SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Today's scripture reading comes from John chapter 8, verses 12 through 30.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Emma.
SPEAKER_00: I serve on the connections team, and today it is my joy to read God's word in our gathering.
SPEAKER_00: Once again, this is John 8, 12 through 30.
SPEAKER_00: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
SPEAKER_00: So the Pharisees said to him, You are bearing witness about yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Your testimony is not true.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going.
SPEAKER_00: But you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
SPEAKER_00: You judge according to the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: I judge no one.
SPEAKER_00: Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.
SPEAKER_00: In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.
SPEAKER_00: I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.
SPEAKER_00: They said to him, therefore, Where is your father?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my father.
SPEAKER_00: If you knew me, you would know my father also.
SPEAKER_00: These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.
SPEAKER_00: So he said to them again, I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin.
SPEAKER_00: Where I am going, you cannot come.
SPEAKER_00: So the Jews said, Will he kill himself, since he says, Where I am going, you cannot come?
SPEAKER_00: He said to them, You are from below, I am from above.
SPEAKER_00: You are of this world, I am not of this world.
SPEAKER_00: I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.
SPEAKER_00: So they said to him, Who are you?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to them, Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.
SPEAKER_00: They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.
SPEAKER_00: And he who sent me is with me.
SPEAKER_00: He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.
SPEAKER_00: As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Emma, for that wonderful scripture reading.
SPEAKER_01: And good morning.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Harbor Church.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Trevor.
SPEAKER_01: I am one of the pastors here, and uh so excited to welcome you on this very special morning as we baptize four people after our gathering.
SPEAKER_01: Such a privilege to have you with us, and we are so thankful for that opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: If you are new, we are, I believe, on week three of our sermon series.
SPEAKER_01: I am discovering who Jesus is as we explore the identity and work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So we are glad that you are here and excited to dive into the text this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Um, when I was in upper elementary school, probably about fourth or fifth grade, my family and I took a trip down to St.
SPEAKER_01: Louis to visit some friends.
SPEAKER_01: And one day my mom took me and my little brother to Six Flags Amusement Park for a day of fun and rides and way too much sugar.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and while we were there, kind of looking for something to do, uh, we turned a corner in the middle of the park, and there was this huge haunted house.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the biggest haunted house that I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01: If I remember, I was probably two or three stories tall and probably about the size of a soccer field.
SPEAKER_01: So this thing was big.
SPEAKER_01: And my brother and I, we thought we were pretty tough stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we had braved the haunted house at Vallas Pumpkin Patch, and we thought, man, this thing would be no sweat.
SPEAKER_01: We can tackle this, no problem.
SPEAKER_01: So we begged my mom to take us into the haunted house, and uh, she wasn't so sure.
SPEAKER_01: This was no Vallas Pumpkin Patch haunted house, and she was confident that we were going to get terrified when we walked in and not be able to make it through to the very end.
SPEAKER_01: But we continued to beg and press, and so my mom reluctantly agreed that she would take us into the haunted house, but that she didn't want to hear anything about it if we got too scared and had to bail.
SPEAKER_01: And we're like, no, no, no, mom, we're we're big boys, we're tough boys, no problem, we got this.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, as soon as we stepped into the haunted house, we knew that we had made a big mistake.
SPEAKER_01: We were greeted by like cold, dank, musty air, the sounds of like blood curdling screens in the distance, uh, the the strange, like sinister sounds of things coming through speakers uh in the hallway, and people for the first time, live people jumping out of random corners with props like chainsaws and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: It was definitely too much for a 10-year-old to handle.
SPEAKER_01: And uh but the but the one thing, the one thing that I remember more than anything else was how incredibly dark it was.
SPEAKER_01: I could handle some of the sounds, I could handle some of the sights, I could handle the smell, but the darkness itself was utterly terrifying.
SPEAKER_01: It was so pitch black that with the exception of this random flashing light that would flicker like at random times and consistently, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
SPEAKER_01: Every step you took, you were like bouncing off a wall, trying to figure out which way is forward.
SPEAKER_01: And the only way you could navigate your way through this thing was the sound of distant screams.
SPEAKER_01: The people in front of you got terrified.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and so we did the only logical thing we knew how to do, we froze in fear, just plastered up against the wall, like trying to look around to see how do we get out of this place.
SPEAKER_01: And uh had literally frozen with fear, could not move, holding on to my mom's arms on either side, terrified, trying not to scream like a little girl.
SPEAKER_01: And uh we must have stood there for maybe only just a couple minutes, but as a 10-year-old, it felt like an eternity.
SPEAKER_01: And while we're there plastered up against the wall, eventually I saw in the distance this little light.
SPEAKER_01: It started at the end of what must have been like a 25-foot hallway, and slowly but surely got closer to us.
SPEAKER_01: And about the time the light was shining at our feet, I heard a voice say, Follow me.
SPEAKER_01: And at that moment, I had absolutely no idea who this person was.
SPEAKER_01: Couldn't see their face, didn't recognize their voice, but I knew one thing for sure.
SPEAKER_01: That person had the light, and that was good enough for me.
SPEAKER_01: And so we immediately obeyed.
SPEAKER_01: That person turned and started walking.
SPEAKER_01: We followed him around a hallway, through a side door, and out into the open air.
SPEAKER_01: And for the first time in my life, the the that little 10-year-old me felt a relief that I had never felt before, and in some ways have not felt ever since.
SPEAKER_01: And so the moral of the story is you should listen to your parents.
SPEAKER_01: The real point is actually that life without Jesus can be a lot like that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't mean scary, like in a haunted house, but I mean dark.
SPEAKER_01: Think about this for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: For thousands of years, people from every culture in every corner of the world have been essentially trying to answer the same basic questions.
SPEAKER_01: Where did we come from?
SPEAKER_01: Why are we here?
SPEAKER_01: And what's the meaning of life?
SPEAKER_01: In an age that has reduced ourselves down to scientific reductionism, in the West, the best answer that we can come up with is a form of what's called nihilism.
SPEAKER_01: Life has absolutely no meaning and no purpose.
SPEAKER_01: It's total vanity, and you're just left to figure it out on your own.
SPEAKER_01: Now we instinctively know that's not true.
SPEAKER_01: None of us can actually live as if life has no meaning and purpose.
SPEAKER_01: So what do we do?
SPEAKER_01: We try to we try to create meaning for ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Like Ryan said last week, we grope around in the dark looking for anything and everything to satisfy the deepest longings of our souls.
SPEAKER_01: We grab onto career, we grab onto sports, we grab onto academics and grades and relationships, we grab onto family.
SPEAKER_01: And when that doesn't really satisfy, we turn around and we grope around in the dark for something else to fill that void in the stand.
SPEAKER_01: But what if there was a better way?
SPEAKER_01: What if that we didn't have to try so hard to make meaning for ourselves in a world that feels dark and purposeless?
SPEAKER_01: What if there was somebody who could tell us what the purpose of life is supposed to be?
SPEAKER_01: Somebody from the outside who could shine a light on our situation so we could see clearly and wouldn't have to guess anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And well, this morning I have good news for you.
SPEAKER_01: Because there is someone who can.
SPEAKER_01: Our text this morning is John chapter 8, verse 12 through 30.
SPEAKER_01: And this is Jesus arguing with the religious leaders about his identity again.
SPEAKER_01: This time, however, Jesus uses the metaphor of light to explain to us who he is and why God the Father sent him into the world.
SPEAKER_01: So the argument of this text is that you should follow Jesus because he is the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and the truth, that's the truth I want you to see this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And as we work our way through, I want you to see four things in this text.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see what the light is, where the light comes from, why we need it, and how we know it.
SPEAKER_01: What it is, where it comes from, why we need it, and how we know it.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll start with what the light is.
SPEAKER_01: If you have your Bible, go ahead and turn with me to John chapter 8, verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus speaking to them says again, I am the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
SPEAKER_01: So the Pharisees said to him, You are bearing witness about yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Your testimony is not true.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the situation.
SPEAKER_01: Virtually every religion in the world equates light in some way with divine revelation that leads to ultimate salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Now the religions are uh disagree on what the light is, what revelation is, and what salvation is or how it works.
SPEAKER_01: But virtually every religion uses this language of light in some way.
SPEAKER_01: Buddhists, for example, they teach that revelation comes from within, and that salvation is ultimately about attaining enlightenment until you reach nirvana.
SPEAKER_01: Hindus, they teach that revelation comes from the Vedas, the holy scriptures passed down from the sages, and that salvation is ultimately about liberating the soul from the endless cycle of reincarnation.
SPEAKER_01: The Muslims, they teach that the revelation comes from the Quran and Muhammad as Allah's prophet, and that salvation is ultimately earned by good works.
SPEAKER_01: Now you need to understand that it is logically impossible to say that each of the religions all lead to the same God.
SPEAKER_01: Because they teach very different things about who God is, how we get to him, and how he has revealed himself in the world.
SPEAKER_01: It is impossible to say that they are one and the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: They are completely contradictory in just about every single way.
SPEAKER_01: But the one thing that each of these religions have in common is that they all use in some way the metaphor of light to convey our understanding of what this revelation is.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the things, one of the many things that makes Jesus Christ unique is that he doesn't just say that he has the light, he says that he is the light.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, I have the light, or I can show you where to get the light, or I can help you find the light within yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, I am the light.
SPEAKER_01: So when Jesus says that he is the light of the world, he is claiming that he is revelation and salvation from God.
SPEAKER_01: Now the Pharisees, they know this and they don't like that.
SPEAKER_01: They understand that this is what Jesus is trying to communicate.
SPEAKER_01: And so they instinctively say, Hey, that's not true.
SPEAKER_01: Who are you to make such outrageous claims about yourself?
SPEAKER_01: You are a liar.
SPEAKER_01: And to this, Jesus argues back at them and basically says, like, hey, my testimony is true because of the Father who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 17, he says, In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.
SPEAKER_01: I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the father who sent me bears witness about me as well.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, Jesus is saying, I'm not the only one who says this about me.
SPEAKER_01: My father who sent me also says this about me.
SPEAKER_01: And so God the Father affirms and confirms the identity of Jesus the Son.
SPEAKER_01: Of the Pharisees, they of course don't like what they're hearing, so they begin to argue back and demand that Jesus tell them who his father is.
SPEAKER_01: To this Jesus says, You know neither me nor my father, for if you knew me, you would know my father also.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's where it gets interesting.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we could define the light in this way.
SPEAKER_01: The light is God the Father's revelation of himself to us through the person and work of God the Son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That is what the light is.
SPEAKER_01: When we say light, we're referring to God the Father's revelation of himself to us in Jesus Christ, who is God Himself, the Son.
SPEAKER_01: And so when Jesus says, I am the light, what he's saying is that he was sent in the world, into the world by the Father to reveal the Father so that we could be made right with the Father through him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the religious leaders, the Pharisees, they're the religious leaders of their day.
SPEAKER_01: They are the ones who are supposed to understand the Old Testament scriptures, which are God's law laid down as his revelation to us.
SPEAKER_01: They're the keepers of Israel's religious history, and they themselves claim that they are the ones who know God.
SPEAKER_01: And to uh they're they're basically saying, Jesus is basically saying, if you really are as smart as you say you are, if you really knew the Father like you say you know the Father, if you really understood the scriptures the way you say you know the scriptures, then it would be obvious to you that I really am God the Son, sent by him to save you.
SPEAKER_01: And the the Pharisees are insulted by this.
SPEAKER_01: This angers them.
SPEAKER_01: They don't want to believe that Jesus is God the Son sent into the world for their salvation.
SPEAKER_01: They want to be the religious leaders who hold the key to knowledge and salvation.
SPEAKER_01: So instead of believing in him, they get angry at him and they decide they would rather kill him because they saw the light and they rejected it.
SPEAKER_01: When I was in college, I took a road trip to California with my college roommate Steve.
SPEAKER_01: He was from Ventura County, and uh my family was from Omaha, and he I had never been to California at the time, so he decided that he wanted to invite me on a road trip with him to go see where he was from.
SPEAKER_01: That sounded way better than the plans I had for my summer, so I willingly agreed.
SPEAKER_01: Um it's a it's about a 24-hour uh drive from Omaha, Nebraska to Ventura, California.
SPEAKER_01: And we were college students in our early 20s, and so we had the bright idea that we were gonna leave my mom and dad's house at 4 p.m.
SPEAKER_01: on like a Friday, and we're gonna drive through the night and try to arrive in Ventura, California the next day at 4 p.m.
SPEAKER_01: And uh you could probably imagine that didn't go too well.
SPEAKER_01: What makes it even like more interesting is he was driving a two-do convertible Camaro at the time, and we had too much stuff to bring back home to be able to actually fit it in the trunk.
SPEAKER_01: So we had to take the convertible top down, we had to shut that in the trunk, and then we had to strap all of our belongings onto the back of his convertible.
SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, him and his girlfriend sat up front, and I sat in the back with two dogs and a ferret.
SPEAKER_01: So you can tell, like, we're probably not making it very far.
SPEAKER_01: I think we got to about Lincoln, Nebraska, and looked at each other like, this isn't gonna work.
SPEAKER_01: We're not making it tomorrow night.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, if I remember right, we made it to like Kearney or something like that, and decided that it was time for us to crash for the night.
SPEAKER_01: Well, our 24-hour trip turned into like a three and a half day trip, and some three days later, we eventually drove into Ventura, California at like midnight.
SPEAKER_01: Pitch black.
SPEAKER_01: I could hear the ocean like slamming against the uh the beach, six blocks away from his dad's condo, but I couldn't see it.
SPEAKER_01: It was like teasing me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm out here, you just can't see me.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I wanted so desperately to see the ocean because it would have been the first time that I got to see the ocean in my adult life, but I had to reluctantly go to bed.
SPEAKER_01: And when I woke up the next morning, I was able to step out onto his dad's condo, and I saw one of the coolest sights that I'd ever seen up until that point in my adult life.
SPEAKER_01: The morning sun had risen up over the ocean, and I was able to look out over the beach at the water for the first time as an adult.
SPEAKER_01: And the beach, the ocean, they were there the night before.
SPEAKER_01: But I couldn't see them until they were revealed by the light of the sun.
SPEAKER_01: Well, in the same way, God is eternal and uncreated.
SPEAKER_01: He's always existed and he always will exist, but like the ocean, he's hidden behind the darkness of sin and human limitation until Jesus Christ enters into the world, revealing the glory of the Father through the light of the heavenly Son, in the same way that the light of the earthly sun revealed the glory of the ocean.
SPEAKER_01: So I hope you're beginning to see two things.
SPEAKER_01: I hope you're beginning to see the beauty and the necessity of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: God is vast and mysterious and majestic like the ocean, and yet he graciously reveals himself to us in his son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And what that means is that means you can know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You can know God through Jesus, you can know his glory, you can know his power, you can know his forgiveness, his salvation, his joy, his mercy, and his grace because of Jesus Christ, who gives us eyes to see that glorious reality.
SPEAKER_01: And at the same time, Jesus isn't just a light, Jesus is the light.
SPEAKER_01: Without Jesus, we remain in darkness, groping around, searching for a meaningful way to make sense of God and to make sense of ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: And that reveals to us his necessity.
SPEAKER_01: You can know God through Jesus Christ, but you must you must know God through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is beautiful that you can know God through him.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus is also necessary that the only way that you can know God is through him.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what the light is.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Father's gracious self-revelation in God the Son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So that's what the light is.
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at where the light comes from.
SPEAKER_01: So uh now that Jesus has thoroughly offended the Pharisees, he proceeds to make some a few cryptic comments that confuse them, and they continue their argument picking up in verse 23, where into their confusion, Jesus says, You are from below, I am from above.
SPEAKER_01: You are of this world, I am not of this world.
SPEAKER_01: So there's this common misconception in our day that we are the ultimate source of truth.
SPEAKER_01: If we want the truth, we're told we just need to look inside of ourselves hard enough until we find it.
SPEAKER_01: The light, they say, lies somewhere deep within us.
SPEAKER_01: And if we meditate enough, if we dig deep enough, if we practice mindful enough, mindfulness enough, eventually we'll find it.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need any savior, we don't need any salvation because we are our own salvation and our own savior.
SPEAKER_01: And if self-help doesn't work, what do we do?
SPEAKER_01: We turn to therapy.
SPEAKER_01: We think that if somebody can just help us uncover the layers of our story in our life, we'll eventually get to the bottom, and beneath all of the burden that we carry, we'll eventually find the light and we'll be able to let it shine.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying that counseling and therapy are bad.
SPEAKER_01: I spent four years going to a counselor every month, and uh it was beneficial.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but what I am saying is that it's not enough.
SPEAKER_01: It's incomplete.
SPEAKER_01: There's no amount of self-discovery that is ever going to be able to dispel the darkness that we feel inside.
SPEAKER_01: We need a light that comes from above us to push back the darkness that lies within us.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about this for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: If you are the ultimate source of truth, what happens when your inner thoughts turn negative?
SPEAKER_01: What are you supposed to do when your emotions are out of control and you spiral down into depression and despair?
SPEAKER_01: If you're supposed to be your own light, what hope do you have when that light inside?
SPEAKER_01: You begins to grow dim.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't work for us to be our own source of truth and our own source of light.
SPEAKER_01: You need light from above because the light within is ultimately an illusion.
SPEAKER_01: It's a charade, a game that we play with ourselves to make ourselves feel better about ourselves because we don't want to actually acknowledge the deeper problem of sin and brokenness in our lives and in our world.
SPEAKER_01: What we need is the light of God's external objective truth revealed to us in the light of Jesus Christ to push back and dispel the darkness of our internal and our subjective experience that is so fickle and so fading.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine with me for a minute a light bulb in a dark room.
SPEAKER_01: It could be any room, it could be a closet, it could be a pantry, it could be a bathroom, it doesn't really matter.
SPEAKER_01: The light bulb itself does not actually possess light.
SPEAKER_01: But the light bulb does have the potential for light.
SPEAKER_01: You see, as long as that light bulb is in the socket but the light is turned off, it's going to be just as dark inside the light bulb as it is in the room around it.
SPEAKER_01: But once you turn on the light switch, electricity from the outside of the light bulb floods into the light bulb, illuminating the bulb and then shining forth out into the room around it.
SPEAKER_01: The bulb itself has no light until the electricity flows through it.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the same is true for us as well.
SPEAKER_01: Like light bulbs, God designed us for the capacity for light, but we have to understand that we are not the source of light.
SPEAKER_01: He is the source, we are just the channel.
SPEAKER_01: So whatever light we do have, we have only because we've received it from God through Jesus, and we are being illuminated through the electricity of the Holy Spirit, not of our own doing.
SPEAKER_01: It comes from without, not from within.
SPEAKER_01: So let me just say this as plainly as I can.
SPEAKER_01: The light you need is not found within yourself.
SPEAKER_01: It's found from above.
SPEAKER_01: And it came down to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You are the channel, you are not the source.
SPEAKER_01: Your inner life is ultimately dark, subjective, and unreliable, apart from the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, who is light, objective, truth.
SPEAKER_01: So quit looking inside of yourself for truth.
SPEAKER_01: Look outside of yourself, because you're not going to find it on the inside.
SPEAKER_01: It comes from above, not from within.
SPEAKER_01: So that's where the light comes from.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's consider why we need the light.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me here at verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: They continue their argument, and Jesus basically answers this question of where does the light come from by saying, or why do we need the light?
SPEAKER_01: He basically answers the question saying, Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.
SPEAKER_01: Soak that in for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss that.
SPEAKER_01: If you do not believe that Jesus is the light, you will die in your sins.
SPEAKER_01: That's a sobering reality.
SPEAKER_01: We live in a world where we like to believe that good people can just earn their way up to God if we just are moral enough or religious enough or good enough.
SPEAKER_01: And we like to believe that we can achieve life, meaning and fulfillment and satisfaction if we're just one workout away.
SPEAKER_01: We're just one grade away, one promotion away from finally earning for ourselves the life that we think we've always wanted.
SPEAKER_01: We're a kind of people who believe the light, we can just pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.
SPEAKER_01: But that couldn't be further from the truth.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have bootstraps.
SPEAKER_01: God did not build them into the human design.
SPEAKER_01: They just don't exist.
SPEAKER_01: What you need to understand is that the scriptures teach that our biggest problem, our biggest problem is not a lack of effort, missed opportunities, or unfulfilled dreams.
SPEAKER_01: Our biggest problem is sin, a stubborn refusal to give God his rightful place in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And the result of sin is not merely regret or disappointment or pain.
SPEAKER_01: The result of sin is death, eternal alienation from God as his just condemnation for our refusal of his lordship and supremacy in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And the only way to live happily ever after is not to rely on ourselves, is to trust in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Because he is the light.
SPEAKER_01: And if you do not believe in him, you will die in your sins.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you how real this actually is.
SPEAKER_01: You might remember uh the wild boar soccer team from a couple of years ago who got stuck in the Thomlong Cave in northern Thailand.
SPEAKER_01: The story is that there were 12 young soccer players in their coach who crawled into this cave system to do some exploring.
SPEAKER_01: What they didn't realize is that a monsoon was coming their way.
SPEAKER_01: And while they were down in the deepest part of the cave, the flood water started pouring into the mouth.
SPEAKER_01: There was so much water pouring in that they couldn't make their way back to the entrance.
SPEAKER_01: And so they had to keep crawling further back and further back and further back to try to avoid the fast-paced rising waters of the monsoon.
SPEAKER_01: They eventually made their way two and a half miles away from the entrance to that cave, where they got stuck stranded on a little piece of dirt that was essentially the size of this cave, and they were stuck there for nine days.
SPEAKER_01: No light, no food, no water, no medicine.
SPEAKER_01: They were plagued by starvation, oxygen depletion, hypothermia, and illness.
SPEAKER_01: And their time was running out.
SPEAKER_01: There was absolutely no way they could escape that cave on their own because the flood had blocked off every exit.
SPEAKER_01: So these boys huddled together, pushed themselves back as far into the corner of the cave as they absolutely could, and they waited and they prayed and they hoped that somebody would be able to rescue them.
SPEAKER_01: Well, with time running out, there were 10,000 people from dozens of countries who gathered together to try to find a way to rescue these young boys.
SPEAKER_01: And finally, on day number nine, some rescue divers who managed to fit their way through some of the tiniest corridors you could imagine appeared in that cave, their headlamps illuminating.
SPEAKER_01: The boys cheered and celebrated.
SPEAKER_01: They had finally been found.
SPEAKER_01: Hope had arrived.
SPEAKER_01: But there's still one problem.
SPEAKER_01: They were still stuck in the cave.
SPEAKER_01: Those divers had now found the boys, and now they needed to find a way to get those boys out.
SPEAKER_01: And what their plan was, because there's a two and a half mile trek back to the entrance, was to sedate the boys, put an oxygen mask over their face, lie them in a stretcher, and essentially push them out on a zip line like a briefcase.
SPEAKER_01: Now those boys knew that it was a risky operation, but they also understood that that was their only hope.
SPEAKER_01: Their answer was they either die in the cave or they trust these strangers with the headlamps to sedate them and carry them out.
SPEAKER_01: What I want you to see this morning is that you are those boys.
SPEAKER_01: Without Jesus Christ, you will die in your sins in the same way that those boys would have died in the cave without those divers.
SPEAKER_01: Now I know that's not popular, I know it sounds harsh, but it is absolutely true.
SPEAKER_01: I don't say that because I'm trying to be mean, I don't say that because I want to make you uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: I say that because I care about you.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want you to die in your sins.
SPEAKER_01: And so please, hear me.
SPEAKER_01: You may have come because you want to honor somebody who's getting baptized.
SPEAKER_01: You may be here because your parents make you go on Sundays, you may be here because the spouse dragged you and you just feel obligated to do the moral thing.
SPEAKER_01: But you need to know you have to believe in Jesus, or you will die in your sins.
SPEAKER_01: So that's why we need the light.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's turn our attention to how we know the light.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, to answer this question, Jesus says in verse 28 It says, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak just as the Father has taught me.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so in a historical sense, when Jesus says, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, he's referring to His crucifixion.
SPEAKER_01: He's he's talking about when his opponents will literally lift him up on a cross.
SPEAKER_01: And what he's saying in its most basic sense is that when you crucify me, then you're gonna know my true identity as God the Son.
SPEAKER_01: Well, in a deeper sense, Jesus or John is using the phrase lifted up here to allude to Jesus' resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: The moment when the cross turns from a point of humiliation to a place of divine revelation.
SPEAKER_01: And when that happens, Jesus says, the world will know that I am He.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, it's through the cross that God, the I am, will ultimately reveal himself to the world in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so the paradox is that thanks to the resurrection, the place of Jesus' greatest humiliation ultimately becomes the place of God's greatest revelation.
SPEAKER_01: And so, like a good movie, the gospel story ends with an incredible plot twist where the crucified king rises, turning shame and defeat into triumph and salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, we know that Jesus is the light because he's been crucified, buried, and resurrected just as he said he would be.
SPEAKER_01: And now, thanks to the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the darkness that we face is no match for the light that Jesus brings.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus, the light of the world, was cast into utter darkness so that you who were in utter darkness could have the light of life.
SPEAKER_01: That is why you should follow him.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm mindful this morning of the fact that the light can be incredibly disorienting.
SPEAKER_01: I am an early riser.
SPEAKER_01: I like to get up at 5:30 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: as many mornings as I possibly can while the rest of my family is sleeping, so I can get those few precious quiet moments to myself.
SPEAKER_01: But because I'm the only one who's awake, that usually means I'm fumbling around in the dark, stubbing my toe, running myself into the wall, and groping around for the light switch.
SPEAKER_01: I desperately need the light so I don't fall and break my neck.
SPEAKER_01: But as soon as I turn the light on, it immediately hits my face and it's disorienting.
SPEAKER_01: It's blinding, it hurts my eyes, and it's almost just as disorienting at first as the darkness that I was walking in.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm mindful of the fact that coming to faith in Jesus can be a lot like that.
SPEAKER_01: You see the light.
SPEAKER_01: You're attracted to the light.
SPEAKER_01: The light's beautiful, it's compelling, it's even liberating, and you know, you know that you need it.
SPEAKER_01: But as soon as the light shines on you, it disorients you, it stings your eyes a little bit, and it takes a little while to get your bearings and figure out where you're at and what's happening to you.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to know, for those of you who are wrestling with the Christian faith, you have questions about the Christian faith, you're trying to figure out do I really want to follow Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: I just want you to know it's okay if it takes time.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay if it's a little bit disorienting.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I became a Christian when I was 17 years old, and it took two years to figure out what had happened to me.
SPEAKER_01: And the only way I realized that I had become a Christian is because a non-Christian friend observed that something had changed in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's okay if it takes time and if it's disorienting.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know that this is a church that wants to walk with you.
SPEAKER_01: We're so thankful for what the Lord is doing in your life and the way that Christ is beginning to shine on you.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to walk with you towards trusting in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so don't run away.
SPEAKER_01: Don't get discouraged, don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: We are here to walk you into the light.
SPEAKER_01: At the same time, some of you, on the other hand, you've been in the light for a while.
SPEAKER_01: You became Christian, God knows when, and it's been a long time since you've recognized your own need for the light.
SPEAKER_01: But maybe you've forgotten.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've forgotten what it was like to be lost.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've forgotten what it was like to live without hope.
SPEAKER_01: Forgotten what it's like to be dead in your sins.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps for some of you, the good news has become old news, and you need to be reminded this morning that it's still the best news.
SPEAKER_01: You were once in darkness, but Jesus Christ, the light of the world, has entered into your world, and now you have the light of life.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to encourage you to let it shine.
SPEAKER_01: Let it shine in your neighborhoods and your networks, let it shine in your families and your workplaces, let it shine in your closest relationships and in your acquaintances that the world might see that Jesus is the light and that they too may have the light of life.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just remind you this morning as well.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have come to the light, but recently you've been walking in darkness.
SPEAKER_01: You're buried under the burden of guilt and shame over what you've done, or grief and loss over what you should have done.
SPEAKER_01: And you need to know that the light is still shining.
SPEAKER_01: God still forgives, God still welcomes, God still heals, and there's grace for you.
SPEAKER_01: You can continue walking in the light.
SPEAKER_01: Or if you've walked away, you can come back.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus is the light, and in him you have the light of life.
SPEAKER_01: So you should follow Jesus because he is the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we are grateful for your word.
SPEAKER_01: We're grateful for Jesus, who is the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: And we acknowledge, Lord, that apart from him we walk in darkness.
SPEAKER_01: We're left at best to grope around searching for meaning in life.
SPEAKER_01: But Lord, you have shined your light on us, and we are grateful.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, Father, for my friends who do not yet know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, right now, would you shine the light of Christ into their hearts, make it irresistible and unmistakable.
SPEAKER_01: Father, reveal yourself to them in the person of Jesus Christ the Son, that they might have the light of life and that they might walk in it.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray for my friends who are being baptized today and celebrate that the light has come and a new day has dawned in their life.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, may they walk in the light always and the strength and comfort that you provide.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray for my friends, my brothers and sisters who are in the light.
SPEAKER_01: Remind them that we have the best news.
SPEAKER_01: We were once in darkness, but now we are light in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I pray for my friends who may have fallen back into the darkness because of their sin or the sins committed against them.
SPEAKER_01: Life is dark and heavy and difficult and confusing.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that you'd shine your light on them again.
SPEAKER_01: Bring them out into the open that they might be known and loved and give them the forgiveness and the freedom that they so desperately long for.
SPEAKER_01: And finally, brother, our Father, I pray for us as we head out of this place this afternoon.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, may we do so as people who have the light.
SPEAKER_01: May we let it shine without shame or embarrassment or fear, knowing that we bring with us in every place that we go the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, may we let it shine to everyone everywhere that through us and with us they too might have the light of life.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name, amen.