A Light In The Darkness

Darkness doesn’t always look like disaster. Sometimes it looks like a normal life you’ve carefully built while staying separated from God. From John 12:44–50, we follow the moment where Jesus “cried” out loudly and publicly, making a claim that still confronts every listener: to believe in Him is to believe in the Father, and to see Him is to see what God is truly like.

We walk through Jesus as the light of the world and why that language only makes sense if spiritual darkness is real. We talk about what it means to “abide” in darkness: not a passing feeling, but a place where people build a home, a purpose, and a set of pursuits. If we won’t love God, we will still love something. If we won’t believe God, we will still believe something. That’s how entire cultures and personal habits can form around substitutes that cannot heal guilt, fear, numbness, or the slow slide into apathy.

Then we sit with a line many people miss: Jesus says He does not come to judge, but to save. We hold that mercy alongside the warning that His words will judge in the last day, because God’s commandment is life everlasting. The invitation is simple and direct: turn your faith away from the darkness and toward Christ, speak to Him, and ask Him to save you and make you new.

If this stirred something in you, listen all the way through, share it with someone who needs hope, and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. What part of Jesus being “light into the world” do you need most right now?

(Recorded live on December 14, 2026 at Grace Baptist Tabernacle, King, NC)

Transcript

Jesus Cried Out In Public

SPEAKER_00 0:14

John chapter twelve, um starting with verse forty-four. Uh starts out says, Jesus cried. He cried. This was a it was meant to be projected and shared and spoken so that all the nations could hear it. He cried, and it was a loud message, um, but it was a message from God Himself to not only Israel, but all the nations, uh, down from that very day where he said this, down to this present night, and as many days as go by until he returns again, he cried, and he said, He that believeth on me believeth not on me, but on him that sent me, and he that seeth me see him that sent me, the very most profound act of love that God ever showed to the world was when the word became flesh and dwelt among us, the most profound expression of who God is and what God is all about. The most relatable that God has has ever been. When God took on flesh and became a man, and he walked and he talked, and um, it says he cried, he cried with a loud voice, and there were times that he spoke with a soft voice, there were times that he sang, there were times that he rejoiced, there was

God In Flesh Made Visible

SPEAKER_00 2:05

time that he wept. Uh, there was a time he braided the cords together and he drove the people out of the temple. There were times when he was angered. Um, you know, the man with the withered hand, and you know, and he meant to heal him. And the Pharisees came and they said, Well, he should have done that, you know. And then, you know, see, he looked around him with anger and he said to that man, stretch forth your hand, and that man was healed. Um, you know, all these things, you know, Jesus walked through what it is to be a man. He walked through what it is to be human, albeit without sin. Now you'll you'll hear this morning's message and last Wednesday's message, the circumstances were a little bit different for his birth. He he walked without sin. And he had a message, and he had a point, and you've heard that he bore witness to the truth. And this says in verse 46, I am come a light into the world. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. We sang it earlier tonight. Word of the Father, the expression of who the Father is, the expression of what the Father loves, the expression of what the Father hates, the expression of what the Father's will is for this world, the expression of what is good, what is truth, what is holy, what is mercy, what is compassion, what is grace, and what what is it? Who are you, God? And the Lord Himself showed up and said, Here I am. Hear my voice, see me, know me, walk with me, dine with me, eat with me. Um, wake up and go through the day with me. Um listen to me, hear me, because I am come a light into the world. That that whosoever, my friend, I say it's to the nations, whosoever, people in this room, people outside this room, people in 2025, people in 2045, if we have that long. Um, my friend, you know, whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness. Um, a light into the world, because there is a darkness. There there exists a darkness, and my friend, it's uh it's it's it's almost a little bit difficult to describe

Light Enters A Dark World

SPEAKER_00 4:55

because it's almost as though it's a living thing. There is a darkness, there is a separation that men and women have from the living God. There is demonic uh beings. You know, there are beings. There is a Satan, and he comes to steal, he comes to kill, he comes to destroy, but but this light, this light, this who Jesus is, and by extension, who you are is the church, my friends. The light is in the darkness, and the light cannot be extinguished by the darkness. The darkness can't swallow it up, uh, the darkness can't destroy it. Um, even you know, Jesus himself died. My friend, he in dying, he destroyed him that had the power of death. The devil. Um, the devil didn't extinguish Jesus. Uh Jesus laid down his life willingly, knowing, knowing that by the Holy Ghost, he would take it up again. Knowing that the people he would redeem, the people he would purchase. So you heard so much, a little bit about this morning. Um, the people he would purchase would receive the Holy Ghost, the very same Holy Ghost that raised him up from the dead. So, my friend, um the the world's a dark place, but but look at this first for yourself and then for for those around you. And look at whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness. People abide in darkness normally. You yourself, if you're saved. One time you abode in that darkness. What's it mean to abide in the darkness? It means you build a life there. You build a home there, you build a purpose there, you build your pursuits there. Um, my friend, um, you know, someone who's loving in darkness, they they they they won't love God, but you love something. You won't serve God, but you serve something. You don't believe God, but you believe something.

What We Build Without God

SPEAKER_00 7:21

You you can't outrun the way you were formed. We were formed to be social. We were formed to have passions, uh, we were formed to have a capacity to believe. Um, if you don't believe God, you believe something. You don't love God, you love something. You don't serve God, you love something. Um, you're you're going after something. And like the old civilizations. I went back to the book of Genesis a bit. Um, the days of Cain, after he went out from the presence of the Lord, he started to build a city. He started to build a civilization. Uh, the days after the flood, wasn't too long after the flood that um Babylon, old Babylon began to be built. Um if you're not gonna love God, you're gonna love something.

unknown 8:17

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

If you're not gonna respond to God's calling, you're gonna respond to something. Uh my friend, yeah. This is how we get cultures, this is how we get traditions, this is how we get worldviews, this is how we get ways of life, religions, and spirituality, and politics. But it's all built in darkness. Um, apart from God, and you can even say against God. Man goes out from God, woman goes out from God, but we're still alive. Hallelujah and amen. That's a hallelujah and amen, my friend. We're still alive. And we build, we build, and we build like like the old Tower of Babel every now and then. You read that account back in Genesis. Uh God came down to see it. He came down to see what men were building. He comes down tonight to see what you're building. What are you building? What are you doing in this life that I formed and that I gave you to have? And and you you walk my earth and you breathe my air. Hallelujah. And I'm and I'm glad to give it to you. I'm glad to give you life, I'm glad to give you air, I'm glad to give you sustenance. I I was glad to form you. And yet you're you're separate from me. But tonight I come to see what are you building? What are you doing in your separateness from me? Because, my friend, you're you're abiding in the darkness. And what you're doing now will inevitably lead to destruction. You know, your your lives catch up with you. Um, there comes a day where you know the that you lash out in anger and you can't take it back, and it just wrecks things. And uh, there comes a day where um you get caught in your adultery, and all of a sudden your your your children have to grow up in a single-parent home, and it starts affecting people generations, generations, generations. Um it starts building, it's it's deaf, and it's darkness. And the Lord is coming to shine a light into your darkness tonight. And he says, if you believe on me, should not you you should not abide in the darkness, you will not abide in the darkness because you believe in me. And and and and it'll continue along that line. But yeah, the Lord continues here. He says, If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not. Wow. You see, the Lord's coming in affection, he he's coming in love, he's coming to say, you know, I'm God. And obviously the Tower of Babel was not God. It was not, but I still came to see it. And I'm coming to you and saying, you know, like Holy Ghost gave Isaiah. Let's reason together. Come. Let us reason together.

Jesus Comes To Save Not Judge

SPEAKER_00 11:36

You're abiding in the darkness, one day you're gonna die. Right now, I judge you not. I came not to judge you, came not to judge the world. But you can put your name in here, my friend. Um, I came not to judge you, but to save you. To save. I came to overthrow the works of the devil. I came, and you see, you know who is judged? The prince of this world. He is judged. Satan is judged. The devils and the demons are judged. They're the ones who are judged right now. But you, I'm coming to speak to you, I'm coming to save you, I'm coming to redeem you, I'm coming to reconcile you. Because, my friend, let's reason together, but with the holy God, why should you die when God Himself has come to save you? God Himself has not come to destroy you, God Himself has not come to overthrow you. If anything is overthrown in your life, it's it's it's a work of the devil. That's what gets overthrown. That's what we talk about breaking chains, we talk about breaking bondages, um, we talk about you know, you know, the Holy Ghost conviction. But the conviction is not to damnation and death. The conviction, if you're a lost man, lost woman, lost child, the conviction is to turn away from the darkness and turn your eyes upon Jesus. If you're of the church, the conviction is to come back home. The conviction, uh you know, but we got to bring it back in the right way. The conviction is to get right with God. But the conviction takes you from point A to point B. And who is it? It's the Holy Ghost. It's the Holy Ghost bringing you to Jesus. And then Jesus takes you and points you to the Father. Hallelujah and amen. I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. Oh, this is the reason why a man can reject Jesus time and time again. Um, a woman can reject Jesus time and time again. And they still go on. They still go on. You know, Jesus would say in another place, the wheat and the tares grow up. Um, because my friend, you know, if I were to take the wheat now, you know, if I were to rip out the tares, I would tear out the wheat right now. Um, but it but he lets you go. And there come times when God comes around to see what you're building, to see what you're doing, and to say, well, why should you die? Why should you continue in in the thrall and service of the devil? Why should you continue in the kingdom of the devil? Why should you continue following them? Why should you continue? Oh, we we both know that the lust just lets you down all the time. We do we both know that there's nothing but guilt and regret and fear and torment that piles and piles and piles on you. Uh we we both know that you're numb. And we both know that you know the apathy is just you're you're you're just one moment away from just not caring about anything anymore. Um you're one moment away from just saying, I'm just gonna be alone and miserable all my life. And that's building in the darkness. And that darkness is living. I mean, if you notice, if you start to go that way, you you might take a couple steps and all of a sudden you're going 60 miles an hour. And you're like, what on earth? You know, I didn't want to go that far, but you did. Uh this this darkness is living, my friend. The demonic is living. Um, but God, he came to judge the demons this time. He came to save you. Hallelujah and amen. He says, He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him. This word tonight, right here. Um, John chapter 12, verses 44 to 50. That Jesus spoke the same shall judge him in the last day. The gospel in the last day will judge. Because God never wanted you to go to hell. Come on, that's right. God

The Word That Judges At Last

SPEAKER_00 16:40

never wanted you to go to hell. And so that word, that's because see, I'll get ahead of myself here. God's commandment to you is life everlasting. That commandment of God you rejected. Oh, may there be a fear of the Lord in you, my lost friend. Because God doesn't come to judge you today. He comes to show you that you're lost, and you know you you could say that's a type of judgment. But he didn't come to cast you down and throw you in the flames today. He came to talk to you today because he wants you to live. And he wants you to not die, and he wants you to have an abundant life. Um, you know, verse 49, if I I Jesus says, I've not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, who so loves this world, he gave his only begotten son. He he who spared not his own son, how shall he not give us all things? He didn't spare his son, he didn't spare the best. So, how shall he not give you all things along with him? Everything pertaining to life and godliness. The Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment on what I should say and what I should speak, and that's all Jesus did. That's all he did. Did what the Father said to do and spoke what the Father said to speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting. Life everlasting for you, my friend. Because my friends, there's a life. You're you're existing now in the darkness. But there's a life everlasting. Uh there's there's something other than the darkness. There's a light that's shining in your darkness right now, illuminating, shining. And um most people find it uncomfortable. Why? Because we're we're used to building things in the darkness. Um, we're we're used to death, we're we're used to disappointment. Uh, we're used to just kind of doing whatever we think we gotta do to get by. Uh, we're used to being on our own. Uh we're used to um you know just things ending and things dying. And uh we're we're used to that. But here comes God. A bright, shining, bold, holy, loving, compassionate, merciful, gracious, filled with the truth. And he's and he comes into your darkness just like he's doing now. He says, Come to me. Life everlasting. Life everlasting. That's his commandment. He commands you to live. So why do you die? And God himself, my friend, God himself is for you. God himself, um, wrap your head around this one. God himself is for a liar. He's for the thief. Oh, that that the sin, there's a wrath, there's a justice, and there's a judgment, but forbearance. That's how he's for you. That wrath doesn't fall. That that that that sort of that that final judgment, it's it's still it's not here yet.

His Commandment Is Everlasting Life

SPEAKER_00 20:55

It's in the future. But God tells you about it. Why does he tell you about it? So do you get out from under it? Get out from under it. Oh, my friend, uh, the old New Testament church, you know, there's one message. Um, I think it was Peter. Save yourselves from this wicked and untold. Save yourselves from this wickedness, save yourselves from this evil, save yourselves from from this darkness. Oh, how do we save ourselves? Uh turn your eyes upon Jesus. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, take his hand when he's reaching it out to you. Believe on him. And I I love that. It says, believe on me, believe on me, believe on me, believe on me. Throw yourself on him. Cast yourself on him. Oh, my friend, and he'll do the rest. He'll trust me, he'll do it. Uh he'll he'll do the rest. He might just be able to get out. I'm in sin, I'm in sin, I'm in sin, I'm in sin, and you're having a panic attack and you're scared. Well, stop for a moment. Do you believe that the Lord is able to save you? Do you believe the Lord wants to save you? And ask him to save you. Ask him to save you. Because no matter how bad your sin is, he shed his blood for you in advance. Shed his blood a long time ago. As we reckon time. And he did it with you in mind. That's the marvelous grace of our loving God. His love for you, a sinner. So my friend of our musicians will come forward tonight. Simple message. Believe Jesus, my friend. And you may be in a position right now, just like I described a moment ago, where you don't you don't know what what I have to do. You don't know what to do. Um, my friends, Jesus did all the work already. So take heart.

unknown 23:30

Thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Jesus did the work already. And if you're you're in that position where you're afraid, if you're in that position where you're concerned, if you're in that position where you're desperate, where you you you can't go another moment in the darkness. And all you have to do is let that faith go away from the darkness and into Jesus. That's that's how you turn. You you put your faith not

Turn Your Faith Toward Jesus

SPEAKER_00 24:10

in your darkness, but in the light. Not in the not in your word or the word of men, but the word of God. And his name is Jesus. So talk to him. He has spoken to you. So you speak back to him now. My friend, if you're here tonight, you need to be born again. We're we're gonna play a song and I very simply ask you to come forward. And uh, we'd be glad to pray with you up here. Um, if you're abroad and listening to this, well, glory to God. Um, I want you to just stop and talk to Jesus. Stop and say, You know, Lord, you command me to life everlasting. Amen. I say amen to that. I say amen to you. Lord, save me. Lord help me. Lord, give me your Holy Ghost to make me new. I love you. If you don't have words of your own, borrow his, amen. Um and and my friend, uh, if you're here, obviously we want to know what the Lord's doing in your life. And if you're there, um 80, about 85 countries now, if you're out there, and we want to know what the Lord's doing in your life, um, and that would encourage us. Um, you know, don't feel like you're a burden or don't feel like we won't understand or anything like that, but um write us, um, reach out to us, um, give us a call on the phone. Um, better yet, uh, come to any one of our services. And we will be excited to meet you. And thank you for being here tonight, and may the Lord richly bless us.