We are one church. We love God, love people, love
His mission, and love His church.
Welcome to the One Church podcast.
There are some animals that they produce their own light.
Now you may know this, some marine animals, they call it
bioluminescence. That's where you produce your
own light from the chemicals you consume or whatever.
It's pretty amazing really. And up to 75% of animals in the
water are bioluminescent because it's so dark below the surface
of the ocean, which is quite amazing.
I am not bioluminescent. I do not produce my own light.
But here's my 4 favourite animals that produce light.
So here we go. This is a jellyfish.
Look at that. We we know jellyfish.
Jellyfish that they produce their own light based on some of
the things that they consume. And yeah, they light up the sea.
And if you ever see one, I don't think you'll be thinking, nice
light. I think you'll be thinking, ah,
a jellyfish. Next up, I've never actually
seen these in real life. Fireflies.
Has anyone seen real fireflies? Are they as light as they look
on the movies? They actually are.
One day, one day maybe they'll come to scrap toft.
I don't know. How about this one?
The anglerfish, we're thinking of Finding Nemo, we're thinking
of other things like that. And one that you might be
surprised by. An animal that emits its own
light is a puffin. So you're thinking a puffin
doesn't emit light. It's a, it's a bird, but we
can't see it. But when you look at a puffin's
beak and see the UV light it emits, you see this.
Oh, that's good. And nearly all of these things,
why do they emit light? It's a mixture of things, but
usually it's for reproduction purposes.
With most animals, it's for reproduction purposes.
So light emits light. They emit light, But the rest of
us, we rely on it. John, chapter 8, verse 12 says
this, and it's on the screen. This is the New International
Version of the Bible. When Jesus spoke again to the
people, he said, I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have
the light of life. So John, Amen.
Indeed, John is not just my middle name.
It's the fourth gospel in the Bible.
In the New Testament, the new part of the Bible, the Gospels
are written to tell us about the life and teachings of Jesus
Christ and Jesus from the four different angles of the Gospels.
His life is wonderful, and the perspective of John's gospel,
it's really written to convince us of his glory and his
divinity. And throughout John there are
many things that happen. So there are two main sections
of John, and then a start and an end, a prologue and an epilogue.
And within this book of John you have amazing profound
statements, but there are seven I am statements of Jesus.
Maybe straight away you would know them, but the one that
we're focusing on today, the I AM statement, it's sandwiched
between two miraculous accounts. So whereas something is in the
Bible is significant, it's not just a series of stories one
after another, but when these books were composed, completely
inspired by God and written by people, we have these.
The way that a gospel is composed tells us a story as
well. It's amazing what God can speak
through His Word and we have an account, a miraculous account,
and then the declaration that Jesus said I'm the light of the
world and then another account. Those accounts are the woman who
is caught in adultery and then after a man who was born blind
and healed. But the bread of our sandwich,
which is here, the woman in adultery and the man born blind,
they help us understand the meat in the middle of the sandwich a
little bit more, where Jesus says I am the light of the
world. So first of all, light and life,
you may already know this, but life as we know it cannot exist
without light. And in Genesis one we have the
linking of light and life straight away.
Everybody say light, Everybody say life, Light and life.
There you go. That's a tongue twister for you.
OK, Genesis one in the beginning of the Bible says this.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and empty.
Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God
was hovering over the waters. And God said, let there be
light, and there was. So at the beginning, we have the
beginning of life as we know it, and it's light.
The first thing God says let there be light, light and life.
And at the start of John's Gospel, which we're focusing on
today, we read this prologue that I mentioned.
We read that Jesus is not just a man, He's the Son of God.
He's the word of God. He is God and this is what it
says in John chapter one. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made.
Everything, the anglerfish, the puffin, all of him, through him
all things were made. Without Him, nothing was made
that has been made In Him was life and that life was the light
of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness
and the darkness has not overcome it.
The beginning of Genesis, the beginning of John Light and
life. Are you ready?
Well, let's take a little trip to the biology classroom.
You know what I'm going to say. Light and life.
Light giving birth to life. That's right.
Here is a nice grown up diagram of photosynthesis.
Everybody. I feel photosynthesis is the
thing that people who do biology in the UK, they always remember,
like you just remember photosynthesis or a diagram of
the eye, always remember that as well.
But photosynthesis is what happens in plant life.
What we have is carbon dioxide, Water and light lead to the
production within a plant of oxygen and food or energy for
the plant. It's what makes it green and
also it's what keeps our atmosphere full of oxygen.
It's incredible light and life intermingling even in nature.
Literally, light brings life. This is a truth spoken by Jesus
in John 812. This is what we've read already.
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
Jesus is light and Jesus is life, but not just spoken.
Jesus shows this reality in the two accounts either side of the
statement in John 8 verse 1 to 11 and John 9.
He is light and life to a woman trapped in her sin and trapped
in the judgement of others. Jesus is light and life and he
is light and life to a man born blind.
He is light and life and changes everything because wherever
Jesus is, light is, wherever light is, life is.
And simply to say to you today, Jesus is light and life to all
who come to him. Are you lost?
Do you feel like you're dying? He is light and he is life.
He is not just light and life. Jesus is perfect light.
So we've gone biology. OK, let's go to another science.
What would you rather have? Physics or chemistry?
Good physics. I'm glad you said that.
I've got nothing prepared with chemistry.
OK, All right. We're going to the physics
classroom now. There's a man named Adrian
Rogers. He was a preacher and an author
and he speaks of the nature of light.
And this is what he says. Light is pure, light is not
changed by what it touches. He also states that light is
made-up of those 7 colours which when combined make pure white
light. And he talks about the number of
perfection in the Bible, in God's word of seven.
And I enjoyed that. Light is pure, it is not changed
by what it touches. Not just that, light is
constant. Have you ever heard of the
theory of relativity? E equals MC squared?
If I'm honest, I don't understand it.
I just know that Einstein has something to do with it.
But I do know this C in the equation E equals MC squared is
a constant that is recognised throughout the whole of
universal law, and that is the speed of light.
It's the universal constant. And what is the speed of light?
300,000 metres per second? That's fast.
That's really, really fast. But I love that.
Light is the constant. Light is victorious.
It illuminates, it reveals, and it scatters darkness.
A question is posed. How do you get rid of darkness?
Do you use a shovel? No.
Do you use a brush and sweep it away?
No. You turn on a light and the
darkness flees. Light is victorious.
Not just that, but light is vital.
We need it. It brings life, Light and life.
We've already talked about this. And light is glorious.
Have you ever watched the sunrise?
Light is glorious. And consider Jesus.
If Jesus is the light, then what does that mean about him?
Jesus is pure. Jesus touched sin, but sin
didn't touch him. Jesus interacted with sinners,
yet he was blameless. Hebrews 4 verse 15 says this.
We have a high priest who's been tempted in every way, just as we
are, yet he did not sin. Jesus is pure.
Jesus is constant. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Jesus is victorious. John 15 The light shines in the
darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
Light overcomes darkness and Jesus overcomes all things.
Jesus is vital. John 812 As we've said, that is
the light of life and also Jesus is glorious.
The sun is the radiance of God's glory.
Hebrews chapter one. This is Jesus, perfect light,
pure, constant, victorious, vital, glorious.
And Jesus, who is perfect light, is not just a distant God who we
hope to appease with our offerings, our prayers and our
time and service. We are talking about a Saviour
who came and took our place in our nest, who stepped into our
earthly timeline and into our earthly scene.
He took on our sin and bore our transgressions on Himself.
He is perfect light, and yet He came and made himself nothing on
behalf of those He loves. And He is the same Saviour who
today longs to offer and give you life in fullness forever.
He is perfect light, and when Jesus shines, darkness cannot
exist in His presence. Now let's think for a moment
about that first story. The woman caught in adultery.
Jesus is the one who illuminates what is unclear.
He exposes what festers in the corner of a room.
He uncovers what is covered up, and he is the righteous and
perfect judge of all things. Jesus is in the business of
bringing light to darkness and bringing darkness into his
light. Now if you've ever been part of
Reach, which is our club that we run here at one church midweek
for 7 to 11 year olds, you've probably played hide and seek in
the dark. We encourage our kids around the
one centre, our church building where our offices are in the
city centre. We encourage them to go and hide
in different places around the building.
We've got some rules. No boys toilets, no girls
toilets. That's unfair.
Of course, no kitchen, no one under the stage, don't go in
anywhere that you think you wouldn't be allowed to and don't
go up any stairs. And we let them go free.
We're talking open hands, donations, they're inside,
they're ready. We're talking undercoats, we're
talking underneath tables around there, inside cupboards.
I remember once when a child find a cupboard that had some
leftover Father's Day chocolates in, and when we went into the
cupboard we found a very suspicious empty wrapper lying
on the floor. They had a good game of hide and
seek that day, but what happens is you have kids hiding
everywhere in the dark, and then you turn the light on and
suddenly what was a great hiding place, you've got a kid kind of
posed like that against a wall or hanging over something.
When the light turns on, it's amazing how clear it is where
all the kids are. And actually, sometimes it's
amazing how obvious where the kids are as well because they're
laughing and smiling and simply cannot stay quiet.
When Jesus shines his light, we see things as they really are,
and maybe that's why sometimes we can be afraid to give him
full control. Let's think about the woman that
we read in John 8 at the start of the chapter where we read
Jesus is the light of the World. What I'm going to do is just
summarise the story a little bit.
Jesus has gone to the temple courts in Jerusalem to teach,
and as he teaches he has sat down.
People would have gathered around and listened.
And in that moment, the teachers bring a woman who's been caught
in adultery, in unfaithfulness, in her marriage and stands
before the group, and they challenge Jesus because what
they're doing is not about trying to do what's right.
They're trying to catch him out. In fact, in John, it says it's a
trap to try and accuse him. And the people, the teachers say
in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
Now what do you say Jesus? And Jesus bends down and writes
on the ground with his finger. What did Jesus write?
I'm going to speculate later, right at the end, OK, I've got 5
ideas for you, but that's fine. And their questions continue.
And Jesus looks at them and says this.
Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a
stone at her. And he continues to write in the
ground and one at a time. I love the the drama of this
moment. One at a time, starting with the
oldest and then the youngest and eventually everyone, they leave
one by one. We imagine the stones falling to
the ground and it says that just Jesus and the woman were left.
Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?
Jesus says to her, No one, Sir, she said Then neither do I
condemn you. Jesus declared go now and leave
your life of sin. So do you see Jesus heart in
this moment? He doesn't ignore the fact of
what she has done wrong, but what he does in that moment is
he gives her an opportunity to be transformed and changed from
that moment onwards. He says neither do I condemn
you, go now and leave your life of sin.
How can it be that Jesus, if he's a perfect judge, would see
the woman's sins that are things she has done wrong?
It's never denied by Jesus. But in that moment he says, now
go and leave your life of sin. Start again, start afresh.
What gives Jesus the right to say this?
It's because he was the one who would go on to be condemned.
And in this moment, Jesus almost points to the future, something
that is to come. Jesus was condemned to death on
a cross for women like that woman who was caught in
adultery, for men like the man born blind, and for people like
me and for you. Jesus was condemned to death on
a cross even though he had done nothing wrong.
He was perfect light, yet he was condemned.
Our condemnation was on him. And because of what Jesus has
done, now all of us can walk in his freedom.
We can be given another chance to begin again.
We have the opportunity of new life, but we have to choose to
walk into this freedom. And there are two choices in the
book of John and in the whole Bible.
We either live in the darkness or live in the light.
We walk in the darkness or we walk in the light.
There is no mid ground, there is no shadowy middle land, but
there are some dark sunlight. It is we walk in darkness or we
live in the light. And Jesus gives this woman a
glorious, gracious, loving opportunity to not be condemned
by the crowd around her, but to now get up, stand up, and leave
her life of sin and be changed. Did you know that no matter what
you've done, you can be saved? Did you know no matter how far
you've fallen short, Jesus is enough for you?
Do you know how no matter how much you feel condemned by
yourself and others, He took your condemnation on Himself and
now you can walk in freedom. Did you know that you can pick
yourself up out of the dust of the ground of this life like the
woman caught in adultery? You can stand and you can follow
Jesus instructions to leave your life of sin and walk in light
and freedom. This is an offer to you today.
Oh, it takes sacrifice and it takes honesty, but it's an offer
given to you. We don't know how she reacted.
We don't really know what happened to her next, but today
we have a choice of what happens next in our lives.
Finally, Jesus is not just the one who gives light and life.
He is not just perfect light, and He's not just the one who
gives light in the darkness. He's the one who gives light to
the blind. And after He declares of himself
that I am the light of the world, He then brings light to a
man who has only seen darkness. Jesus sees a man blind from
birth. And the disciples ask him.
They say, Jesus, let's talk about the man.
Let's not talk to him. Let's talk about him.
Was it his sin or his parents sin that mean he was blind?
And in that moment they've missed the point.
It's the person in front of them.
And Jesus says this, this happens so the works of God
might be displayed in him. Are you prepared today for the
reality that your blindness and struggles in life may simply be
an opportunity for a display of the wondrous works of God?
Perhaps the canvas of your pain and persistent prayer of many
years God has intended to upon which paint a masterpiece of His
Majesty, healing and restoration.
He says the words that we think about today.
Jesus says again, I am the light of the world.
He spits on the ground, he makes mud and he puts it on the man's
eyes. He says go and wash in the pool
of Siloam. And the man comes back seeing
his neighbours, friends and family are shook up.
They are they're rattled. They can't believe it.
They think it's a look alike it says.
They think it's he's got a twin and he sent a twin to try and
trick us. But anyway, the Pharisees, the
teachers of the law, they bring him in front of them and just
like the disciples, they start to grill and they start to ask
questions. They ask him, they ask his
parents, is he really, was he really born blind?
Is this really true? What's happened?
How is this possible? Who did this?
And the man's response sums up the wonder of the whole account.
Whether Jesus is a Sinner or not, I don't know.
One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see.
And the Pharisees say you were steeped in sin at birth, how
dare you lecture us? And they throw him out of their
presence. Jesus hears of this and he finds
the man because that's what Jesus does.
He hears of a man thrown out of the Pharisees presence and he
goes to find him. And Jesus finds the man and he
says this. Do you believe in the Son of Man
which is one of Jesus names? And the man says, tell me so
that I may believe in him. You have seen him.
And Jesus looks at the man and what's his response?
The man born blind, who's been miraculously healed, He looks at
Jesus and says, Lord, I believe and he worships him.
No matter what others have said or questioned or done, in this
moment, he makes a decision to say, Lord, I believe and
worships him and his words. I was blind and now I see are so
much more than just his physical eyes being opened.
He has been spiritually brought to life.
His spiritual eyes have been opened to see Jesus, the Son of
man, the one who can save and heal, but also the one who calls
him into new life and he chooses to worship.
I was a Wretch and now I'm saved.
I was lost and now I'm found. I was blind but now I see.
So today, how do we how do we now take some of the truths
we've talked about and where do we go from here?
What's our next step? I'd suggest to you today that if
our next step is to go good one. Jesus, fantastic.
You're the light of the world. Thank you very much.
Coffee, flapjack, one of those little brownies.
If you, if you get there quick enough, little shortbreads, have
a nice chat to someone and go home.
We, we perhaps have missed a moment that could change our
lives. We perhaps have missed a woman
in adultery moment. Maybe we've missed a man born
blind moment. Because right now Jesus is here
and he's able to take you on the next step.
I think the first, the first moment of response for us today
is an easier one than the second, but also it is vitally
important. It's the choice to declare.
It's a declaration. Jesus challenge to the man born
blind was this. Do you believe and he was able
to declare that he did and worship Jesus Throughout the
Bible we see these passages where we're encouraged to
believe in the light of the world to Samuel 22, it's on the
screen if you want to glance or just to listen and receive you,
Lord, in my lamp the Lord turns my darkness into light. 2
Corinthians 4 of us 4 to 6. The God of this age is blinded,
the minds of unbelievers, they cannot see the light of the
gospel that displays the glory of Christ.
God who said let light shine out of darkness, made His light
shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of
God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.
Some of us in the room have been blinded.
Circumstances, the work of the enemy, things that we've
experienced, hardness of heart, whatever the gods that have
governed our lives. Some of us in the room today are
blinded and we would say that we are on that category of
unbeliever or we don't know where we are in our belief.
The good news is we know someone who can help us in our unbelief
today. Jesus, the light of the world,
stands with arms open wide to you.
He says that no matter what you've done, where you've been,
or who you are, no matter the unbelief that you have lived in
today, He welcomes you to come to Him.
He says that He's the answer that you've looked for.
He's the one that you've searched for.
There is only one and His name is Jesus.
There's only one way, and His name is Jesus.
He is the truth for every question, and He is life and
light for all who seek Him. And today you might simply want
to say, yes, Jesus, today I choose to say I believe in you.
I believe in what you've done, what you've done on the cross
that we sang about and have talked about.
Today what you've done is you died in my place on the cross
and you rose to life. Look, I believe in you and I
believe in what you've done. I want to put my trust in you
and worship you. I don't know how it all looks
yet, but I want to say today that I declare that I believe
and I put my trust in you. Just like the man chose to
believe and worship Jesus after the miracle he'd done in his
life, today you can declare that you believe in him too.
And now something that's incredibly personal for each of
us, transformation, the call to leave our life of sin.
Jesus himself Stoops down into the dust.
He finds you where you were, covered in the the mess of what
you've done. Maybe you've been ridiculed by
others or maybe you've simply been lambasted by yourself.
You've been struck down by yourself and you carry the guilt
and shame of things that you've done in the past or things
you're engaged in right now. And you know it's not God's best
for you and you long to leave your life of sin, but you don't
know where it begins today. Jesus said I am the light of the
world. He offers you a life of light
and fullness of life. He offers you the opportunity of
living your life of sin. In Isaiah 9, the people walking
in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the
land of deep darkness. A light has dawned.
His name is Jesus and He can rescue us from the depths of any
sin we have found ourselves in one John one verse 5, God is
light. In Him there's no darkness.
If we claim to have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness,
we lie. We do not live out the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son
purifies us from all sin. So what did Jesus write in the
dust? Some people think that he wrote
the sins of the people in the crowd and as they saw it, they
realised that they had sinned. Some people speculate that he
wrote the names of those people who had also sinned alongside
her in her adultery and then in that moment they realised they
were just victimising 1. Some people think that Jesus
wrote the 10 commandments to remind them of those things.
And some people think that Jesus was simply distracting people
from her shame because it was likely that she was indiscreetly
dressed at that moment. However, for me my favourite
observation is this. In the beginning, when God
created the heavens and the earth and said let there be
light, he took the dust of the ground and he breathed his
breath into the dust and he made a man.
And in this moment he Stoops into the dust of the ground, and
he begins to trace his finger in that dust from which he made
people, and he begins a process of recreation in her life.
New start, a new life. You're forgiven.
You're not condemned. I take your condemnation on me.
I give you an opportunity to be made new.
And Jesus, through whom all things were made, who brings
light and life to everything. Jesus begins a process of
recreation and today you were made by him.
But he wants to get down on your level, to get into your dust and
the mess of your sin and mistakes.
And he wants to recreate you. He wants to reform you.
He wants to heal your heart. And he wants to whisper a
challenge to you and say, and now it's time.
I'm not condemning you here. There's a way.
There's a way to be free. But it's time to leave your life
of sin and it's time to follow me.
It's time to walk in the light. The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.