12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."
14 Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.
15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.
16 And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.
17 It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.
18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."
19 Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."
20 These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.
Jesus makes yet another claim for Himself that is either true or false.
Those who believe in Him and follow Him will no longer live in darkness but will have the light of life.
Let’s be reminded of how this claim to be the “light of the world” is connected to what has just happened. In John 8:1-11 we have the record of one of the most despicable acts of treachery that man could devise.
The scribes and Pharisees bring before Jesus a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery and cast her into the midst of the crowd and then Jesus is challenged to pronounce the judgment of death on her.
The scribes and Pharisees were plotting to kill Jesus and now they were sure that they had devised a way to trap Him.
The Law required that there be two or three witnesses to establish a death penalty. This law was strictly enforced. The witnesses must agree on every detail.
How could the scribes and Pharisees have “accidentally” caught this woman? J. M. Boyce suggests that part of the plot by the scribes and Pharisees to kill Jesus was to have one of their own seduce a young woman while some of the others were waiting to “catch” them in the act.
Then they would be sure that they had two or three witnesses who would agree in every detail.
This suggestion by Boyce cannot be proved but it answers two questions.
The first question is how were they able to conveniently catch her and have two or three witnesses.
The second question is why they did not catch the man also. The law said that the man and the woman should be stoned. But if the man involved were part of the plot they would just let him get away.
But when Jesus said to the woman’s accusers that the one among them who was without sin should throw the first stone all the “witnesses” went away.
Now there is only the woman and Jesus and no witnesses to the adultery.
And so Jesus may now legally let her go. Of course Jesus does not condone adultery, but the legalistic challenge of the Pharisees cannot be prosecuted without two witnesses.
But Jesus does infinitely more than just turn her loose from her accusers.
Jesus saves this woman’s soul!
He says to her, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
Do you have the same peace of soul that Jesus gave to this woman?
You and I are as guilty as this woman.
If you do not sincerely believe that you are just as guilty as this woman was then you are probably not saved. Saying you are saved and being saved are not the same.
We are born condemned and as soon as we are able to sin for ourselves we demonstrate that we are sinners. We all deserve to be condemned as much as this woman.
The issue is not a legalistic Pharisaic interpretation of literal adultery. Jesus taught that the spiritual aspects of the commandments are as strict as the letter of the law.
The question is conviction of sin! Repentance!
Have you been released from the guilt and the power of sin? Has the Holy Spirit spoken to your heart and said to you, “Go and sin no more?”
If you were to breathe your last breath in the next instant and you are facing eternity, what is your answer to the question, “Why should Jesus the Son of Man not send you to hell?”
Be very sure of your answer. Make your calling and election sure!
Your answer must be something very close to, “Lord, I am a sinner and only have Your precious blood to cover my sin and guilt. That is all my hope and plea. I trusted You while I lived and I must trust You in death!”
Does your heart know that to be true?
“I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD …”
Jesus of Nazareth makes one of the most outrageous claims that a man can make! Outrageous! Unless His claim to be the Light of the world is true!
And what did the Pharisees say about Jesus’ claim to be the “light of the world.” They said, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."
Your witness is invalid because You bear witness of yourself.
Jesus answers their charge of being an invalid witness and then He brings in the witness of God the Father.
The Pharisees then ask Jesus, "Where is Your Father?"
A little later they will imply that Jesus is illegitimate because Joseph is not His father, “We are not born of fornication [41], implying that He was.
Jesus tells the Pharisees that the reason they do not know who He is is because they do not know who God is!
Do you grasp the significance of what Jesus says to these men?
Jesus just told the most religious men on earth at that time that they do not know God!
Does it not occur to you that often the most outwardly religious men, who are respected by the multitudes, may not know God?
Jim, how can you make such a statement?
Because religion without Christ as the Sufficient and only Savior is just empty religion that denies what Jesus said about Himself!
Everything will ultimately come down to the question of exactly who is Jesus! In the next message [D.V.] we will look at that question in verse 25,
“Who are You?”
Now let’s examine this “outrageous” claim made by Jesus.
What does Jesus mean when He says that He is the “Light of the world?”
If you have been following the spiritual interpretation of John’s Gospel, as I have been preaching it to you, you will have seen that there is a pattern to be understood.
Jesus will do a work of God and then He will preach a sermon about how the work of God or miracle points to Himself.
E.g., in John 6, bread and fish are multiplied and then Jesus preaches that He is the True Bread from heaven. The True Bread from heaven was not the physical manna that was provided in the wilderness. The Bread sent by God the Father is the Man Christ Jesus!
In John 7, the water that flowed in profusion every year at the Feast of the Tabernacles, which was in turn was a reminder of the water that flowed from the Rock in the wilderness, was Jesus Christ who is Himself the Living Water. Jesus preached that He was the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, that He is the Living Water.
Now in John 8, in the darkness of false religion and the treachery of religious hypocrites, Jesus says that He is the Light of the World!
There is a continual reference to the OT types in John.
There is manna. There is water. Now there is light.
In the wilderness wanderings there was a cloud by day and a pillar of light by night that told the Hebrews when to move and when to stay in one place.
They were guided by that light.
The significance of the light was that it guided them.
Now here is that Light and that Light is Jesus Christ!
Is Jesus really your “Light?”
This is not a WWJD [What Would Jesus Do?] question. This is not a case where you are faced with a decision and then you imagine what you think Jesus would do.
How many times have I read in the paper about what someone says that Jesus would do? Jesus, they say, would approve of homosexuality, of same sex marriage. Jesus, they say, would not allow capital punishment. Jesus, they say, would approve of abortion. The problem is that Jesus and the apostles say the exact opposite!
How can you know WWJD?
Is it asking too much for you to read His Word?
The entire Bible is the Word of Jesus. Genesis to Revelation is about Christ.
If Jesus is your light then you are abiding in His word and you are a disciple indeed [31]. It is not a question of what the Jesus of your imagination would do, but it is what the Jesus of the Bible says that must be our Light.
What other connotations are given to “light.”
Physical brightness is the opposite of darkness.
Spiritual understanding and salvation are the opposite of spiritual ignorance and being dead in trespasses and sins.
The Scripture uses the metaphor of light and darkness when it refers to salvation in both the OT and the NT.
Isaiah 9:2
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
1 Peter 2:9
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Light means understanding and knowledge and salvation as opposed to ignorance and living in willful sin.
The Bible begins with light and it closes with light.
Genesis 1:1-3
1:1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Revelation 22:5
And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
And Jesus says: “I am the light of the world!”
To know that God is the Creator of everything that is not God and to have true spiritual understanding is to have light, to have the guidance of Christ in every aspect of our daily life.
So the Pharisee, who knew what the connotation of light meant, knew that whoever is the originator and sustainer of light must be God!
They knew what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the light of the world!”
And the OT metaphor of light is carried over into the NT
2 Corinthians 4:6
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
This verse obviously connects the power of God in the creation of physical light to the creation of spiritual light in salvation.
So when Jesus says, “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD …”
He makes a magnificent claim that can only mean that He is very God!
How is Jesus the Light of the World?
The “world” is the cosmos, the make up. The world can mean the created universe. But the world, as used by Jesus here, means that He is the only light of understanding in the world.
In John’s Gospel, Jews and Gentiles make up the world of individuals, and Jesus is the light of the world!
He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
Those who follow Jesus have understanding and light.
Those who reject Him remain in darkness.
But doesn’t everybody love Jesus?
No, the majority of religious people hate the Jesus of the Bible.
The Pharisees say His witness is not valid, i.e., they called Him a liar!
Jesus calls on other witnesses to His truth.
Jesus knows where He came from and where He is going.
The Pharisees do not know God!
The professionals of the Jewish religion are in spiritual darkness!
Before we consider how Jesus answered the charge that His witness was not true let’s quickly review how the Pharisees try to deal with Jesus.
The following line of thought is from J. M. Boyce’s commentary on John.
How do unscrupulous men usually deal with an adversary?
Eliminate him.
Compromise him.
Get the matter dismissed on a technicality.
In John 7:1, “the Jews sought to kill Him.” Eliminate him.
In John 8:6, “This they said testing Him …” Compromise him.
In John 8:13, “You bear witness of yourself, Your witness is not true.”
Get the matter dismissed on a technicality.
They had failed in their attempt to kill Him, because His hour had not yet come. They had failed to compromise Him in an imagined conflict between law and mercy, now they say:
“Your bear witness of Yourself, Your witness is not true.”
I.e., Your witness is not valid as testimony.
The Pharisees supposed that they had the law on their side, being “experts” in the Scriptures. And the law said:
Numbers 35:30
Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty.
Deuteronomy 17:6
Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
Deuteronomy 19:15
"One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
The rabbinical authorities had broadened the interpretation of the law so that it now applied to every case. Nothing was to be believed unless more than one person could attest to it.
And, of course, no one could testify concerning himself.
Their point was that whether or not His claim was true, it was invalid. It was the testimony of one just one man concerning himself.
This is the same way many people today think about the Word of God and Jesus. They say, “We cannot know if it is true. It may be true, but all you have is a book.” “How can we believe the words in a book?”
Yes, all we have is the Bible. It is an act of faith to believe the Bible.
It is also an act of faith to disbelieve the Bible.
How does Jesus answer these unscrupulous men?
And does His answer have relevance to people today who doubt the truth of Jesus and the Word of God?
According to Boyce, Jesus makes three points.
Jesus’ first point is that regarding the subject at issue, i.e., “light”, that only a person with a superior source of knowledge can qualify and that He alone possesses such knowledge.
"Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.
So if we were only dealing with the realm of human knowledge the Pharisees would have a point but this is in the realm of God and only God can testify.
Now do you see the point as it concerns you? If Jesus is who He claims to be then everything He says is true and we are all subject to Him. If He is not who He claims to be then we have no sure knowledge of God. You are with the group that says, “I like to think of God as ….” And they reject what the Bible says about God.
Jesus’ second point is that His testimony is impartial.
15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. 17 It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.
You judge according to human understanding. You excuse yourselves and others. You are partial. Your judgments are tainted with sin.
The testimony of the sinless Son of God overrides the testimony of man.
How do you make decisions?
Do you always go to the Bible for guidance?
If not, why not?
Jesus’ third point is that Jesus Himself is a qualified witness and God the Father is a second witness. How did God the Father bear witness of Jesus?
John the Baptist pointed to Jesus of Nazareth as the Lamb of God!
In 5:33-34, Jesus says that John the Baptist bore witness to Him.
In 5:36, there is the witness of the signs that Jesus did.
In 5:39ff the OT Scriptures are all about Jesus.
Will you also reject superior knowledge, and impartial judgment, and the witness of God the Father? Most of them did.
How does this apply to our everyday life?
Learn not to make judgments in spiritual matters based on human understanding. Go to the Word of God for spiritual understanding.
We must trust Jesus Christ and never impose our human understanding to override anything that Jesus teaches in the Bible.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
Finally, if you believe what has been preached about Jesus today, have you personally committed your life to Him? Have you confessed your faith in Christ before this sinful world?
That is my invitation to you.
Come to Jesus Christ in childlike faith.
Jesus saves sinners.
Sinner, come to Jesus.
Amen
Sola Scriptura 
