1. 8:12-59: I am the light of the world.
THE GOSPEL OF
John
8:12-59: I am the light of the world.

2. John 8
12 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.”

3. John 8
12 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.”
Light metaphors in the Old Testament
God led the Israelites by a pillar of fire.
Psalm 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation…”
Psalm 119: God’s word described as a “lamp” illuminating our path.

4. John 8
12 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.”
Light metaphors in the Old Testament
Isaiah 49: God’s Servant would become a light to the Gentiles.
Zechariah 14: God himself would illuminate the new heavens and new earth.

5. John 8
12 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.”
Ephesians: 4:17-19: “I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles [the non-Christians] do, in the futility of their thinking…”

6. John 8
12 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.”
Ephesians: 4:17-19: “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts…”

7. John 8
12 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.”
Ephesians: 4:17-19: “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.”

8. John 8
13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

9. John 8
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going…”

10. John 8
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going…”
“But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.
15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.”

11. John 8
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going…”
“But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.
15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.”

12. John 8
The first step in our rebellion toward God: living in the futility of our mind.
Scientific Emergence.
Karl Popper: “The emergence of full consciousness...is indeed one of the greatest of miracles (The Self and Its Brain, p. 129)
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going…”
“But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.
15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.”

13. John 8
The first step in our rebellion toward God: living in the futility of our mind.
Scientific Emergence.
Ephesians 4:17-18: [The non-Christian world lives] “in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened their understanding...”
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going…”
“But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.
15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.”

14. John 8
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going…”
“But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.
15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.”

15. John 8
16 “But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.
17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid.
18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

16. John 8
19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

17. John 8 19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”
“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

18. John 8
20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.

19. John 8
21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

20. John 8
21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
The second step in our rebellion toward God: being separated from the life of God.
Ephesians 4:18: “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.”

21. John 8
22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

22. John 8
24 “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”

23. John 8
24 “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”
“for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (NASB).

24. John 8 25 “Who are you?” they asked.
“Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied.
26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

25. John 8
27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father.
28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.

26. John 8
29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”
30 Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

27. John 8
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.

28. John 8
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

29. John 8
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 7:17: “If any one chooses to do the will of my Father, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or if I speak on my own.”

30. John 8
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

31. John 8
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”

32. John 8
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
This is the next step in our rebellion against God: enslavement to sin..
Ephesians 4:19: Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

33. John 8
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
This is the next step in our rebellion against God: enslavement to sin..
In our culture, we value having freedom to do whatever we want.
By continually expressing your “freedom,” you will wind up enslaved to sin.

34. John 8
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
This is the next step in our rebellion against God: enslavement to sin..
Some of you might be thinking, “I’m not that bad. I don’t do drugs. I don’t drink too much. I don’t sleep around.”

35. John 8
35 “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family…”

36. John 8 35 “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family…”
“But a son belongs to it forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

37. John 8
37 “I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word.
38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

38. John 8
39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.

39. John 8 39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did.”

40. John 8
40 “As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.”

41. John 8
41 “You are doing the things your own father does.”

42. John 8 41 “You are doing the things your own father does.”
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

43. John 8
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.
43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.”

44. John 8
 44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

45. John 8 45 “Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

46. John 8 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Romans 1:18-21: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them...”

47. John 8 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Romans 1:18-21: “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
Sartre Death Bed Interview

48. INTERVIEWER: “How did your atheism begin?”
SARTRE: “I don’t know where the thought came from or how it struck me, yet all at once I said to myself, "But God doesn’t exist!”

49. INTERVIEWER: “How did your atheism begin?”
SARTRE: “I remember very well, it was on that day and in the form of a momentary intuition, that I said to myself "God doesn’t exist." It's striking to reflect that I thought this at the age of eleven and that I never seriously asked myself the question again until today, that is to say for sixty years…”

50. INTERVIEWER: “How did your atheism begin?”
SARTRE: “Even if one does not believe in God, there are elements of the idea of God that remain in us and that cause us to see the world with some divine aspects.”

51. INTERVIEWER: “What, for example?”
SARTRE: “As for me, I don't see myself as so much dust in the world, but as a being that was expected, prefigured, called forth. In short, as a being that could, it seems, come only from a creator; and this idea of a creating hand that created me refers me back to God…”

52. INTERVIEWER: “What, for example?”
SARTRE: “(This idea) contradicts many of my other ideas; but it is there, floating vaguely. And when I think of myself I often think rather in this way, for want of being able to think otherwise.”

53. INTERVIEWER: “(Then) what is the benefit to you of not believing in God?”
SARTRE: “It has strengthened my freedom and made it sounder: at the present time this freedom is not there to give God what he asks me for; it is there for the discovery of myself and to give me what I ask of myself. That is essential…This life owes nothing to God; it was what I wanted it to be.”

54. John 8
48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”

55. John 8
48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”
49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me.”

56. John 8
50 “I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.
51 I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

57. John 8
52 At this the Jews exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death.”

58. John 8
53 “Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.”

59. John 8
55 “Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.”

60. John 8
55 “Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

61. John 8
55 “Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

62. John 8
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

63. John 8
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

64. John 8
59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

65. Summary This is a collision between light and darkness.
The Jewish leaders’ response made it clear that they had excluded the truth of God from their thinking.
Therefore, Jesus this was a warning to the crowd that they will die in their sins unless they believe.

66. Application Without God, we are darkened in our understanding.
Without God, we are separated from the life of God.

67. But God has given us the Light of Life to free us from our condition.
Application
Without God, we are helplessly controlled by the Evil One.
Without God, we are a slave to sin.
But God has given us the Light of Life to free us from our condition.