Jesus-I Am The Light To Trust

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What is light for? To show us the way, to keep us from stumbling and falling, to dispel our fears, to show us something clearly. That is exactly what we find Jesus wants to do in our lives every moment of every day. He wants to be the light of our path we walk through life. The question is do we know that and are we following the path He is lighting. Remember, twenty-three times in all we find our Lord’s meaningful “I AM”  in the Greek text of this gospel (4:26; 6:20,35,41,48,51; 8:12,18,24,28,58; 10:7,9,11,14; 11:25; 13:19; 14:6; 15:1,5; 18:5,6,8). In several of these, He joins His “I AM” with seven tremendous metaphors, which are expressive of His saving relationship toward the world. IN other words, the Christian life may be described in these seven declarations of Jesus.

The Christian life is:

• HUNGERING FOR JESUS AS MY BREAD OF LIFE.“I AM the Bread of life” (6:35,41,48,51).
• WALKING WITH JESUS WHO LIGHTS MY PATH OF LIFE.“I AM the Light of the world” (8:12).
• ENTERING THROUGH JESUS WHO IS MY DOOR TO LIFE.“I AM the Door of the sheep” (10:7,9).
• FOLLOWING THE GOOD SHEPHERD WHO IS THE SAVIOR OF MY LIFE.“I AM the Good Shepherd” (10:11,14).
• RESTING IN JESUS WHOSE RESURRECTION GAVE ME ENDLESS LIFE.“I AM the Resurrection and the Life” (11:25).
• FOLLOWING THE WAY OF JESUS, BELIEVING THE TRUTH OF JESUS, AND LIVING THE LIFE OF JESUS. “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (14:6).
• ABIDING IN JESUS WHO IS MY SUPPLY OF ALL I EVER NEED.“I am the true Vine” (15:1,5). Psalm 92

Please join me as we read our text this morning John 7:1-2; 8:1-12.

This second time in the Gospel by John we find Jesus introducing Himself as He says – I AM THE LIGHT OF WORLD (8:12) – He LIGHTS OUR DARKENED SOULS, but apart from Him is only impenetrable darkness. He invites us to a life WALKING WITH JESUS WHO LIGHTS MY PATH OF LIFE. “I AM the Light of the world” (8:12).

In this passage Jesus1 makes the great claim: “I am the Light of the World.” It is very likely that the background against which he made it made it doubly vivid and impressive. The festival with which John connects these discourses is the Festival of Tabernacles (John 7:2). We have already seen (John 7:37) how its ceremonies lent drama to Jesus’ claim to give to men the living water. But there was another ceremony connected with this festival.

On the evening of its first day there was a ceremony called The Illumination of the Temple. It took place in the Court of the Women. The court was surrounded with deep galleries, erected to hold the spectators. In the centre four great candelabra were prepared. When the dark came the four great candelabra were lit and, it was said, they sent such a blaze of light throughout Jerusalem that every courtyard was lit up with their brilliance. Then all night long, until cockcrow the next morning, the greatest and the wisest and the holiest men in Israel danced before the Lord and sang psalms of joy and praise while the people watched. Jesus is saying: “You have seen the blaze of the Temple illuminations piercing the darkness of the night. I am the Light of the World, and, for the man who follows me there will be light, not only for one exciting night, but also for all the pathway of his life. The light in the Temple is a brilliant light, but in the end it flickers and dies. I am the Light which lasts for ever.”

SO, WHAT DOES WALKING WITH JESUS DO IN OUR LIFE? ONE SPECIAL REALITY IS THAT JESUS LIGHTS THE PATH OF MY LIFE WITH GOD’S PROVIDENCE2

On November 8, 1994, Pastor Scott Willis and his wife, Janet, were traveling with six of their nine children on Highway 1-94 near Milwaukee when a piece of metal fell off the truck ahead of them. Scott had no choice but to let the object pass under his vehicle; the result was that the rear gas tank exploded and five of the six Willis children died instantly in the flames. The sixth child, Benjamin, died a few hours later. Scott and Janet were able to get out of the vehicle, sustaining burns from which they would later recover. Standing there watching their children die in the fire, Scott said to Janet, “This is the moment for which we are prepared.”

The courage of this couple was reported throughout the United States and the world. Christ walked with them through the deep sorrows of this tragedy. With a little bit of ingenuity we could identify a dozen “if onlys.” After all, this accident would not have happened unless a number of circumstances had converged at the right time and the right place.

Listen to the conversation at almost any funeral and you will hear some “if onlys.”

“if only we had called the doctor sooner. ..”

“if only there would not have been ice on the highway”…

“if only we had noticed the lump sooner. ..”

“if only they had operated. ..”

“if only they had not operated. ..”

Let me encourage you to take those “if onlys” and draw a circle around them. Then label the circle, “The providence of God. The Christian believes that God is greater than our “if onlys.” His providential hand encompasses the whole of our lives, not just the good days but the “bad” days too. We have the word accident in our vocabulary; He does not.

WHAT DOES SOMEONE WHO WALKS THROUGH LIFE WITH JESUS LIGHTING THEIR PATH ACT LIKE IN TRAGEDY?

Here is a great example, at the age of twenty-six, Lina Sandell Berg was accompanying her father aboard a ship across Lake Vattern in Sweden en route to the city of Gothenburg. The ship unexpectedly gave a sudden lurch and Lina’s father, a devout Christian, fell overboard and drowned before the eyes of his devoted daughter. From her broken heart she wrote a song that many of us have often sung. As you read the words, find all the lines that affirm Lina’s confidence that her father died within the protection and loving care of God. Turn with me to her testimony # 56

Day by day and with each passing moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here; Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment, I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure Gives unto each day what He deems best- Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest

Every day the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me, He whose name is Counselor and Pow’r.

The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“ As thy days, your strength shall be in measure,” This the pledge to me He made.

Remarkably, Lina had confidence that the death of her father, which many would simply ascribe to the random fate of a wind-blown ship, died under God’s loving care. She could write, “The protection of His child and treasure, / Is a charge that on Himself He laid.” Far from seeing this incident as a cruel oversight on God’s part, she saw in her father’s death an expression of loving protection! On the human side, he died because of the unexpected high wave; on the divine side, he died because God wanted him home. As the time of our death approaches we can take comfort from the example of someone who parted the curtain and returned to tell us what to expect on the other side. Christ is our best example of how to face that final hour that most assuredly will come to us all. He died so that we could die triumphantly.

Later in life reflecting back on this trauma Lina wrote another (Hymn #44) testimony, “Children of the Heavenly Father”.

1 Children of the Heav’nly Father Safely in His bosom gather;

Nestling bird nor star in heaven Such a refuge e’er was given.

2 God His own doth tend and nourish; In His holy courts they flourish.

From all evil things He spares them; In His mighty arms He bares them.

3 Neither life nor death shall ever
From the Lord His children sever;

Unto them His grace He showeth, And their sorrows all He knoweth.

4 Praise the Lord in joyful numbers; Your Protector never slumbers,

At the will of your Defender Ev’ry foeman must surrender.

5 Though He giveth or He taketh,
God His children ne’er forsaketh;

His the loving purpose solely
To preserve them pure and holy.

Our future existence is not in the hands of doctors, nor in the hands of disease, nor in the hands of the drunk who runs into our car along the highway. Our life is in the hands of the Almighty , who can use any means He wishes, including the above, to have us brought into the heavenly gates. Perhaps today our name will be called. God just wants you and me to trust Him enough to follow Jesus who is the light that illumines the path of life for us!

The Scriptures have so much to say about TRUSTING GOD:

First time in Scriptures Ruth 2:12 The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. (KJV)

In the lives of God’s saints 2 Samuel 22:3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. (KJV) 2 Samuel 22:31 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him. (KJV) II K 18:20-30 [trust 5x]; 1 Chronicles 5:20 And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him. (KJV)

• UNWAVERING HOPE Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. (KJV)
• BLESSED Psalm 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (KJV)
• SECURE Psalm 4:5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD. (KJV)
• JOFFULPsalm5:11Butletallthosethatputtheirtrustintheerejoice:letthemever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. (KJV)
• DELIVEREDPsalm7:1ShiggaionofDavid,whichhesanguntotheLORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.>> O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: (KJV)
• CONFIDENT Psalm 9:10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. (KJV)
• FIRMLYPLANTEDPsalm11:1TothechiefMusician,APsalmofDavidInthe LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? (KJV)
• KEPT Psalm 16:1 Michtam of David.>> Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. (KJV)
• PROTECTED Psalm 17:7 Shew thy marvelous loving-kindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. (KJV)

• STRONG SECURITY Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. (KJV) Psalm 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. (KJV)

• ULTIMATE VICTORY Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. (KJV)

• VINDICATION Psalm 25:2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. (KJV) Psalm 25:20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee. (KJV)

• DIRECTION Psalm 31:1, 6, 30 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD. (KJV) Psalm 31:19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! (KJV)

• FRUITFUL Psalm 34:22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. (KJV)
• SHELTERED Psalm 36:7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. (KJV)
• SATISFIED Psalm 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 40 And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him. (KJV)

• SETTLED Psalm 40:3-4 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.4 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. (KJV)

How is your walk? Is it in Christ’s light? That is how we make it through life and day by day!

 

APPENDIX

SOWING TO THE FLESH IS PURSUING WHAT GOD SAYS IS PASSING AWAY.

Remember
1 John 2:15-17? 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Wrong hungers will always follow one or all of these three pathways:

• Lust of the Flesh is INDULGENCE: I need, I deserve, I will have…
• Lust of the Eyes is INDIFFERENCE: what I can see and do now is more important than Heaven…
• Pride of Life is INDEPENDENCE: I will be my own boss, have financial security, and be dependent upon no one…

SOWING TO THE SPIRIT IS PURSUING WHAT CHRIST3 IS LOOKING FOR

Loving Trials: which is the Joyful Acceptance of Injustice (Matthew 5:11-12, 1 Peter 2:19); Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 1 Peter 2:19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.

Loving Sacrifice: which is Financial Generosity (Matthew 6:19-21); Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Loving Strangers: which is Biblical Hospitality (Matthew 10:40-41, Matthew 18:5);

Loving to restrain our flesh: which is seeking the Spiritual Disciplines (Matthew 6:5) We are rewarded by the person whose praise we seek; prayer, fasting, scripture memory and so on. Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

Loving our lot in life: which is Faithfulness in Our Vocation Put yourself in a time machine and go back two thousand years and imagine that you are one of the 60 million slaves in the roman Empire. You have no rights, no chance for a promotion, no court of appeals. To such, Paul wrote that they should serve their masters and they would serve Christ (Colossians 3:22-24, Philippians 2:8-9, 1 Peter 5:6); Colossians 3:22-24 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. 23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. Philippians 2:8-9 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

Loving the Unlovable: which is Christlike (Luke 6:27-28); Luke 6:27-28 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.

Loving the Truth: which is Doctrinal Integrity (2 John 1-2,4,8); 2 John 1 To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, 2 because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: 4 I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. 8 Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.

Loving Ministry: which is Investment in People (1 Thessalonians 2:19, 1 Corinthians 3:6-8); 1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 1 Corinthians 3:6-8 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Loving Jesus: which is Watching for Christ’s Return (Luke 12:35-38, 2 Timothy 4:7); Luke 12:35-38 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; 36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. 38 And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 2 Timothy 4:8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Loving Refinement: which is Acceptance of Suffering (1 Peter 1:7, Hebrews 6:10. 1 Peter 1:7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

Upon hearing of the assassination of John and Betty Stamm in China in 1934, Will Houghton, former president of Moody Bible Institute, wrote these words: So this is life. This world with its pleasures, struggles and tears, a smile, a frown, a sigh, friendship so true and love of kin and neighbor? Sometimes it is hard to live-always to die! The world moves on so rapidly for the living; the forms of those who disappear are replaced, and each one dreams that he will be enduring. How soon that one becomes the missing face! Help me to know the value of these hours. Help me the folly of all waste to see. Help me to trust the Christ who bore my sorrows and thus to yield for life or death to Thee.

 

1 Barclay, William, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of John – Volume 2 Chapters 8-21 (Revised Edition), (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press) 2000, c1975.
2 Erwin W. Lutzer, One Minute After You Die. Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1997, 122-136.

3 Erwin W. Lutzer, Your Eternal Reward. Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1998, 87-100.

Transcript

Let’s open in the Gospel by John to the 8th chapter. As you open to the 8th chapter, we are looking this morning at the second time Jesus describes what the Christian life is.

Now, you can remember the sequence of where we’ve been. Jesus starts out and is described by seven magnificent titles in chapter 1. We’ve marked all those and noted them. Jesus reveals Himself as God in human flesh who came to be the Lamb of God. After we studied through that, we saw that Jesus continued in this book to show the plan of salvation. The first three are how salvation is received in the sign miracles, and the last four, are what it does to us. We looked at each of those, that Jesus Christ fills us to overflowing the empty pots of our life. How He came to feed us and all of the miracles that we looked at.

Now, we’re going back through the whole book again looking at Jesus introducing the Christian life. We forgot that the main component of the Christian life is Christ. Remember Christian. Jesus said I am the Christian life. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. If you want to live the Christian life, you have to live it through Me.

Now, let’s remember what He said. Look at chapter 6, verse 48, before we get to chapter 8. I want to I’ll give you a running start, so you don’t lose track of where we are. We’re looking at the I am’s. In each one of these I am’s is Jesus showing us how He lives out through us. Chapter 6, verse 48, we can look at. Jesus said I am the bread of life. A Christian is someone who is hungering after Jesus. Do you want to know if you’re saved? Do you hunger after Jesus? Do you long for Him? Do you want Him? That’s the essence of Christianity. We are those who hunger and thirst after Christ, who is our righteousness.

Now, chapter 8, where I asked you originally to turn. Jesus said I am the light of the world. A Christian is someone who’s walking with Jesus lighting their path. Have you thought about how much we need light? You don’t think about it until you don’t have it. This week we just got back from being up at a historic 85-year-old Christian conference, a Bible conference called Gull Lake. National Geographic says it’s one of the top ten clearest lakes in the country. It’s all spring-fed, you can see the bottom and almost drink the water if it wasn’t for all those jet skis out there. You don’t want to drink the water after they’ve been through. It’s just a beautiful place built around a Bible conference. We were staying in a little old cabin that they built over the years. These are just little tiny camping cabins with little narrow staircases.

Bonnie and I got in, got all unloaded, and got everybody in bed. Finally, we went to sleep, and in the middle of the night, I heard a thud upstairs. All parents know what that means. Someone fell out of bed. But I didn’t know where I was, and I’m sure they didn’t know where they were, so we sat right up. I thought dun dun dun. It’s my turn. We take turns for the midnight ambulance runs. So, I jumped out of bed, and as soon as I opened my eyes it was pitch black. Because electricity costs so much in Oklahoma, we always say, turn off the lights, turn off the lights, turn off the lights. We always leave on one light. We have one of our children who is four years old who goes around and turns every last light off because he heard daddy say, turn them off. So, he had dutifully gone around after we’d fallen asleep and turned off all the lights.

So here I jump out of bed and the first thing I do is I run into the door. I had not opened it all the way. Then I stumbled across the suitcase. It’s pitch black. I’m feeling alone and couldn’t find the light switch. It’s an old house and I don’t know why they put them behind all the doors so you almost have to go in the room and shut the door and feel around. So, by the time I got upstairs, I never found out who fell out of bed. But I learned how much we need light. What do you need light for? You need light so you know where you’re going, so you don’t stumble. Do you know what happens when an immovable object meets a movable object? If the movable one is your foot, it is a collision. So, you need light so you don’t stumble, so you don’t trip, so you don’t injure yourself.

What is Jesus saying? He says I am the light of the world. That’s a fact. Now, He applies it. He who follows Me, which is another word for a born-again believer, someone who is Christ’s won. If you follow Me, you won’t walk in the dark. You say, apply that to me. All the VBSs in life that you’ve gone to, and you get the little Popsicle stick with a little sheet on it. You learn the verse. Almost every VBS they learn I am the light of the world. Those are neat things. Why is He the light of the world? So that we don’t stumble and fall when we find that we’re sick, or someone that we love is sick, or someone has some deadly disease, or a disaster happens, or whatever. We aren’t going to walk in the dark. Did you know most people go through life in the dark? They’re stumbling and bumping into stuff all the time, and they don’t know why, they don’t know what’s happening, and they don’t know the purpose, they don’t know what to do about it. They just stumble through life. Jesus said Christians don’t do that. They walk through life following the pathway.

Remember the whole Bible was written in the context of the Middle East, of the land of Israel, and of what it’s like there. Do you know what it’s like there? There are scorpions, there are poisonous snakes, and there are sharp stones. People did not wear leather imported sandals. They wore a little piece of leather that was tied to their foot. They were very fragile. So, you didn’t walk off in the thorns and the thistles and all the poisonous stuff. Especially at night, when there were no street lights, no electric lights at all. You took your little lamp, or your little torch and you always walked in the circle of that light. Thy Word is a, what? Lamp to my feet, a light to my path. So, as you go along you learn to stay in the circle of that light. Jesus said that’s the Christian life. That’s how you will understand what I am doing, where you are going, and what you’re here for if you follow Me walking in the light. So, a Christian, secondly, is someone who’s walking with Jesus, who lights my path of life.

Look at chapter 10. The third one that we will come to at another time. Jesus says, I am the door. He says, I’m the door. I’m the way you get in. So, what is a Christian? A Christian is someone who is entering through Jesus Christ. He’s the only door to life. Not only the only door to endless eternal life but the only door to real life.

I told my cocaine story at this conference. It reminded me again that even drug addicts look at the genuine Christian life and think that we are living like they want to live because we live in what they would term a perpetual high. I’m not talking about silly and giddy where Christians have to go around praising the Lord and slapping hands all the time. I’m talking about an internal overflowing serenity, peace, joy, and purpose that goes to the end of life. That’s why when we die, we can have homegoing celebrations like Griff this week. Homegoing celebrations. Why? Because a Christian is someone who’s entering through Jesus who is my door to life.

Look at verse 11 of the same chapter. Chapter 10, verse 11. Jesus said I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. What is the main thing that marks a shepherd? I was telling the discovery class just a few moments ago, that if you go to the land of the book, the land of Israel, you will see the wells in the desert, in the Negev, like Beersheba. Where there’s a well, all these sheep come in with the shepherds. They still do that, they still have sheep. They have thousands of them wandering the hills, but those sheep can’t find water. The shepherd brings them to water. They come and they pour the water out of the well into all these watering troughs, but when they’re done feeding, all these flocks are trampling around there. One shepherd will start the process, and he will give his whistle, which is uniquely his voice and his sign. He starts walking, and as he walks, out of that milling mass, they all look alike to me, one sheep looks like all the other, but a group comes, and his sheep hear his voice, and they follow him.

What did Jesus say? I am the Good Shepherd and I give My life for My sheep. You know what? We should be following our Shepherd who died for us. I say this, that we should be following the Good Shepherd who is the Savior of our lives. If He’s the one that loved me, if He’s the one that gave Himself for me, I should follow Him my whole life. There should be no question, no doubt that I’m going to follow my Good Shepherd.

Chapter 11, here’s the next one, verse 25. It’s actually the fifth of the seven times Jesus introduces Himself with an I am. He says I am the resurrection life, he that believeth in Me, though he is dead, yet shall he live. What is that? That’s saying that a Christian is resting in Jesus, whose resurrection gave me endless life. Remember what Ann Landers said, that she gets 10,000 letters a day? That’s the little lady with the nice hairdo in the newspaper, Ann Landers. She has a sister, I forget her name, she has a column too. Everyone writes their problems to Ann Landers for her to answer in the newspaper. Do you know what she said about the 10,000 letters she gets every day? The vast majority, 90 some percent, are about fear of death, of disease, of disaster, losing money, losing family, losing friends, losing house, losing children, whatever. There is fear for those things. Do you know what Jesus says? You need to be resting in Me. My resurrection has given you endless life. You don’t need to fear death. You don’t need to fear disease. You don’t need to fear disaster. You don’t need to fear anything in life. You live after the power of an endless life. A Christian is someone who rests in Jesus, whose resurrection gave us endless life.

The next one is chapter 14, verse 6. This one is beautiful. Jesus says, I am, and He gives three words; way, truth, and life. These three words. What is a Christian? A Christian is someone who is following the way of Jesus. I am the way. If He’s the way, if someone comes up that is more powerful than you, that you love, that you admire, that died for you, and they say, okay, this is the way, come on, what do you do? You follow them. Jesus said, I’m the way, follow Jesus. Follow the way of Jesus. We should be following the way of Jesus. He says, I’m the truth, believe the truth of Jesus. Jesus said, I’m the life, live the life of Jesus. That’s what a Christian is. They’re following the way of Jesus, they’re believing the truth of Jesus, and they’re living the life of Jesus. That is Christianity, and it’s irresistible.

If only people would genuinely look at a Christian, as Aristides, the great Roman writer of the 2nd century did. He said these people, if they see someone in need, they will stop eating to help them. If they see a baby thrown in the trash pile, which they used to do back then. They didn’t abort them before, they just threw them out after, and our culture is headed that way with all the sin. If they saw an abandoned baby, they took them in. If someone were in prison, they’d sell whatever they had to get them out; believers in prison. Aristides wrote this is the way all Romans should live. That’s how we should be living today. People should say, that’s the way life should be lived.

Finally, chapter 15 has the last one. The seventh one is Jesus said, I’m the vine, you’re the branches. That’s verse 1, verse 5. Jesus says, we should be abiding in Jesus, who is the one who supplies all I need. A little leaf here, if it was real and not plastic if it was attached to a stalk, everything it needed to live would come through that connection. Do you know what Jesus said? I’m the vine, you’re connected to Me. I am all you need. The depth of that. That’s why truly, the older we get, the more wonderful our life should be, the more fruitful our life should be, and the more joy-filled our life should be. John 15 talks about pruning and growing and bearing fruit. It looks like it’s a process where the Lord keeps pruning us, we keep growing more, we keep bearing more fruit, and the more our life goes on, the more we flourish in our fruitfulness.

Okay, back to chapter 8, and that’s all we’re going to cover this morning, the second one. In chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus said, this is the second time in the Gospel by John we find Jesus introducing Himself. He says I am the light of the world. I want to light your darkened soul. Without Me, you’ll only have impenetrable darkness. I invite you to walk with Me. I want to light your path. Jesus never spoke in a vacuum. He didn’t just walk out and say something that nobody knew what He was talking about. He dealt with an agrarian people, they farmed and raised animals. There were a few rich and a few highbrow professionals. Most of them were common people who heard Christ gladly. Jesus related life to things they could remember, like children.

You know, if you’re in children’s ministry use object lessons. You point to things, you let them hold and see and feel and hear and taste and touch. I still remember when I started the children in homeschool, John Nestel can still tell you about our first science class because I did the sweet-bitter taste test. They got to close their eyes and lick their finger and stick it in and, oh, salt! And, ew, that doesn’t taste good. Then mmm, sugar. Why did they remember that? Because I wrote C12H22O11 and taught them the molecular makeup of sugar? No, they felt, touched, tasted, and they saw it. That’s how Jesus taught the truth of God. When He says in chapter 8, verse 12, I am the light of the world, there is something that those people thought of.

It just happens, if you turn the page to chapter 7, I’ll show you what it was, okay? Look at chapter 7, verse 2. It says, Now the Jews Feast of Tabernacles. How many of you today, if you had to, could tell us what that is? How many of you have read the Bible your whole life, and you have no idea what the Feast of Tabernacle is? That’s how we, in our Western thought, Americanize everything. We just say that’s a Jewish thing, I don’t need to know about that. We don’t even understand what happened at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Look in verse 8. You go up to this feast, Jesus told His brothers. So, in verse 10, later on, He went up to the feast. So, we’re still at the Feast of Tabernacles. Verse 14, now about the middle of the feast, Jesus went into the temple and taught. He also had to, in verse 10, have gone to the temple when He went there. Then, look at verse 37 of the same chapter, on the last day of the great feast. Okay, I’m not going to talk to you about the whole Feast of Tabernacles but let me tell you about one moment of it, the beginning day.

The Feast of Tabernacles is when they celebrated the wilderness provision of God when He kept them for 40 years. There were two things in the wilderness that they celebrated. One is, remember, in the wilderness, there was that big cloud that at night was a pillar of fire and in the day fanned out and was a big cloud that protected them from the sun, and they just stayed under it. Whatever they stayed under the cloud, they were wherever God wanted them to be. It’s kind of the picture of God leading our life. In the Feast of Tabernacles, they took that pillar of fire and remembered that. Then in the wilderness, you remember the water came out of the rock when Moses struck it. That’s the second thing. That’s verse 37 of chapter 7. So, they celebrated those two events.

How’d they celebrate the pillar of fire? They built a 70-foot-high set of candelabras. Remember the menorah? That’s seven arms with big oil lamps on the end of each arm. They built seven of those, seven stories high, 70 feet high. There were four of them, 70 feet high. They put them around the courtyard of the temple. The first day of the feast was a big day. They built bleachers, or grandstands in the temple area, and the place was packed with people. They were all waiting for it to get dark. As it got dark, the priests had filled the bowls, seven bowls, on each of these four candelabras with seven gallons, I mean they’re big on seven, of oil. They had made wicks out of the clothes of the priests. Remember the priests had to wear these special linen clothes? When they wore out, you just didn’t throw them into the dumpster. They saved them because they were sacred. They were holy clothing to wear in the temple. They would take that clothing, those linen garments, and they would make big wicks out of them for this feast. So, the oil lamps, the 70-foot high ones, were lit with the wick made of twisted and wound-up priests’ clothing. I mean everything had spiritual significance.

So, everybody came to the temple, hundreds of thousands, and they all got really quiet and waited for it to get dark. As it got dark the priests would light the 28 wicks, seven on each of the four. Can you imagine a seventy-foot-high candle with huge bowls of oil burning and these big wicks? Josephus said this, At the Feast of Tabernacles, when the court surrounded by deep galleries erected to hold the spectators was in place, as the nightfall came in the center, the four great candelabras prepared. When the dark came and the four candelabras were lit, there was such a blaze, this is a man that was there, Josephus. There was such a blaze of light that every courtyard of Jerusalem was lit with their brilliance.

But it wasn’t just the lights. All night long the people sat in the court of the temple. Why? It wasn’t just watching those things burn and lighting all of Jerusalem, but that night was the night that all of the great teachers of the people would whirl around in the Jewish folk dance singing all 150 psalms. They went through the entire book of Psalms. Did you know that just sitting and reading it takes several hours? They didn’t read it. Can you imagine going and sitting in grandstands and watching Charles Stanley spinning around singing Psalm 1, and over here Chuck Swindoll doing his thing with Psalm 15? They would just all be whirling around singing this. The people were just enthralled, and to them, it was one of the greatest nights of their life. With these huge torches going, remembering the pillar of fire, hearing the entire book of Psalms from the people they loved and ministered to them. When dawn came, and the seven gallons of oil in each one of those pots was exhausted, all that was left was a little black stump of a wick.

Now think about what Jesus is saying in chapter 8 now. Turn to chapter 8 verse 12, Jesus said this, I am the light of the world. If you follow Me, there will be light. Not just for one exciting night. When you sit and are amazed at how wonderful to have the light burning, to have all the Word of God before you from all the people that teach you, and they’re giving you the most encouraging word, He says, I’ll be the light of the world, not just for one exciting night. I will personally light the pathway of your life with brilliant light from right now to the end of it. I will never let you be in the dark for the rest of your life. As He said that, I’m sure there wasn’t a person who didn’t thoughtfully look up at those 70-foot-high burnt-out candles. Remember how the light guided the children of Israel their whole journey? These things are just a reminder, but they burn out in one night. In just a few hours, they’re gone. I’ll never burn out. I’ll never darken. I will light your life to the end.

I want you to think, when do we most need the light? When it gets dark. This morning, I want to apply this because what does walking with Jesus do in our lives? Just one facet. Now, I don’t have enough time to go through every facet of Jesus being the light of the world, but one special reality is that Jesus will light the path of my life and make me aware of God’s providence when things go wrong.

What is God’s providence? There are two factors in the supernatural omnipotence of God. One factor is God’s miraculous power. That means, at will, He can part the Red Sea, or He can turn water into wine. Those are miracles. He can walk, Jesus can walk on water. Jesus can raise dead people. That is going against the laws of science and nature. Gravity, He walked on water, He should have sunk. Multiplication of bread. It takes time to grow it. He made it. He created it from nothing. He multiplied it from a lunch. That’s a miracle. But Providence is very exciting to think about.

Providence is when God takes all the natural things of life; the four seasons, the passing of time, all the ways that all of our bodies are wearing down and all the weather and everything else and intersects them. Those things are all bounded by laws and He intersects with them all the circumstances and events of our life. In that tapestry of all the things that make up life, when those things intersect, this is what He says, Romans 8:28, And we know that God, He’s the active agent, the power at work. God Himself is working all of the threads of your life, every circumstance, every detail of your life. God is working all of those together for His good. That’s called Providence. It’s the most amazing study in the Bible.

The book of Esther is a book about Providence. Isn’t it amazing that King Ahasuerus couldn’t sleep the night before Mordecai was going to get killed? So, he read the record book, especially the part where Mordecai helped him. It was just a coincidence. Whenever we see God’s providence at work, we all scratch our heads and go, what a coincidence. No, it’s God’s providence.

Now, what does that have to do with anything? Let me read to you from the newspaper. November 8th, 1994. Some of you weren’t even alive then, but for all of us that were, here we go. Pastor Scott Willis and his wife Janet were traveling with six of their nine children on Highway I-94. We were just on I-94. It’s the one that loops around Chicago. This one loops up around Chicago and goes up to Milwaukee, which is where they were heading. They were driving in their lane, four or five lanes were going this way, and four or five lanes going that way. As they were driving along, as all of us do all through our life, on the highways of this world, the great big 53-foot-long semi in front of them, its mud flap fell off. Those big black ones, the ones that say back off. Have you ever seen what they write on them? The big black flap, or whatever color it is, keeps the rocks from hitting your windshield. One of those things, those are big pieces of steel, it just came unbolted and fell off in front of them.

As all of them were going 60-some miles an hour down the highway, and there was nowhere to go. So, Pastor Scott kept driving. He couldn’t stop. There were cars behind him. It happened instantly. The truck was in front of him, there were cars all around him. You remember from the news that Pastor Scott had no choice but to let the object pass under his vehicle, which it did. But when it got to the back of his car, a piece of sharp metal protruding just caught the underside of his gas tank, punctured it, sparked as it went by, and the vapors came out. You’ll remember his gas tank exploded, enveloping the car, and instantly five of the six Willis children were consumed by the flames. The sixth child, Benjamin, died a few hours later in the hospital. Scott and Janet were able to get out of the vehicle. They sustained burns from which they later, after many months, recovered.

When they were interviewed on all the shows, the news shows that came around and stuck the microphone in their mouth, they said what about this? This is what Scott said, the moment those children, my six children, died in that fire as we stood there beside the road and burned ourselves, in horror looking, that was the moment God had been preparing us for all of our life. If you remember from all the talk shows and all the interviews and all the magazines and everything else, they showed such amazing serenity and peace. Why? The courage this couple had that was reported throughout the U.S. and the world was that Christ walked with them and they were following Him through life. That includes as we follow the light of life, as we follow His pathway, when the pathway goes through deep valleys and dark shadows, as long as we’re with Him, all of that stuff is working together for His good and His glory. They said it’s what we all know.

The problem is the natural response of people would be this. Think about it. Right now, as I’m talking, I told you about how the mud flap came loose, and they drove over it. Most of us would say if only he had driven a little bit over or if only he had stopped or if only he hadn’t had that low of a minivan. Why didn’t he have a higher van, why was it that low? If only. If you ever go to a funeral, at almost any funeral that you ever go to, you hear someone out there in the group, in the lobby, talking. They say if only we had called the doctor sooner, right? Or if only we discovered that lump sooner. Or if only we hadn’t let them go out on that foggy night or that icy night, they wouldn’t have died. Or if only they had done the surgery sooner. Or if only they hadn’t done the surgery. If we take that list, and we’re all so good at those if only. If you ever get to a situation in your life like that where you write if only in your mind, just take a great big circle and draw it around all those if onlys, and label that the providence of God. Because it’s not if only, it is we know that God is weaving together the semi-trucks, the mud flaps, the minivans, the gas tanks, and the occupants of the car. He’s weaving them together and causing all things, death, disease, disaster, everything to work together for his good.

I want to just close real quickly by having you turn to your hymn books, okay? Let me tell you a story. I never met Pastor Scott Willis and his wife Janet, I just read about them. It was seven years ago this November, but I do know someone else who went through a great disaster. I would like to share the disaster with you, and then I’d like you, in just a moment, to read the testimony, which is Hymn 56, from a disaster.

Here is the lesson. What does someone who walks through life with Jesus lighting their path act like when a disaster hits? Okay? That’s what we’re looking at. Let me tell you about the disaster. At the age of 26, Lina Sandell-Berg was accompanying her father aboard a pleasure cruise boat, a little ship, across a little lake in Sweden called Lake Vättern. So she was with dad, and he was a godly man, a pastor serving the Lord, and all that. She was with her dad, en route to the city of Gothenburg. Just an outing. The ship unexpectedly, as they stood on the rail, gave a sudden lurch and Lina’s father, this godly, devoted servant of the Lord who was standing by the rail, as the ship lurched, just fell right over the edge. People fall off boats all the time. But the problem was when he fell off, he just went down. He never came up. There was no struggle, no shouts for help, nothing. He just drowned not even a breath. He just was gone. All that happened as his devoted daughter was standing next to him. He was gone and she was looking over the rail. There was never a trace of him, just dead in front of the eyes of his beloved daughter.

From her broken heart, that week, she wrote her testimony. The church, the Christians, her family, and her friends all came and said, oh, what are you going to do? How are you enduring all this? So, she wrote this. This is her poem. Now, Oskar Ahnfelt made the pretty tune that goes with it, but this was her answer to them. They said, how do you make it? She said I make it day by day, with each passing moment. I’m finding the strength to meet my trials here. She didn’t collapse in abject hopelessness. Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowments. That is how she described the death of her dad. My Heavenly Father wisely does all things well. It was in His providence, His time to take my dad home.

Remember, there are no accidents. The word accident is not in God’s vocabulary, okay? It’s in ours, it’s not in God’s. Providence means there are no accidents. There are no amazing coincidences. It’s providential. So, she said, my dad and my family and God’s Word have taught me to day-by-day and with each passing moment find strength to meet my trials here in everyday normal life. I trust in my Father’s wise bestowment and even in this, when it happens along the path of life, is part of God’s plan. I’ve no cause, the next line, for worry or for fear.

Did you ever think about what would happen if this was us? If it was your dad that fell off the rail? Do you know what often happens in America? Why, they would boycott boat riding and you would have to have a wall, not a rail. Some people would go overboard, and they’d say, why, if you drown in the water, we’ll never go near water. My children, they can’t even take a bath. They’ll drown. We just get overboard. People just overreact to their fears and unreasonableness. I have no cause for worry or for fear. If she had feared, her children would have had an abnormal life. Their mother would have been paralyzed, afraid of water, afraid of ships, afraid of lakes, afraid of travel. Have you ever met people like that? They just live in constant fear of the unknown disaster. She said I have no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what He deems best. That day, on November 8th, 1994, with the Willis family and every other disaster that has happened and will happen in our lives, is given by God. He gives unto each day what He deems best.

What was Satan? Remember when we were in Genesis months or a couple of years ago and I said Satan has four spiritual flaws? One of them is to doubt the goodness of God. Disaster is a time when all of us are tempted to doubt the goodness of God. Lina here, she says He gives to each day what He deems best, lovingly. It’s part of pain and pleasure, mingling toil with peace and rest. Every day, in the second stanza, the Lord Himself is near me. That’s how I’m surviving this loss, with a special mercy for each hour. She says I’m making it moment-by-moment, day-by-day, hour-by-hour, with God’s grace. My cares for the loss of my dad, my cares for the future, for my needs, for my family’s needs, for everything, all my cares, He fain would bear. Cheer me.

He whose name is Counselor and Power. She had learned something. Yes, earthly people, we can have people give us counsel here and there, but there’s one person that bears the title of Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Wonderful Counselor, Isaiah 9:6. Jesus Christ is the Wonderful Counselor. For all of my adult life, I’ve had the privilege of meeting people in times of need, and I share the Word of God and pray with them. But my goal in the process is to take their hand and get their hand attached to the mighty Counselor’s hand. I can temporarily point things out and help them see, but they will never live their life the way God intended until He becomes their counselor.

In our church life in America, in the 21st century, we’ve substituted a whole army of human counselors. People have to talk to their counselors all the time, and our culture is worse, but no lasting change comes without knowing Him. He whose name is Counselor and Power, the protection of His child and treasure is a charge that on Himself He laid. See, the One who counsels us also has committed to take care of us, protect us, guide us, and no earthly person could ever do that. Jesus wants to be our counselor, our power, our guide, and our friend to take us through life. As your days, your strength shall be in measure. This is the pledge to me He made. He said I’m always going to be with you. I’m going to give you whatever you need.

Verse 3, Help me then in every tribulation. So to trust your promises, O Lord. How did Lina make it through this disaster? She trusted God’s Word. She just applied it to the situation. She said, hey, a Christian is one who’s walking in the light of life with Jesus Christ as their guide and He lights the pathway. If a disaster comes across my pathway, I’m not going to be emotionless, but I am going to be trusting.

Remember, what you learn from the book of Job is God never tells us why. He only tells us what. The message of Job is what. What does God want Job to do in response to losing his ten children, losing all of his possessions, having his wife dump on him all the time, and his friends accusing him? What did God want from him? In the 42nd chapter he says, I’ve heard about You. I know all these facts about You, but now, with the eyes of faith, I see You. What does He want us to do? He wants us to respond by looking to Him as she said here, our One who will all of our days will give us strength. He made this pledge and I’ll trust him.

The last stanza. Help me then, Lina says from this point onward. In every tribulation, whatever else has to come or go from my life, so to trust Your promises. O Lord, Your Word, that I lose not faith’s sweet consolation. As I believe in God through my trials, He sweetly consoles me and speaks to my heart. Offered me within Your holy Word. She wasn’t so stricken she couldn’t get to the Word even though she could still see her father sinking beneath the murky lake waters of Lake Vättern. As that happened, Her heart began to be comforted by God’s Word who does all things well. Help me Lord when toil and trouble meeting, ere to take as from you my Father’s hand. One by one the days, the moments fleeting till I reach the Promised Land.

What about dad? By the way, if you wonder about dad, turn back to 44. Dad’s mentioned. Okay. Page 44 in your hymn books. This is her way later at the end of life, talking about how she felt when they finally pressed her and said yeah, the Lord, day-by-day with each passing moment, the Lord took care of you, but what do you think happened to your dad, under the boat? She wrote Hymn 44. Children of the Heavenly Father, safely in His bosom gather. Nestling bird, nor star in heaven, such a refuge ne’er was given. God His own doth tend and nourish, in His holy courts they flourish. From all evil things He spares them, in His mighty arms He bears them. Neither life nor death shall ever from the Lord His children sever. Unto them His grace He showeth. Their sorrows all He knoweth. Praise the Lord in joyful numbers. Your protector never slumbers. At the will of your defender, every foe man must surrender. Though He giveth or He taketh, God His children ne’er forsaketh. His the loving purpose solely to preserve them pure and holy.

That’s the testimony of someone who knew Jesus, the light of the world. So, no matter what disaster, what horrible event in life happens, Jesus said, if you’re following Me, you’ll never walk in darkness.