Pastor Derek Berry "The Light of the World" - (5/31/2026)

Jesus declares Himself as the light of the world, offering clarity in life's confusion and uncertainty. Just as physical darkness makes navigation difficult, spiritual darkness leaves us stumbling through important decisions. The light of Christ reveals that Jesus is God's promised and perfect Son who came to display divine power and defeat sin and death. However, knowing about Jesus isn't enough - we must actively follow Him through faith and repentance. Many people today want Christ without surrendering their lives to Him, but true salvation requires turning from our ways and trusting Him completely.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Lord is working, no doubt. I want to look this morning at a thought in the Gospel of John, chapter number eight. The Gospel of John chapter number eight. We'll look at verse number 12, and we're going to look at this thought, the light of the world. The light of the world. This week, VBS, the theme verse is John chapter 8, verse number 12. And I want to look at it and sort of give you some encouragement from it. And I love what it teaches you and I. Essentially, the light of Jesus reveals what darkness never shows. The light of Jesus reveals to you and I what darkness could never show us. And as you find your place there in the Gospel of John, chapter number eight, I want to, as I was preparing for today, I began to think on this not too long ago over spring break when we were heading to Florida for vacation for a few days. We were driving, you know, the normal route just to get down there, and everything was going great. I could see everything fine. We were making good timing. We didn't have to stop too many times to go to the bathroom, you know what I mean? And everything's working out. And then some rain began to pour. And as it rained, it rained some more. And it rained. And the next thing I know, these dark clouds came over us, and it was raining with such force that uh I really couldn't see the car in front of me. And the darkness, because of the dark storm clouds, sort of made it very difficult to see, even with the headlights on. The rain was coming down so hard, I could barely see. Now, I didn't tell Megan and the kids this, right? They didn't, they didn't realize it, right? The kids are playing on something, and Megan is not paying attention. So nobody realized that we were in this storm. But what did I do? As a dad, I gripped the steering wheel, held on a little tighter, slowed down just a little. I went from 80 to 75 or whatever, you know. And slowing down just a little, trying to focus. I want to make sure that I'm seeing all that's around me. I looked at the lines on the road to be sure that I was on the actual road. I saw taillights in front of me to know that, man, I'm close or too far away or too close to the vehicle in front of me. And there came a point where honestly, I barely could see the taillights any longer. And I realized that the road was still there because you could see the line subtle, you know, it's very subtle. The lanes hadn't changed. Uh, the destination where I was going never changed. The problem was not the road. The problem was the visibility that the dark clouds and the storm made where I could barely see. And I didn't need a different destination. What I needed was some light to be able to see the road just a little bit clearer so that I can continue down the road safely. And here's the truth I want to give you from that. There's a lot of people in this world that need the spiritual light of Jesus so they can actually see and navigate life very clearly. Because we, as people, try to navigate. We try to navigate life, the decisions that come from life, parenting decisions that we have to deal with, the marriage situations that we have to deal with, work in life itself. And if I'm not seeing Jesus clearly through it all, then I'm gonna have a struggle to see which way I should go and how I should get there. Because without clearly seeing Jesus, there's no way for me to navigate life with it with confidence and with surety. If I can't see Jesus clearly, everything becomes harder to navigate, no different than that storm that I was in. And that's exactly what makes this statement from Jesus more real in my life. Let's look with me. Look with me in the text, in John chapter 8, in verse number 12. Look what Jesus said here. Then Jesus spoke to them again. So he's talking to them again. They need to be reminded about something. And here's what he says: it's in red, so we know that Jesus uh spoke it. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. And then there's a period, and the next sentence is He who follows me, notice the capitalization of M there, me, Jesus is speaking, he's saying, Me, shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. So Jesus makes a statement that changes everything when we realize the truth behind it. Because here's a few things that I like right off the bat. Sometimes seeing what it doesn't say helps me understand what it does say. And so when I read those few words that Jesus spoke in verse number 12, it doesn't say, Jesus doesn't say I am a light, meaning you have a choice to make. He doesn't say that I'm a choice amongst many lights. He says that he is the light. That's the difference. See, there's choices all through life, okay? And he's not one where I can pick and choose today or tomorrow or whatever. He is saying, I'm not a light, I'm not one of many lights, I am the light. Sometimes in life we get overwhelmed with choices. Just not too long ago, I needed some light bulbs. And so where do you go when you need light bulbs? Don't say Amazon, okay? It doesn't work good with the story. All right, you go to Home Depot because we don't have a lowe's around here. And so you go to Home Depot, and then have you ever went and bought a light bulb at Home Depot? There's like 18 million to choose from. I'll one, okay, right next to the cleaning supplies. There is every light bulb ever, ever invented there, except the one you need, you know, to match the ones that that went out. And I really, I think we should have a class action lawsuit because they they say that these lights will last 20,000 years or something like that. I've been in my house eight years, about half of them are gone, okay? I want my money back. But who keeps the receipt? Who keeps the boxes from all those? Nobody. So you have choices when you go to Home Depot. You can buy any light you so choose. And listen to me, if you didn't work, you know, return it, whatever. But Jesus is not saying I am a light to choose from. He is saying I am the light. I am the light. And that's important for us to get because that light, Jesus, the light, the only light, that light reveals some things. And that's what I want to talk about this morning. That light reveals truth. That light of Jesus removes darkness. Because if this room was dark and I turned just one of these light bulbs on, I'm telling you the light would light up the room. That's what happens with light and with darkness. The light that shows us, the light of Jesus is what shows us what you and I could never see on our own. That's what the light reveals. And that's what he's going to show us. And honestly, this week with our students and with our kids, we're going to see this and learn about Jesus. But I think it's really important for us in this moment, in this worship service as adults, to be reminded of that light as well. Because the light of Jesus reveals, remember this, what darkness can never show you and I. Let me give you three things this morning. And listen to me. I usually stay in a text and I'll preach through it. Today I want to give you several. So be ready, okay? I got to keep you awake and alert, okay? So you might flip around or even make a few notes for some references, but we're going to look at John 8 right now in verse number 12 in this first thought. Here it is. Here's the first thing that we're going to see. The light reveals the truth about Jesus. The light, him, Jesus, reveals the truth. Reveals the truth. It shows you and I what you and I could never see if it was left up to you and I. He shows us some truth right here. And look in the text, as we read this verse, I'm going to read it again. It says, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. What I love about this verse is before Jesus tells you and I how we should live in this world, he first tells us who he is. So I understand that, listen, I was born the way it works into darkness. That's what sin did to this world. And I need him to make me alive to follow him. And before I have to adjust me, he's saying, listen, I want to tell you who I am first. I am Jesus. I am the light. I'm going to reveal truth about some things to you. And that's what I love is he's telling us who he is before he ever gets in sort of an explanation as to who I should be. Notice this: darkness always creates some level of confusion. If you don't believe me, come over to my house at night and we'll leave all the lights off and let's see if you can go from the bedroom to the front door without tripping over a toy, a Lego, a Barbie doll, a hairbrush, a Hot Wheels, or something, okay? I'm telling you, it's your own risk do you walk around with a house with kids in it? Because darkness creates some level of confusion. I'll trip. I'll step on something that hurts with a at night or whatever the case may be. But what does light do? Light creates some level of clarity. I can see. Now I have to look down, but I can still see. I get accused from not looking down sometimes. Me and do you ever get accused of not looking down? Just me. Okay, that's fine. I can take it. But the truth of the matter is that darkness creates confusion. Light always adds some level of clarity. Let me tell you, there's a problem with our culture and the world that we live in today. Our culture, the problem isn't that people hadn't heard about Jesus. I think there's probably some sections of our world that hasn't. But for the most part, people have heard the name of Jesus and they hear about Jesus. The problem isn't that you hadn't heard, the problem is that many people have maybe the wrong idea about what Jesus is. They don't really fully know what the gospel reveals and what it shows. They might know his name, that they may even know a few stories about Jesus, and they may not fully understand who he is, but the light reveals that. So let me dig in a little bit on this thought for a moment before we move on. But what did the light reveal about Jesus? Here's the first thing is that it revealed that Jesus is God's promised Son. All through the Old Testament, it pointed to the coming of Christ, it coming to the birth of a king or a king. And we know that it was Jesus' birth that is the ultimate Messiah. And so the light revealed the promised son. And I found a verse or two that, man, makes so much sense of this. If you can leave your spot there, but go back to Matthew for a moment, Matthew 16. And Matthew, you don't have to if you don't want, but it comes to life a little bit better if you do. Matthew 16, Jesus is God's promised Son, is revealed. The light reveals the truth about Jesus. And here's what happens in Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, just a book or two over, chapter 16 in verse number 13. I love this. Look what it says. When Jesus came to their region, he essentially is going to ask these guys a question. So think about it real quick in verse number 13. Now listen to me, I could get one of those microphones wherever it's at, and I could ask you all individually, what does the world say that Jesus is? What does your buddies say that Jesus is? I could say, man, what does your circle say that Jesus is? What have you heard that Jesus is? That's essentially the question that Jesus is asking his disciples. And then in the next verse, if you look with me in verse 14, so they answered him. And his disciples said, Jesus, this is what we're hearing. We hear that some people think that you're John the Baptist. He said a little bit, man, we all somebody said you're Elijah. And somebody else said that maybe you're Jeremiah. And some others maybe even said that you're prophets. So Jesus asked this question: Who does man, who does your friends, who does your circle say that I am? And they say out, man, John the Baptist, Elijah, the prophets, Jeremiah, they're just laying it out. And here's the nitty-gritty. That's why I want you to turn there. I want you to read this next verse with me. In verse number 15, Jesus responded back to them guys and says, okay, great, good, good, good. But who do you say that I am? Now listen, if I take that same microphone and say, Don't tell me what you heard about Jesus. Don't tell me what your friend said about Jesus. Don't tell me what you thought that you Googled about Jesus. No, tell me what Jesus is to you. There's where it gets a little personal because I can promise you there might be a lady in here that could talk about when Jesus saved her, but then when Jesus miraculously healed her at one point in time. There's somebody else in here who could say something a little bit different. But the truth of the matter is that you and I have to all be able to answer the question: who is Jesus to you? The light reveals that. I love that about the light. Who do men say? Oh, they say all this thing. Listen to me, everybody's got an opinion. I realized that a long time ago in life. Everybody's got an opinion, right or wrong. But the truth is we all have one. And so the world may have an opinion of this way or that way that Jesus should do this, or that Jesus would never allow that, or that this wouldn't happen, and so on and so forth. But the important question is for you to ask yourself individually, but who do you say that I am? Now notice what Peter said in verse 16, same text. Simon answered after Jesus asked him, who do you personally say that I am? Jesus said, uh Peter answered Jesus and says, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He says, You are the Christ, capital C. And then he says, the Son, capital S of the living God. Why is that important? Because in that text alone, the word Christ means Messiah. In that text right there, the word Messiah, the word Christ means Messiah. It means the one that God promised from the beginning. So long ago, that Jesus wasn't planning, you know, the plan after this didn't work out. The second phase, no, this was the plan from the beginning. He is the promised one. The one that Israel is saying that they're waiting on. He's already here. The savior of the world. That's who Peter says that Jesus is, and that's the truth of what he is. And I noticed something with this. The crowd knew about Jesus. But Peter knew Jesus. Listen, the crowd that we're in may know a lot about Jesus, and it could be wrong. It could be a misconscrued, it could be a misinterpretation. The importance is do you know Jesus? Because there's a difference. Many people know facts about Christ. They know Christmas, and they might even know a little bit about Easter and a little bit about a church. And that's okay. You all have to learn that at some point. But the fact about knowing Jesus, you've got to have a personal relationship to be able to answer that question and to know what it is. So the light reveals the truth about Jesus, the truth that he is the promised son. I found something else that I want to give you about this. And you can stay in Matthew. Go back to chapter 3. Chapter 3, Jesus is also revealed as the perfect son. The perfect son. Now I like the word perfect. The word perfect is without blemish, without flaw. The word perfect is flawless, if you were. It's without any imperfection. And so in the text, when it says Jesus is the is God's perfect son, notice what's going on in this text. In Matthew chapter 3, this is the baptism of Jesus. And as you get there in verse 13, Jesus showed up. And John the Baptist essentially tells him, Man, I'm not going to be able to baptize you. And Jesus said, Yes, you are. And what's important is visualize, I'll read the verse in a moment, but visualize John the Baptist. Remember, John the Baptist, if you don't remember, he weeped in the belly when his mother and Jesus' mother were together before they were born. He felt the presence of a holy God within her, and he leaped. And now he was born. And remember, he foretold the coming of Christ 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Nobody had even heard from heaven. And John the Baptist came out of the wilderness and saying, Man, somebody's coming. And he's talking about Jesus. And now Jesus is saying, bro, I need you to baptize me. And he didn't want to at first because he didn't think that he was worthy. But eventually they they settled it out. And John the Baptist baptizes Jesus. As Jesus is lifted up out of the water, verse 17 of that text, it starts in 13. Look what the word says here in verse 17. And suddenly a voice came down from heaven. Now I like this. Now I asked God a question. I like God to answer me like this. I don't know about y'all. A voice came down from heaven, and this is what it said. This is my capital M there, God speaking, my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Now, why is that important? Because the light of Christ, the light of Jesus, reveals that God is the perfect son. Jesus is getting baptized, and God verbalizes, vocalizes from heaven, saying, This is my son in whom I am well pleased. Why is that important? Because every person that had came before Jesus, that could not have been said. Adam was not, he failed. Adam was put on this place without any problem, no, no, no flaws or anything, and sin took everything down. Noah failed. Moses failed. David failed. Jesus did not fall. Why? Because Jesus was perfect. And if you want to be honest with yourself, everybody that has come after Christ has failed as well, including me, including you. Why? Because we need a perfect Savior to make an ultimate sacrifice so that you and I, who are not perfect, can have an opportunity to go to heaven. We failed, but Jesus never sinned, not once. He lived a perfect life like nobody else could have ever lived. Now listen to me before I move on. You cannot trust, uh, you cannot trust Jesus to save you until you first understand what he truly is. That's why I like how he lays the Bible out like it is. He's like, you gotta know me, and then you can get saved. Listen to me, Jesus is not merely a good teacher, although he taught well. He's not just a good, uh, merely a prophet who he did proclaim some things to come. He is God's perfect son. The light reveals the truth about Jesus. He is God's perfect son. Let me leave you with this thought, then I'll dig in a little deeper to uh the to the next one. Here it is. The light reveals that Jesus is more than a good man, he's God's perfect son. All right, let's move on. Our next thought that I want to give you this morning, it further emphasizes the light of Jesus reveals what darkness can never show us. The light reveals why he came. Next thing I want to give you is the light reveals why Jesus came. I don't know if you're anything like me, but I got in trouble in school for asking why. Anybody else? What if? I got, oh, I probably had to go in the corner for that one. I asked why about everything. Why? Because that's just who my aunt, right? I just ask questions. And listen to it, my kids got it honest. My boys ask thousands of questions. Every time we get a conference, the teacher says they ask a lot of questions. And I'm like, well, good. Okay, I'm glad they do, right? Listen, at least they're good questions. So why did he come? The light reveals it. We we know who he is, but the light also reveals it. Here it is, okay? He came, I think, to display God's power. And I'm gonna show you why. He, Jesus, came to display God's power. I'm gonna show you why. In Matthew 15, still in Matthew, if you want to flip around, you can. In Matthew 15, in verse number 29, I love this text because Jesus' ministry, and through his ministry, he healed many people. And if you notice in the text right here, in Matthew 15, verse 29, Jesus departed, okay? So he got out of there. And then verse 30, the great multitude came to him. So he's got folks following him, which is what he desired anyhow. But notice the people that were following him. The great multitude came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the mute, the crippled, and many others. And they laid down them down at Jesus' feet, and notice this, he healed them. Now, at verse 31, so the the multitude marveled what they saw that the mute was speaking, and the crippled made whole, and the lame was walking, and the blind man now seeing. And they, notice this, they glorified the God of Israel. Why is that important? So the light reveals why Jesus came. I think first and foremost he came to reveal the power of God. Now, why would Jesus choose to heal those people? Now that was a nice thing to do. Right? This guy that couldn't walk got healed where he could. Imagine the blind person that was unable to see. You read the story in many places where Jesus healed the blind, even using spit and dirt to wipe on their eyes and heal them. Moments like that, man, just opened my eyes to see, man, what God is actually capable of. And so we like to think about in this text why did y'all did Jesus heal them like we read? Why did he do all that? Was it because he was a nice guy? Well, he was a nice guy, but I don't Think he did it just because he felt kind that day. Now, sometimes you and I might do things out of the goodness of our heart to help somebody. We might feel bad for somebody and want to go help them. I remember we were coming home from Florida one year, and man, the kids had to go to the bathroom. I think the next car I'm gonna get is gonna have a bathroom in it. You understand what I'm saying? If they do that. And we we were coming through Carrollton, and uh we we stopped at, don't laugh at me, but we stopped at the Taco Bell, okay? Because it was a Sunday and Chick-fil-A was closed, all right? So we couldn't go to the bathroom in there. We pull in there, but it was by God's providence while we pull in there as there was this girl with a flat tire. And and I started thinking, man, my daughter's gonna be driving in a few years, and I sure would hate for her to be stranded. So the girls go in to use the bathroom, and Maverick and I are go over there, and I felt bad that I probably I know I don't look scary, but I guess I scared that girl to death. I was like, you need any help? No, I'm fine. I'm like, you got a flat tire. She was a young college girl. And I said, ma'am, I don't mean no harm. My wife's inside. I got kids here. I ain't gonna hurt you. Just let me change your tire. And I said, it'd be an opportunity for me to show my son how to help somebody in need, okay? And she's on the phone with her mama and she said, There's a guy here to help me. And I said, ma'am, my name's Derek. I ain't gonna hurt your daughter. I'm just gonna change the tire and send her on her way. And we helped her, why? Out of the goodness of our heart. Same thing that I would hope somebody would do for my daughter or wife, if the, if, if, if, if, if the if something like that were to have happened. So out of the goodness of my heart, I chose to stop what I was doing. I wanted to get home. I'd been on the road. And I didn't even have my gloves with me, so I had to get my hands dirty, okay? I usually have gloves in the truck, okay? But I didn't. And and I thought about going to Taco Bell to see if I could borrow some of theirs, but I don't think they use gloves, so I don't know, okay? But but nonetheless, I did, I got my hands dirty. They came off. I put WD-40 on them when I got home, and that gets stuff off anything. I'm just gonna be honest with you, okay? And and I changed the center on that. And that was nice. So let's think about Jesus. What, what, what, why was Jesus healing the sick? Why did he make the blind man see? Why did he make the lame man walk? Why did he make the deaf listen? Why did he make, did he do it because he wanted to amaze the crowds? And the text says they marvel. Did he do it because he was just a kind man and just wanted to show them kindness? Nah. I believe that Jesus has a purpose and a plan behind every healing that he does, whether in Bible times or in current times. And in that moment that we're reading about, I think that Jesus did it as signs, as evidence, as proof, did point that Jesus, that God had the power to do anything he was capable of wanting to do. He did it to prove the power of God. I'm telling you, you read all through history and texts in the Bible, I can take you to Mark 5, don't turn there, but the demon-possessed man. Why did he heal him? I think he did it to prove to the power of God. If you remember in that story of Mark chapter number five, before Jesus, that man lived in the graveyards on tombs. That man was unable to be restrained. He was crazy because of the demons that had possessed him. He would rip his clothes off, he would cut himself, he would make noises. He would not be constrained or be controlled by any stretch of the imagination. Nobody could control him. And then Jesus walked up to that man. As he walked up to that man, everything changed. After Jesus, the man sat still. You could read in the text. After Jesus, he was put on clothes. After Jesus, what changed? Nothing about the man changed except Jesus. Why did Jesus do that? Because he was nice? No, Jesus did it to prove the power of God. Because Jesus has the power to change what nobody else can change. The light reveals why Jesus came. He came to reveal God's power. You know what else he did? He came to defeat sin and to defeat death. You find that. Don't feel like you need to turn there, but in the Gospel of Mark, I love reading in 14, 15, and 16, it shows the account when Jesus went to the cross. And the importance behind that is that he had to die for us to live. Now think about it for a moment. As Jesus hung on the cross, what did he prove and show to the world? That was pure love. He didn't do it for any other reason. The cross, I believed, proved Jesus' love for you and I. I firmly believe that as Jesus hung there, he was probably thinking about us, perhaps by name. That's how magnificent he is. And he's proving his love for you. So the light reveals why Jesus came. He came to show God's power, but he also came to defeat sin and death. And as he's hanging on the cross, had been mocked, had been ridiculed, had all the things that had happened that led to that moment, he's hanging there and he's taking his last breath before he dies. When he willingly laid his life down, he is doing it out of love. And then he dies and they put him in the tomb. So what happens when he arose from the grave? What did that prove? That proved victory, meaning that I'm bigger than death. The same thing he did when he healed all these people. He said, I'm bigger than all of that. Listen to me, anybody can claim to be God, but only Jesus got up from the grave. You understand? See, anybody can claim it. The world that we live in, there's all sorts of false religions that claim to have a God. The difference is their God's dead. The world that we live in, they'll try to take our focus off of Jesus and take it on something else. But anything that's in the place of God is not alive, except God. God is the only living being that'll never die because he's always been. And so there's many false gods out there, but only one got up from the grave. That was Jesus. And one of the things that I love in Mark, you can make a note and study it later. In Mark chapter 15, I told you in 14, 15, and 6, read those. But in Mark 15, something that popped out to me that you remember all the account that led to Jesus' death and the trial, all the stuff that happened. There was a Roman guard standing at the foot of the cross. Now, this is Jesus died, but he had not got thought in the tomb yet. And in Mark 15, in verse number 39, the Roman guard, who had just taken part in all this process, said this out loud Truly, this is the Son of God. See, the light reveals why Jesus came. That was revealed to that man who didn't know Jesus in the moments, but the second that he died, something changed in that man's heart, and scripture quotes him: Truly, this man was the Son of God. The empty tomb is God's declaration that Jesus is exactly who he claimed to be as he was walking this earth and telling the world what he is and what he's gonna do. Now listen to me, many people want Jesus to improve their life. That's the truth. There's many times where I'll have a conversation with somebody trying to lead them to Christ, and they'll say, Preacher, I need this. I wish that this would just start making sense. I wish that God would answer this for me. I wish that, I wish that many people, and I used to be one of these, I want you to improve my life. But really, when you start just digesting what he is, you'll realize that he didn't come to just improve my life. He came to transform my life. And he came to transform your life. And there's something spiritual about that. Remember, the light reveals why? What light? He is the light. He is revealing the power of him, but he's also revealing that he came to defeat sin and death. And he's letting you and I know that he didn't come just to make our life a little better. No, we can read about suffering all through Scripture. And it's not going to be better until we get to heaven. But the truth of the matter is he came to transform me. Let me give you this, and then I'll move to my thought, my final thought. The light reveals that Jesus has the power to do what nobody else can. The light reveals that Jesus has the power to do whatever, what what nobody else can do. Praise the Lord. Let me give you my last one. If you turned away, go back, go back to John. John 8. I want to show you something. In John 8, verse 12, the last thought I'll give you. The light reveals the response we must make. The light reveals the response we must. Notice in the text, it says very clearly in verse 12 that I am the light of the world. We've got through that. The last sentence there is what we'll look at. He who follows me, follows me. Me is capitalized as Jesus speaking, follow me, shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. So I want to look at that for just a second. Because as we turn back to this text, as we've sort of navigated around, notice he says, He who follows me. What I like about it, and sometimes I, like I've said, I'll give you what it doesn't say to help us make sense of it. He doesn't say, those that admire me. He doesn't say, man, those that admire me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. No. He doesn't say those that study me, because it's good to study the Word of God, but those that study me will have the light. No. He doesn't say that. He says, those that follow me. Those that follow me. He doesn't say those that agree with me. He says, no, those that follow me. And sometimes following is not as easy as it sounds. You ever had to follow somebody before? They go too fast, they go through yellow lights, you can't catch up with them. Where'd they go? Right? Sometimes it's tough navigating traffic. But he says, those that follow me, why is that important to look at? Because light demands a response. It demands something. It's an opportunity for you and I to choose or to not choose. So what does it mean to follow Jesus? He says that in the text, he who follows me, what does it mean to follow? To follow means to believe in him. To follow means to believe in Jesus and to trust in Jesus, and the results are life and light to the believer. If I follow him, that means I believe everything that he did. It means that I trust him with all of my life, and I'll leave the results to my life up to him. That's what it means to truly follow Christ. Now, what I also know through Scripture is that the unsaved, the lost, the ones that don't know Jesus as their Lord and as their Savior are walking in darkness. But because they love darkness, because the light hasn't been revealed to them, because they haven't turned from their sinful ways and turned unto him. Either way, they're in darkness and not in light. So why is that important? Because if you look at a major theme throughout all the four Gospels, including the book of John, and you can look in chapter 1, verses 4 and 5, and you'll see this. One of the major themes is in this gospel is the spiritual light is now shining. Now I can visualize the shining light, but the truth is that people that truly cannot comprehend the shining light always try to put out somebody else's light. That's tendencies of what happens. It's jealousy, it's un, they don't fully understand it or comprehend it. So they're in darkness, and you and I have the light of Christ, and guess what? They're trying to put my light out. Well, the good thing is they can't put out Christ's light. Now they might discourage me, they might get me down, but they can't put the light of Christ out within me. And so the best thing I can do is allow it to shine brighter and brighter and brighter. Listen, the light demands a decision. We see it in the text. I love, man, one of my favorite sermons. I mean, obviously the Sermon on the Mount's wonderful. It's great. But the gospel's over. Think about this Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Gospels are over. Jesus died on the cross. He rose on the third day. 40 days later, he ascends to heaven. And as he ascends to heaven, the Holy Spirit comes down. And guess what? The book of Acts begins. The Acts of the Apostle. One of the greatest sermons ever, obviously, is in Acts 2, when Peter was preaching the house down, man, and like a thousand folks got saved. Man, I can't one day I'm gonna preach and thousands are gonna get saved. It's gonna be great, okay? Listen to me. Peter's preaching, he's preaching, and what happened? Thousands got saved. Why is that important? The light demands a decision. After Peter preached, notice this. If you want to turn there, you're welcome to Acts 2. I won't read the whole, but Acts 2, he's proclaiming some things from the past that are coming true, and he gets to verse 37. Acts 2, verse 37. Peter's preaching his lungs out, telling the world the truth. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. They were convicted. Okay. And said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? So after they heard the gospel of Jesus preached, they fell under heavy conviction, according to verse number 37. Their heart felt cut, felt a piercing, felt overwhelming conviction upon them. The question is, is men and brethren, what shall we do? Did Peter say nothing? Oh, we do nothing at this point. No, remember, the light demands a decision. What happened? Verse 38. Then Peter said to them, Repent. Repent. The problem in the world today is that many people want Christ without repentance. It doesn't work that way. He tells you and I that we have to repent. And when we repent, turn from our wicked ways and turn unto him. And that's when things begin to change in our lives. The problem with the world today, it goes back to our first thought, is what is Jesus to you? And many people think that we can be whatever. No, it's not the truth. The truth of the matter is that we need Christ, and as he reveals his light to us, there's a decision that comes upon me. There's been choices all through the world. And in this text, it shows you, and he says, you must repent. The gospel always calls for repentance, calls for a response. So what was their response? He says, you must repent. The light must be received. I can think about it and give you this example. You can sit in a dark room with a light switch within an arm's reach. And if you don't choose to flip the switch on to have light, then you can just sit in the darkness. But at some point, it's your choice. You can sit in darkness or you can cut the light on. There's many people in the world today that the light switch is right there. They just won't flip it on. Until you respond, the room stays dark. Let me give you this example. Years, a couple years ago, we were up at the Ark, seeing Noah's Ark. It's a replica of uh from the from the Bible of the precise dimensions of what Noah built. And there's a door there that you can get your picture with, and it's the doorway in. And here's what's interesting to me about people in that day that as Noah was building the ark, they knew about the ark. You can read it in the book of Genesis. They made fun of Noah because they said, Man, it ain't raining all this time. Why do you build the boat? They knew about Noah, they knew about the Ark. They they heard the warnings from Noah to them. But knowing about the Ark didn't save them. See, they knew the Ark was getting built, they knew that Noah was building it, they made fun of him, but knowing about the Ark didn't help them. Only entering through the door saved them. And we know that all but a few died because many didn't come through. Knowing about Jesus doesn't save anybody. Trusting him does, following him does, and surrendering to him does. See, many people know about Jesus, but have never truly trusted Jesus. Maybe they've never truly followed Jesus. Maybe they've never truly surrendered. That's what the question is what is he to you? Let me give you this one and then I'll move to my final, my final thought. The light only changes your life when you choose to follow it. The light will only change your life if you choose to follow that light, which is Jesus. As we close in just a second, I if you remember that storm I was in and heading to Florida, the rain eased up, the visibility improved, and suddenly I could see clearer than I had been able to see prior. But guess what? The road had not changed. The destination had not changed. I could simply see what was there the entire time. And that's my prayer this week. And I hope to challenge you to pray like that as well. I'm not praying not just for our kids, not just for our guests, but as a church. That this week we will see Jesus clearly. Us individually, us through VBS. Because this is what I believe. When I can see Jesus clearly, I worship differently. When I see Jesus clearly, I serve Jesus differently. When I see Jesus clearly, I pray differently. When I see Jesus clearly, I live differently. How are you seeing Christ? Clearly? Or is it dark? It's up to you. This week I want to challenge you with something. If you are serving in VBS, I want you to serve like eternity's at stake because it is. If you're bringing a child, I want to challenge you to bring them every night. If you're not serving, pray every day that VBS will be successful and that many kids will come to know the Lord as their Savior. If you have neighbors, invite them. It ain't too late to invite somebody. And if you know Christ, I want to challenge you as this help somebody else see him. Would you pray with me? God, I come to you, thanking you, Lord, for the day that you've given us to worship you. Lord, I praise you for what you've done in our nine o'clock and also at this 11 o'clock service. And Lord, I pray as we have a moment of invitation, a time of reflection. Lord, I don't know what the hearts are of all that are here, but I know that you're working. And my prayer that if there's