Light for Everyone

If you would, take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 1. The Gospel of John chapter 1 is once more. We read the prologue to this Gospel. You follow as I read. that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory glories of the only son from the father full of grace and truth john bore witness about him and cried out this was he of whom i said he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me and from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace for the law was given through moses grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God, the only God, but only God who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. Father, now open our eyes to your word. Help us to understand it. Help us to rejoice in it. Lord God, we pray that through this we might see again what this season is all about.

Help us now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Yesterday, our grandson Tyler put the lights on our Christmas tree. And before he turned them on his brother Ryan turned out all the lights just to make sure it would shine well it would look good Tyler flipped the switch there was a flash of light and then a tsunami of darkness overcame everything Right? Do you think that's what happened?

No, that's not what happened. The lights didn't go out. The light stayed, but because the light stayed, there was no darkness. The darkness fled. There was no flash of light, and suddenly all the darkness came back in again. When the light shines, the darkness retreats.

Christmas is called the season of lights, and for good reason, because Christ is the light. We just read that in this prologue to the Gospel of John. Now, many books start out, and they try to reveal the themes to you. You can read a book, and you can start seeing, okay, I know where this story is going. And the same thing is true with this prologue, this introduction to the Gospel of John.

He presents themes that are important for an accurate portrayal of Jesus. Three of those themes are gathered together in verses 4 and 5. So let's look at those again. Verses 4 and 5. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Three of those themes here we find in those two verses. And so in these verses, John gives you more material to build your theology of Christmas. Your theology of Christmas. We find that he talks about life, light, and darkness. And here's what he says. In Jesus you find life.

In him was life. The first theme John previews for us is life. The word life appears 36 times in this gospel. The preceding verses say that the word was with God, the word was God, and all things were made through him. And so the word, the second person of the Trinity, is source of all life in this universe. All life in this universe comes from him.

But not merely does he possess life, but he is life itself. He is life. The life is found in him and comes through him. Now certainly as creator, Jesus is the source of all biological life, if we want to call it that, all physical or biological life. But as Savior and Lord he is also the source of spiritual life You remember how John said what John said was the purpose of this book at the end of the book in John chapter 20 verse 31 I written these things that you may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you might have what?

You might have life in his name. Surely, he's not talking about biological life there. We all have that already. But by believing in Jesus, we have this other kind of life, this eternal life. John 3.16, we all know it, do we not? You know it, right?

Good. Yeah, we all know John 3.16, that by believing in him, we have what? Eternal life. Now, we can't think of eternal life in terms of quantity. Too often we think of eternal life as quantity, just the extension of life. But that's not what John is trying to tell us.

He's not talking about quantity. He's talking about quality. It's not the prolonging of your earthly life, but the heavenly life that begins the moment you believe in Jesus. It never ends, but it isn't just this long life. It's a different kind of life. It's the, what's the opposite of eternal life?

What's the opposite of it? It's condemnation, is it not? That's what he says in chapter 3, verse 36. Look at it. Chapter 3, verse 36. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. The opposite of this life is not merely death, but God's holy judgment. So life is entry into the glorious light of Christ, the glorious and eternal reign of Jesus. It's more than just physical life. It's a different kind of life. It's a life under Christ.

It's a life that is different than what we've experienced so far. Now people think that turning to Jesus is going to take all the fun out of life. You never thought that, did you, before you were a Christian? It's going to take all the fun out of life. It's going to destroy life. but it's interesting that when you come to Jesus your capacity for joy is vastly increased for now you have eternal life the capacity to live life the way God intended it to live and instead of sapping you of all the joy of life it instead gives you greater joy Sin deadens you Sin saps your life.

But Christ fills you with wonder and purpose. G. Campbell Morgan, some of you are familiar with him. He was a great preacher from the last century. G. Campbell Morgan tells of a time when he was a boy.

He met a man who had recently been converted under the ministry of his father. It was a few days after this man's conversion. He found him in the garden, and he's just staring at something. And he walked up, and he looked, and he saw that a leaf had fallen from the tree, and he was just staring at this leaf. And Morgan says to him, what are you looking at?

And his response was, the beauty of God. He started to see things differently. Jesus doesn't come with a life that just saps you of everything okay now I'm a follower of Jesus I guess I better get with the program right it's not that at all it's a life that increases your enjoyment you see things differently the whole world looks different this is what John wants you to see in Christ in him was life are you really living? are you really living? do you sense that your life matters?

Right? That your life matters. Are you excited about things or just preoccupied? Just preoccupied with stuff. Just trying to get by. Remember, Jesus says in John chapter 10, the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy.

I have come that you may have life and have it to the full. Following Jesus, believing in Jesus is life. He is life. And it brings you the kind of life that you never thought possible. He gives the spiritual life a life that frees you from the deadening, enslaving power of sin. As I was working yesterday, I was listening to a podcast that I like on NPR.

And it was this particular story about this one guy who was a burglar. And he'd gotten really good because he had this incredible talent for climbing. and what he would do is he'd climb up on the roof of these one-story businesses, and he would go climb back down in, steal the money, and then climb out and away. And they could not capture this guy. They couldn't figure out.

They finally caught him. But do you know why he was doing that? Because he had to gamble. He would climb in, steal the money, and if he got money, if he could get in the safe or the cash register or whatever the money was, If he got the money, his alarm would go off at 1 o'clock in the morning. He'd go out, climb, get in, get the money, get out. If he got money, where do you think he went?

He went straight to the casino. Usually lose it all and then go rob another place the next night. He was doing this constantly. He was enslaved to that. Someone says to you, if you follow Jesus, you won't be able to go to the casino anymore. Yeah, isn't that good?

Right? Not enslaved. This man was enslaved. And they talked to him. They talked to him. And it's fascinating to hear him talk about the fact that he just could not get free.

He finally got caught. He went to serve some time, went to some classes on compulsive gambling. And guess what happened? yeah started gambling again why it had a hold on him talk to anybody who said listen give me my alcohol give me my pornography give me my gambling give me whatever it is man that's where life is you talk to them and you'll find that's not where life is and jesus frees you from that sort of thing and he frees you to live a life that is better than anything you ever had.

In Jesus you find life, but that's not all. In Jesus you see the light. Notice what he says, and the life was the light of men. This life in Christ comes as a light shining in the darkness. Light is another of John's great themes. Now what does light do?

The first thing that life does is reveal. When you walk into a dark room, you turn on the light. Okay? The other day I was upstairs already getting into bed and said, oh no, I forgot. I got something in the kitchen. I probably forgot to take my medicine or whatever it was.

So I went downstairs And of course you know you don I don want to turn on all the lights So you walking through you walking through the darkness Sometimes I have to turn off the lights before I go upstairs and it dark for a little period of time I've learned to walk like this. Okay? I do not want to bump my head. I do not want to hit my head. And I'm always doing this, right?

Why? Because you can't see anything. Light reveals the objects that are in your way. and that's what Isaiah prophesied that's what Isaiah prophesied you heard it this morning turn back to Isaiah chapter 8 Isaiah chapter 8 verse 19 and when they say to you inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter should not a people inquire of their God should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living to the teaching and to the testimony.

If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be engaged, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish in the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.

You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. You see that? man lives in spiritual darkness he's ignorant about God he lives in superstition and so Jesus comes revealing the glory of God shedding the light so that they can see the world does not know God but one comes who shows us the glory of God there's the glory of God in the face of Christ and the light comes and guides them shows them reveals to them what's true and what is not the light also warms to walk in darkness is to walk in sin and moral depravity but the light of christ warms the heart so that it is changed john chapter 12 listen to what jesus says in john chapter 12 verse 46 I have come into the world as a light so that no one who believes in me should stay in the darkness To stay in that darkness of moral depravity where you cannot see.

He comes and he warms our hearts that we believe in Jesus. He changes us. This is a light that warms and changes us. Harry Ironside. Now, some of you younger people have never heard of Harry Ironside. Some of us my age heard a little bit about him.

But to my dad, to that generation, he's one of the heroes of the faith. He was a Bible teacher that traveled all across the country preaching. He was once preaching in San Francisco when a famous atheist approached and handed him a card which read, Sir, I challenge you to debate with me about agnosticism versus Christianity and name the place and time.

Ironside read the card and replied. Let me tell you, I'll just quote him now. I'm very much interested in this challenge. Therefore, I will be glad to agree to this debate on the following conditions. Namely, in order to prove that this gentleman has something worth fighting for and worth debating about, he will promise to bring with him to the hall next Sunday two people. one man who was for years what we commonly call a down and outer a man who for years was under the power of evil habits from which he could not deliver himself but who on some occasion heard the glorification of agnosticism and his denunciations of the Bible and Christianity and whose heart and mind as he listened to such an address was so deeply stirred that he went away from the meeting saying henceforth I too am an agnostic and as a result of imbibing that particular philosophy found that a new power had come into his life.

The sins he once loved he now hates. The righteousness and goodness are now the ideals of life. All because he is an agnostic. Along with such a man, Ironside said, bring a woman with the same issues. And he says, I'll bring a hundred people from my side who've been changed, converted by the preaching of the gospel. Now look, I know this does not meet the canons of debate. just bringing people does not win the debate about what's true or what's not but let face it let face it the light has come into the world and people have been changed by it some of you are here today who would say to me i don know all the intellectual arguments I don know all the ins and outs But I do know this I do know this.

Before Jesus shone his light on my heart, I was enslaved, I was miserable, and now I live. Light not only reveals and warms, but it also guides. here he's no doubt talking about not not alluding to if you will maybe not but he's at least saying you remember the light remember the light that guided the israelites as they left egypt that pillar of fire that guided them out and showed them the way that led them through the desert during the Exodus? Doesn't Psalm 119, 105 say, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path?

And the very word of God, the second person of the Trinity, the word who is God said in chapter 8 of this book, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Light that guides us, that shows us. As you follow Jesus and obey His command, life becomes clearer to you. You understand more deeply what life is about.

Right? It guides you. It opens up whole new vistas of understanding you never had before. Talked a little bit about that in Sunday school this morning. How when the Holy Spirit comes and regenerates you, you're given whole new capacities to understand the world. To understand what life is all about.

To know the answers. You have answers. Listen to me. You have answers as Christians that far surpass the sophisticated intellectual people of this world. In Colossians, the Apostle Paul says, don't be captured by the philosophy of the world. They're nothing but the elementary principles.

That is, the world has nothing but the ABCs that you learn in kindergarten. You are tapped into the source of wisdom, which is the Lord Jesus. you understand life better than most of the all of the unregenerate unsophisticated intellectual people out there I'm saying to you as I've talked to people advised and interacted with people about problems about things going on in their lives I have found that Christians you would have a whole lot more effect people than a lot of these intellectual folks out there who claim to have the answers to life. The Word of God guides you.

You understand. You have a whole different view of work than the world does. You understand work differently. Now I know it's a struggle. You've got to really get your thinking. You've got to pound your thinking into submission to the Word of God.

Nevertheless, you know because of the Spirit of God, because you have this light, you know that work can be a vehicle for the glory of God. Right? You know more about your marriage because you're a follower of Jesus. You understand that it's more than just a bunch of nifty little techniques to give us a nice, homey, comfortable marriage. You know that because of Jesus, it's been lifted and transformed and brought to a place that says, this is the very expression of the love of Christ for the church. and we have a way of showing the world what God is like because we're married.

You have a whole new way of understanding deeper and wider than anything that's out there. All because of this light that guides you. So in Jesus, you not only see life, you see light. But lastly, notice what he says. In the world, you find opposition to the light. Isn't that what he says?

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. The third theme that John discusses is darkness. If light stands for the knowledge of God, then darkness surely stands for the rebellious ignorance of God, the spiritual ignorance in which the world is perishing. If light stands for warmth and goodness, darkness is enslavement to sin and evil.

If the light leads us in good paths, the darkness obscures those paths. If light brings life, then darkness is the realm of death. And darkness opposes the light. The light shines in the darkness, but darkness has not overcome it. Isn't that interesting? Wherever light is, it chases away darkness, does it not?

You've never experienced that, right? When you turn on the lights, there's a flash of light, and then suddenly there's darkness again? the light automatically, naturally flees from, the darkness flees from the light. And the coming of Jesus as the light meets the opposition of a darkened world Chapter 3 verse 19 Look at that very quickly And this is the judgment.

The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. What's Jesus saying there? You know what my mom used to tell us? My brother and I used to say, hey, let's turn out the lights and play. Maybe we had flashlights, but let's turn out the lights and play. And my mom would say, no, no.

Men love the darkness rather than the light. That's not what he's talking about here. He's not talking about that here. What he's talking about is that when Jesus shows up, people run. They run back into the darkness. They run to the darkness.

Look at the opposition to Jesus. If people, listen to me, you know when people tell you, well, the world is basically good, people are basically good people, then say to them this, really? What happened to Jesus when he showed up? Right? He came without any sin. He came healing and teaching the way of God.

He was the light shining in the darkness. And for that reason, what happened? The world hated him. the hypocritical pharisees resented him for exposing their legalism the the priests and the scribes envied his popularity the romans thought he had imperial pretensions that he was gonna you know he was here to to to be a threat to their rule and it wasn't just the elite who were against him even the ordinary people at the end of passion week were saying what away with him away with him crucify him everybody turned against jesus why would anybody turn against jesus look at all that he did point is when god's son came into the world the world nailed him to a cross the most excruciating way of death ever invented up to that time when that which was perfect showed up what happened the darkness crucified him by the way people today similarly despise jesus for all their supposed admiration for this great teacher for this great man for this teacher they refuse his claim as lord and savior they refuse his claim as Lord and Savior and they resent his holy example They resent it They don admire it They resent it They make excuses for what they do.

They are what John says in John chapter 3. They love the darkness rather than the light. Think about your own experience. You're tooling down the highway. and all of a sudden State Patrol goes right by you. What's the first thing that you do? What is the first thing that you do?

You look at your speedometer. What's the second thing you do? You look in your rearview mirror to see if the lights have come on and he's doing that horrible, horrible U-turn that they do. Right? You see the lights go on in that rearview mirror. You go, I hope he's going after someone else.

He's turning around. Now, why do you do that? Why is it when you see a patrolman go by, the first thing you do is look at your speedometer and then you look at your rearview mirror. Why do you do that? Because you have a sense of guilt. Because you know you've been going too fast.

You know what the problem is. And it's not him. And that's the way people are. They're unnerved in the face of Jesus and what he is like as he shines in scripture. And that's why they flee his light for the more comfortable darkness. They take off. however you can recognize the glory the light reveals humbly confess the darkness it exposes in you and then submit come into the light of christ and find salvation when you know you need it you humble yourself and it's only when you humble yourself before god and admit your need of grace you no longer flee into the darkness.

You find the light inviting. So when your car is broken down on some interstate in the middle of West Virginia, you're glad when that policeman shows up, aren't you? When you realize your need of God's mercy and how willing he is to save you, then you welcome the light of Christ. but realize this no one will ever successfully extinguish the light in every way as jesus walked on this earth they tried to extinguish the light and they were They failed The light and the darkness came into bitter and decisive conflict and the darkness could not prevail At one point, you remember Jesus, a mob who opposed Jesus, tried to stone him and he walked right through them.

Remember that story? He was in Nazareth. He walked right through them. They sent soldiers to arrest them and they stood there in awe when they saw him. they nailed him to a cross but he saved the thief who was hanging next to him finally as the dark storm clouds of god's wrath fell upon him as the darkness overcame the earth as they put him in the cold darkness of a tomb what happened he emerged alive never to die again he ascended into heaven and though the world for the last 2 000 years has tried to snuff out the light of Jesus, it has failed.

Have you ever thought about that? Ever thought about the fact that the gospel has gone out over the whole world and no one has been successful in stopping it? You know, in China today, in China today, there are so many Christians that it's getting nearly impossible for the government to do anything about it. And they became Christians when the government tried to do something about it.

Realize that you'll never put out the light. For all eternity, that light will shine in you for eternal life. Or for all eternity, that light will shine on you in eternal condemnation. But no one can ever extinguish the light. No one and nothing will ever do that. Have you ever been in the caves down near West Liberty?

We've all been down there. It's the third grade field trip. It used to be. I can remember going down I forget what they're called right off the top of my head. Okay. You've all been on the trip or you've seen the signs.

Ohio Caverns. I remember going down there with the third graders, right? And they turn out the lights. That is the darkest you've ever seen anything. You can't see anything. You can have your hand that close.

You can't see it. It is dark, right? Unbelievably dark. Darkness you've never experienced before. But nobody panics. Well, normally they don't.

Some kids might. But no one normally panics. Why? Because they know there's one flip, one flip of the switch, and what? darkness is gone. It's gone. Right?

As the gospel goes out with the story of Jesus, the darkness recedes. The darkness of sin will never extinguish the light of Jesus. These are the themes that John unfolds for us in this book. These are the themes that he wants us to see. And in them he points to Jesus. in them he points to Jesus who is life and light and the darkness conqueror in the 1800's there was a man by the name of John Girardou he was a college student in about 1840 he left his testimony behind he talks about the fact that he was lost in the great darkness of his deep awareness of his unworthiness before God he just entered college when this like dark gloom entered his life and he says it like the eternal night fell on my soul his conscience was always pointing out a sinful nature The unbearable holiness of God and the bar of judgment was always in his mind It was like he could see the flames of hell.

And his case seemed hopeless. He was afraid to put the light out at night when he went to bed. He was so overcome with the sense of his own sin. He had no appetite for food. He would not eat. He couldn't study.

This was on his mind. Nothing on earth could interest him. And in vain he strived to make peace with God. He would weep over the consequences of his sin, but there was no sense of pardon. He tried to repent and tried to reform, but there was no peace. He strove to make covenants and agreements with God, but he felt like the heavens were brass, like God wasn't listening.

And one morning while on his knees begging for mercy, it occurred to him that he'd done everything he possibly could to make peace with God. Everything he possibly could do. And it at that point when he realized it hadn done a bit of good had availed him nothing And so he said he just surrendered himself to Jesus and left the case in his hands And from that moment, he understood that he was at peace with God.

He left off trying and he trusted because of what Jesus had done. That is the way to life and life. Life and life. you cease trusting in yourself or in anything else and all you do is you surrender yourself into the hands of Jesus. That is it. That is it. I've come into the world as light, said Jesus, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

The light shines and through him you have life everlasting, life abundant, and life in Christ. That is the theology of Christmas. That is what it's about. Light and life. Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the revelation of Jesus in this dark world Father some of us here remember the days when we walked in darkness Remember what it was like Would you help us, Lord, as believers to look to Jesus and always know that he is life and light.

And when we are tempted, when we are tempted by that comfortable darkness, remind us again that life is found in the light of Christ. Father, for those who are here today who have never entrusted themselves to Jesus, I pray that You would work in their hearts. That they would see that this is not a season just of merry goodwill, but instead this is the season where we remember that the life that gives life to all in the world came as a light in this world that we might believe and have light and live by light.

God help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.