make it clear you will remain in the dark. Here's Jesus saying the light is only available for a limited amount of time. See it. Believe it. See what God is really doing outside of space and time. Enter into eternal life. That's the pitch that Jesus is making, and you only have a short amount of time to believe or not to believe.
So, let's get this down for number two: “Jesus reveals what's behind space and time.” Jesus reveals what's behind space and time. He's shining to us the glory of the Father. He's revealing to us grace and truth. He's showing us there's a life and it's called Eternal Life a lot of times is how we translate it, but it's the life of the age to come. So, our key word for point number two here is this word Fos, light. You see the light, and you're either going to respond to it with faith, or you're going to end up in the dark. So, we need, as we talk about this, this isn't just something we can study and kind of think about a little bit or not think about a little bit. There's a sense of urgency to our conversation about Jesus being the light of the world. There's a sense of like, hey, while you have the light, you have a chance to respond and believe. Don't put it off, otherwise you're going to find yourself in the dark. It's kind of like saying to people, there are only ten more shopping days till Christmas. You know what I mean? And some of us, when we hear that, fear sets in, panic, the look of our loved one eyes gazing at us with a tear going down their cheek because we didn't get them anything for Christmas. And then others of you, when I say ten more shopping days till Christmas, you sit back in your chair, confident. You put your arms across your chest, and you know that your Christmas shopping is done. It's been checked off, for some days now, you have nothing to worry about. Your loved ones. you're going to blow their minds this Christmas, and you’ve got a great deal on it too. That's what you know. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? Some of you, you know who you are, some of us are scrambling. Others very confident. That's how it is with the light. Some of us, we know we're in the light as he is in the light. Some not so sure. And if you're not so sure this Christmas, you don't have time to beat around the bush. You don't have time to put it off. In fact, some of us, we might be thinking of our loved ones this season, and we might be thinking about the fact that they will openly say they don't believe in Jesus. They don't see Jesus as the life. They don't see the light of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus. I just want to remind you that everybody you know and love who doesn't believe in Jesus, they are in the dark. And I want to remind you that there's a sense of urgency about this. Putting a verse on the back of the Christmas card is not going to be enough. You need to shine the light of Jesus this Christmas. You need to feel like, how many more Christmases do we have? How many more years do we have? How many weeks, months? How much time is left to see the light, to see what he came and did for us, to see what he revealed to us, they need to see it now, and we need to pray. We need to think about what we could possibly say. We need to give them a gospel of John and invite them to read it. We need to see if you could say to somebody, hey, all I really want for Christmas this year, all that I would really desire from you is if you would come to church and worship Jesus with me, as if we could sit down and have a meal together, and I could share with you why I believe that Jesus is the light of the world. Because I want you to see it. I want you to believe it. I don't want you to be in the darkness.
See, go with me to John 17, where Jesus is going to define what this life really is, okay? There's a life, and it's often called eternal life, but you could even translate that life, eternal life, life of the age to come. Look how Jesus says it here in John 17. So, after he teaches his disciples in John 13 and 14 and 15 and 16, in John 17, the entire chapter is a prayer that Jesus prays to the Father in heaven. Let's start it together. John 17:1, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you,” since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. “And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” So, eternal life is not just going to heaven when you die. Eternal life is not just living forever. Everybody is a soul, a spiritual being made in the image of God. Everyone is going to live forever. It's just a matter of where they are going. So eternal life doesn't mean you go to heaven when you die, and it doesn't mean, oh, you get to live forever. What eternal life is is, it's this quality of life. It's this life of the age to come. It's this life that transcends space and time. Because you know God, that's what eternal life is. It's a quality of life where now you are aware that God is there, that God is everywhere, that God is all around you. And you practice the presence of God. You know that God is with you. You don't think you're over here doing something and God somewhere else. No, now you know God. And so, you start to do things like praying to God and talking to God, and you start to want to know more about God. So, you start to search the Scriptures, not because you're a religious person, not because you want to know what's right or wrong. You start searching the Scriptures because you want to see who your God is. You want to know the one true God through Jesus Christ, whom he sent. This is what eternal life is. Eternal life is knowing God. That's what it is. And the light that comes in Jesus, he's the one that shows that to you. He shows you how you could know God through him dying on the cross for your sins, through him rising again. Wow, if I trust in Jesus, then it's not just that I get saved, it's in my salvation I now have a new relationship where I'm adopted into God's family. I'm one of his beloved children, and I can call on him as my Father, and the one who sits on the throne in heaven knows my name.
So, I want to ask you, is knowing God the most important thing in your life? Like, if you would say, well, I'm a Christian. I celebrate Christmas. Okay, well, let me ask you, would the people around you get the impression that you're thinking about God and. every day that you're thinking about God, throughout the day, that you're spending time with him, one on one, in the secret place that you're getting the Scripture as God reveals himself, and that's in your head. And the reason the people around you would think you're thinking about God is because they hear you saying things about God, and they can tell wow, my dad or my mom, or whoever you are in the household, one of the kids, wow., they love me, but they love God more. I can tell they're always thinking about God. Do people know that about you, that you have eternal life, not just that you have the hope of heaven, but that you know God today?
And then go to John chapter 20. Look at this verse that kind of summarizes the whole reason John wrote this book. Okay, so this is why this is my favorite book. This is why John is my favorite writer of Scripture, okay, because he always tells us exactly why he wrote what he wrote. And here in John chapter 20, look at verse 30. Maybe you've got the heading there. The purpose of this book. In our English Standard Version translation, it says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples.” Okay, now, let's just make it clear, the guy who writes this gospel that is not John the Baptist. This is the disciple. In fact, he calls himself the disciple whom Jesus, what, everybody? Loved. Okay, so he doesn't name himself throughout the gospel, but in John 1, John the Baptist, introduces some disciples to Jesus, and one of those guys who gets introduced to Jesus is John, the disciple, later known as the apostle John. In fact, we know Peter, James, and John were the three closest disciples to Jesus. So, this book, the Gospel of John, is an eyewitness account, like he got introduced to Jesus at the start of the ministry of Jesus. He saw all the miracles. He heard the teachings. In fact, John was a part of some private conversations that we don't get in the other gospels that John reveals to us, John was actually the guy leaning up against Jesus at the Last Supper, like he's literally leaning on Jesus while they eat. John was standing so close to Jesus when he was dying on the cross that Jesus told John to take care of his mom after he died, John was the first person who ran to the tomb and saw that it was empty. At least he humbly brags that he ran faster to Peter to the tomb, and he looked in and it was empty. And so, John's like, hey, I could write a lot of things that I saw Jesus do, but I wrote these things down. And he says in verse 31 these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have what? Life.
See. that's the whole point. Through the light of who Jesus is and what he did, you could have the life that the Father has, that the Son has, that the spirit has; you could be brought into knowing that life. So, this is how the Gospel of John works. He's going to show us the signs, the miracles, the teachings, these are things that only God could do. Look at how Jesus does them, and then the response is that you would believe, that you would have faith, that you would transfer your trust. Jesus is the life. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth. I'm trusting in Jesus. And when you transfer your trust to Jesus, that he died for you to pay for your sin, and he rose again to give you this new quality of life. When you trust in Jesus, you now have life in his name. So, this is what John's doing. Let me give you the signs so that you can believe, because I want you to share in this life, this quality of life where you can know God, because I got to be an eyewitness, and I want you to see what I saw. That's how this book works. And so, the light is us being able to see what God is revealing to us through his Son, Jesus, the light that comes into the world.
Now go back to John chapter 1, because the light, when, as soon as we get this idea that the life is going to come to us through the light, well, then there's this contrast that is introduced here, this contrast between the light and the darkness. That's what verse five is all about. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And the Greek word here, overcome it gets taken in kind of some different ways. Here, overcome it could mean the darkness has not laid hold of the light. The darkness has not seized the light. It could be this statement about how the darkness can't really stop the light, but it also could be a way of saying that the darkness doesn't understand the light, or the darkness doesn't comprehend the light. Some scholars are taking that different ways. But see, there's a contrast here. And if you have a hard time seeing how awesome Jesus is, well, if you read John, it'll really help you. It'll show you the signs that will help you believe. But see, one of the things that we can see is the contrast between the light and the darkness. When the light shines in, the darkness is exposed. Maybe the darkness just seems normal. Maybe the darkness just seems a status quo. How things go here on planet Earth. But when the light shines into, oh, now you can really see that it's darkness. And here's the thing, light is greater than the darkness. The light shines into the darkness. The darkness does not get to define the light. The light actually defines the darkness. See, the darkness can rise up and kill Jesus. But guess what Jesus will do? He'll just rise from the dead. The darkness can rise up and even kill the messengers of Jesus. Let's stop the message. Stop preaching. Jesus will stop you from preaching. Jesus will kill you. Guess what Jesus does? Just raises up more messengers. Like nothing in the darkness can stop the light of Jesus Christ from shining. He is the light of all mankind. He is the light that has come into the world, and the darkness was defeated by the light. But there is contrast between the light and the dark.
Let's get that down for number three: “Jesus contrasts the blindness of unbelief.” The blindness of unbelief is how I'm defining the darkness, because the point of John is that we would believe and have that life. Well, the darkness is the response of not believing in Jesus. So that's why I'm calling it the blindness of unbelief. But I want to emphasize that the light of Jesus Christ contrasts with the darkness. And maybe if you're having a hard time seeing the light, well, maybe you’re realizing how dark the darkness really is, will help you see our need for the light, and how there must be a light in this level of darkness that we're currently experiencing. So, there's a contrast here. Now you could, under point number three, you could even write down “evil” under unbelief, because the darkness, that's what it represents. It represents evil. The darkness represents the evil that's within us, the evil that's all around us in the world, and the darkness even talks about that in this realm out there, in this spiritual life. Out there, beyond space and time, there are spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And the thing that these spiritual forces of evil don't want you thinking about is that they are right now running a kingdom of darkness on this planet. And the thing they just want you to have a Merry Christmas and not really think about the fact that right now, they're blinding everybody from seeing the light of Jesus Christ. So, it's sinister. It's malicious. It's not like the world could just be a better place. It's not like if we just had better leaders and a better environment, we could produce better results. No, it's like there are actually forces of evil out there with the intent to steal, kill, and destroy. There are actually evil forces out there. They don't care about you. They don't care about your loved ones. They want them to die in their sin. They want them to go to a place of darkness forever. And Jesus said that the enemy has come to steal and kill and destroy, but Jesus came that we might have life, abundant life. So sometimes we'll say stuff like, well, there's a battle between something and evil. What do we usually put in there? There's a battle between what? Good and evil. Here's what we need to learn how to think. There's a battle between Jesus and evil. There is no other place you're going to find goodness besides Jesus. There are no other reinforcements that are coming to save the day. No, the story of Christmas is the way that we get saved. It's not like, oh well, there's just forces of good out there, and we can just believe in them. No, here is the one who is good, his name, speak his name. His name is Jesus, and it's Jesus versus evil. It's God versus evil. One of the great lies that some of us believe is that there's just goodness out there. No, no, no, there's darkness and there's light, and the light comes from the life of God in the face of Jesus.
So, we need to really take a moment and consider this presence, because the fact that a light is coming in and shining, exposes what's really going on in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 4, it says that, in their case, people who don't believe in Jesus, in their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. Who is the god of this world, everybody? Satan, the accuser, the adversary, the devil, he is called. He's the leader of all the fallen angels. He's the leader of the demons. He's not on the level of God and Jesus. He's just on the level of an angel. But he's blinding people so they can't see the light. He's deceiving people so they don't come to Jesus for the life that God is offering. He's trying to keep people in the darkness through their unbelief. It says that the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God there. There are active forces of evil wanting to keep our loved ones in the dark. If you don't believe in Jesus, there are active forces of evil led by Satan who want to keep you from believing in Jesus.
So, point number three, the key word here, is darkness, and darkness involves a whole kingdom, just like there's a kingdom of light where the glory of God is shining, well, there's a kingdom of darkness where there's deception, and they don't even want us talking about how right now, there's a God of this world who's blinding people and keeping them in the dark. So, the Gospel of John tells us these wonderful things, these amazing things about God and his love for us and the light that we can see through Jesus that reveals God to us. The Gospel of John also tells us terrible things, terrible things about ourselves, terrible things about the world we live in, and especially spine tingling, bone chilling things about Satan and demons and what they're really up to.
Go with me to John, chapter 13. We're going to take communion here in a little bit. But in John 13, when he describes that last supper, we know from Matthew, Mark, and Luke that one of the things Jesus does at the Last Supper is he passes around the bread, and he says, “This is my body. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he passes around the cup, this is my blood. And so, Jesus establishes at this supper a way to remember Jesus, which we want to do this Christmas. Remember how Jesus laid down his life, he sacrificed his body, he shed his righteous blood. But see John, when he gives us the Last Supper, he doesn't tell us about Jesus passing the bread. He doesn't tell us about Jesus passing the cup. In fact, in John 13, when Jesus passes the bread, something terrible happens. Here. Look at this with me. This is John chapter 13, starting in verse 21, “After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit.” So, we've already had this part where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, and he uses that as a teaching moment to love one another. But then he says this in verse 21, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Now, if you've ever read the story of Jesus, you know Judas is the one who's going to betray him with a kiss, for thirty pieces of silver. But it's interesting to notice here, verse 22, “The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.” The disciples, they haven't seen Jesus treat one of them differently than everybody else. They haven't seen somebody clearly acting off or anti what they're doing. So, there's a whole layer of deception. They don't know who the betrayer is, who the mole is, so to speak, among the twelve disciples. And so, I love how this scene plays out. Verse 23, “One of his disciples whom Jesus loved,” we know who he is. That's John. He's reclining at the table at Jesus' side. And so, Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. Jesus says, “I'm troubled in my spirit. One of you will betray me.” Can you just see Peter on the other side of the table? Like giving John the dagger eyes right now? Like, that's so Peter right there. Like, don't let it go. Like, hey, you know you can just see Peter making a bunch of awkward motions so that John feels like, leave me alone. Peter, okay, Peter, like there's this whole nonverbal communication happening. And then John, because he's right there, he says, “Who is it, Lord?” Who is it? Who's the one who's going to betray you? Verse 26, “Jesus answered, ‘It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread, when I have dipped it.’” So, when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the sign, the son of Simon Iscariot. And then “after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him buy what we need for the feast, or that we should give something to the poor. So, “after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was,” what does John say, everybody? It was what? It was dark out there. It's like John's got this image in his mind of the door flinging open and Jesus running out. And what does John see? The darkness. John wants you to know that at the Last Supper, when Judas left to go betray the Lord Jesus, Satan was there in the upper room. This wasn't just Judas making poor life choices. The forces of evil were there working against Jesus, thinking that they could kill the light, thinking that the darkness could overtake the light. The darkness is more evil than maybe you're even willing to admit. And the good thing is, I think, that at Christmas 2024, in the United States of America, we might be more willing to admit the darkness than we ever have been in our lives. And I think that's good. I think we need to acknowledge the evil that is under the reign of Satan right now. And I can just tell you, for me, I just can't go and celebrate Christmas with my family and just turn a blind eye to all the blindness that's out there, like I have great memories of Christmas.
I grew up so blessed with my family. I got so spoiled with all of the gifts. I can still see myself so happy on Christmas morning, so loved by my family. I've had the joy now of being blessed with my own children and giving them gifts and seeing their joy, seeing their delight. Don't get me wrong, I love celebrating Christmas with my family, but here's the thing, I've talked to too many people at this point. I've heard too many stories of too many families, and I know what happens to people when they're children. Not everybody's getting gifts, not everybody's feeling overwhelmed with love, not everybody's being raised up in an environment where the adults that they know care about them. No, children are being wildly mistreated all around us. Children are being abused. Children are having things done to them that should never be done. In reference to children, and it was people that they trusted, it was their uncle, it was their teacher, it was their coach. No, there are unspeakable things of darkness that are happening. Not only are kids going to be given gifts this year, kids will be sold this year at Christmas time. In fact, some of our kids will grow up and they will be given fentanyl. And there are more and more kids that I have come to see being killed by fentanyl. There is an evil out there, an evil that is actively right now at Christmas, seeking to steal and kill and destroy. And the contrast between the darkness and the light is something we need to see. In fact, it is how evil the darkness really is that should give us this sense of we need to let our light shine this Christmas. We need to make sure that everybody knows the good news of the light of the world, because we don't want our loved ones staying in the darkness. We want them to hear Jesus speak to them and call them out of the darkness and into his marvelous light.
And so, one of the things a lot of people, they're like, God, Jesus, Christmas sounds nice. I don't need it. No. When you understand how dark things really are, then you can, by contrast, see your need for the light, and we are living in a very dark world where Satan is running the whole system, and the darkness is even in us. And that should make us so thankful that we can see the light of Jesus and wanting to share with everybody. We know that they need to see the light of Jesus.
Turn with me to Acts 26 and let's hear it from Paul's own testimony in Acts, chapter 26. You know Paul, Paul's an interesting character in the book of Acts, because he starts out as Saul, who's a killer of Christians. He's trying to actually stop the message of Jesus. He's trying to actually be the darkness, snuffing out the light. That's how we meet him as Saul in the book of Acts. And then what happens? He's on the road to Damascus. And who does he see? Jesus. And Paul's conversion is an example that God can save anybody, the biggest hater. So, the biggest opponent to the gospel of Jesus can be saved into the greatest missionary and evangelist for the gospel of Jesus. But the way that Paul gets saved is unique in that he literally sees the glory of Jesus, and it is a light that blinds him. And so, Paul then, after he has this glorious vision of Jesus, Jesus’ action, Paul actually gets to see the light of the world. And he goes from like, maybe the person on planet Earth the most against Jesus, to the person on planet Earth the most for Jesus. And he goes from like, we’ve got to get them to stop talking about this, so we got to go tell everybody about this. And so, now they're trying to kill Paul to get him to stop spreading the light, because that's what the darkness is. The darkness wants to steal, kill, and destroy. And so, this Paul guy, who used to be for the darkness, has now become a big problem for the darkness, so we're going to kill him. And so, he ends up on trial after trial after trial, and every trial, what does he do? He shares his testimony. He shares his story of how he saw the light of Jesus. Look how he shares it here in Acts 26, verse 14, “And when all had fallen to the ground because they saw this light from heaven, brighter than the sun shone around them, and when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, ‘Who are you Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people, the Jews, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you.” Underline this. Acts 26, verse 18, “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
That's our prayer for Christmas 2024, “Oh, Father in heaven, will you please open their eyes? Please, Father, don't let them stay in the darkness. That's not what you sent your son for. Your son is the light of the world. He shines into the darkness. Please don't let them remain in the darkness. Turn them from the darkness to light.” Everyone that you know is either under the power of Satan in a kingdom of darkness, or they are in the light of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of heaven. And so, we want to see God deliver them from the power of Satan to his power to turn them from the darkness to the light. “O, God open their eyes.” It's a spiritual thing. That's what is more clear to me when I read the Gospel of John than any other book I've ever read in my entire life, that everything I can see with these eyes is just the surface. It's not what's really going on. Oh, it's Christmas time. Everybody's happy. No, I've talked to too many people, too many of you. Some days here at church, I just talk to people all day. And people come with their burdens. They come with their trials. They tell me what's really going on. There are so many people here at our church. They are not happy this holiday season. They are not feeling merry this Christmas the things that have happened in their life, the hard trials, the relationship struggles that they've had with their loved ones, the way that they've been mistreated, they're not feeling joy. But the ultimate point is not, do you feel joy on December 25, the point is, can you see the light? Are you in the light? And there are some people to whom the holidays feel like a dark time of year, but the light of Jesus burns brightly in their souls, and they can see what life really is all about. It's not about this present hour. It's not about this current darkness. No, life is knowing God through Jesus he sent.
Can you see that? Is it clear to you what's really happening this Christmas, that there are those who will celebrate that the light of the world has come, and then there are those who are still in the dark? And so, I hope that this Christmas, you can think more about the life of Jesus. You can spend more time thinking about how he came as light, and you can really care for those who are in the dark, that you would want God to open their eyes, to turn them from the darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God. So, if you want to talk to somebody after this service, I’ll be here up front. We have a welcome tent out in the courtyard. If you know you're in the dark under the power of Satan, I would encourage you to come to the light right now. Don't remain in the darkness. Grab a gospel of John; go home and read it. And if you're like a man, I want to reach out to my loved ones. Well, let's start praying that God will open their eyes to see the light of the world. Let's bring them here. Let's bring the Gospel of John to them. It's time for people to see Jesus this Christmas. Let me pray for us.
Father in heaven, we come before you, and we're thankful for these simple words that are so profound it's hard to even comprehend them. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not overtake it. God, I pray that you could open up our eyes to see what that really means, that you and your Son and your Spirit, you have had the life for all of eternity. You are self-sufficient in your own glory, that you are life and then that you have spoken life into existence. Let there be light. And you have even sent your Son, Jesus, Father, to be the light of the world, to reveal to us this glory and this life that you have always had to show us now in time and space. So, Father, I just pray on behalf of all of my brothers and sisters where we've seen the signs of Jesus, we've believed in Jesus, and now we have your life, I pray that the purpose of today and every day that we live would be to know you, the one true God, through Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I pray that that's what we would want to do is just see you in the light of your glory and worship you. And I pray that especially at Christmas, we will think more about Jesus. Father, convict us if we think we have life over here apart from Jesus. No, Jesus is the life, and his light should shine everywhere in our life. And so, Father, for those of us who have believed, let us take this little light of mine and let it shine this Christmas. Renew our prayers for our lost loved ones. Give us compassion for those who are in the darkness, let us pray that you will open their eyes. Let us open our mouths and tell them Jesus is the light of the world. And I pray for those who are here in this service right now who realize they are still in the darkness today, Father, open their eyes. Let them step into the light. Let them put their faith in Jesus Christ and that believing, let them have your life, the eternal life, the higher quality of life, where they really know you. Father, we ask you to save people here today and this Christmas season, we ask that this Christmas we would really have our eyes open to see Jesus, the light of the world, and that the darkness cannot stop Jesus from shining. We pray this in his name, amen. Amen.