Well, good morning church and thank you for being here. And before I jump into the message, let me just say this, I have thoroughly enjoyed all the food comments from last week's message. Man, it makes my heart so warm to know there's so many foodies that are out there. To the point I might add that Wednesday night I received five loaves and two sweetish fish at dinner that night. I tried my best to bless it and feed everyone, but it didn't work. All right? It didn't work. Listen, if you have a copy of scripture today, would you just turn with me to John chapter eight. John Chapter eight is where we're gonna hang out today because we're gonna continue in our series as we march through the Gospel of John. The first seven weeks in this series, we tagged it with this idea of coming and seeing.
And we really tracked with Jesus through the eyes of John, where Jesus introduced us to who he was and his deity. And he introduced us to his miracle power and how he wants us to turn to him and believe. Last week, we kind of swung into John chapter six, and we moved into this idea that Jesus gives us these seven I am statements in the, in the Book of Luke. He or in the Book of John, he gives us these seven I am statements to really proclaim exactly who he is, to show us that he is God and actually to meet some of our greatest needs. Now, if you weren't here last week, no big deal, I'll get you caught up. We started in the first I am statement last week by looking at Jesus' proclamation and promise to us that he is the bread of life, that he's the bread of life.
And it was an incredible moment because on the outside you can see that and kind of feel where he is going. But once you saw that Jesus made this promise after he fed the 5,000 and after he fed the 4,000. And once you see that what Jesus is offering is the actual substance for life that we need to live, man, you begin to even more feel the power and the presence of who Jesus is. We said last week, one of the best lines that really stuck with me last week was we said that just as bread sustains our physical body, an intimate relationship with Jesus is what sustains our souls. And that's the whole point around this bread of life comment. Now, this week, we're gonna move from the first bread of life into the second promise from Jesus. All right? We're gonna move into the second one this week, and it's an equally powerful promise in chapter eight in John's gospel.
So here's what we're gonna do, all right? It's wanna kinda explain it to you so there's no surprises. I'm gonna go ahead and give you the promise on the front end, alright? Give you the promise on the front end. And then I want us to back into why it's such a big deal and why it is an incredible, incredible promise for not only their lives, but for our lives as well. All right? That's what we're gonna do. So let me just give you the promise. John chapter eight, verse 12. Here it is. Lemme read it to you. It says this. It says, when Jesus spoke again to the people, he said - get ready you can underline this, highlight it - He said, I am the light of the world. I'm the light of the world. And then watch what he says. He says, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.
Now, I want you to highlight that sentence. Highlight that sentence particularly, you can maybe even circle that proclamation from Jesus when he said, I am the light of the world. Now remember last week it was Jesus saying that I nourish and I fill, right? I fill you up. I'm the new manna. I'm the lamb of God. This week, right on the heels of that today, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. And there's so much to this statement, man, it's so good. Can't wait to get into the biblical background of what Jesus is saying here. But first I need to point out something that every single one of us knows. Now, we might not admit it, but we know it. And that is this. It is scary to be in the dark. All right? Can I get an amen? It is scary. Don't, don't, don't be all brave.
It is scary to be in the dark. In fact, listen to this, scientists have said that being scared of the dark is one of our most primal fears that we really never totally conquer. Now, you might like work on it a little bit. It might be a little bit easier now than when you were a kid, but we never totally conquer it. Let, lemme give you a little personal illustration that shows you that, that my life hasn't conquered it. If you hang out with me for long or if you follow me on social media, you know that after eating a good meal, my second favorite thing to do in life is that I love to hunt. I love to hunt anything. I love to be in the woods no matter what time of year it is. Now part of hunting, for those of you non-hunting people out there, let me explain it to you for just a second.
Part of hunting is of course that that in a lot of different areas you have to get there way before daylight. I mean way before. I mean, God awful early before daylight, right? You have to get there so early. Why? Because you wanna walk in. You wanna get there as quiet as you can under the cover of darkness. You wanna get yourself settled, get everything ready, and you want to be quiet. And most of the time when you do this, here's the great part about it, you are by yourself. Some of you're like, Uhuh, not me. You are actually, it's beautiful. There ain't nobody there. There's nobody bothering you. It is pitch black and it is dark. Well, a couple of years ago, I went down to South Georgia to go hunt in this place that I'd never been before. I get in the night before, it's already dark.
I get to the little place we stay, we wake up. I mean, so early in the morning they draw me a little map with their fingers on a map on the wall. And they say, here's where you're gonna be today. And if you need to get there early to get yourself set, I was like, okay, I got it. So I jump in, I head out to the trail, I find where I think they wanted me to park the ATV, right? About a half a mile away from the stand. It's like four o'clock in the morning. I'm getting out of the ATV. I don't wanna use a flashlight because that'll, I mean when you use one little flashlight in the woods, it opens up, I mean forever. So I step out of this ATV, I begin to walk down this old logging road that they said was gonna be there.
Finally, I get to this little ditch of water. 'cause That's how you country people describe where to go, right? And they say, take a left right there. And I do. And all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, it felt like with this eerie fog out there right after it rained the night before, there was not a noise in the woods. I mean, I'm talking dead silent on this 5,000 acres. There was nobody within miles of me. And I'm sneaking into the woods and I'm doing a good job. I mean, I'm a ninja at this point. And, and something happened. I don't know why I broke the cardinal rule of sneaking into the woods and I stepped on this really big dry branch, really, really big. And all of a sudden it went from total, no noise to this thing sounded like a gunshot going off below my feet.
And I mean, it startled me. It startled me. You're saying, oh, great story, Matt. Oh no, that's not the story. Listen to what happened. Somehow in the middle of this farm, in the middle of South Georgia, I had managed to be quiet enough to sneak into, I don't know if you call it a herd or a pack of wild boar, of wild pigs. Somehow that were sleeping. That were sleeping. And somehow when I hit this branch, I scared them. They scared me. It's dark everywhere. And guys, I'm telling you, if I'm lying, I'm dying. Sounded like a army surrounding me about to take me out. There were trees falling, there was hoofs hitting the ground. There was squeals, there was na, I don't even know all these noises pigs make. I mean they were, I mean, just going crazy. I mean, I could smell 'em.
That's how close I was to these things. And I didn't know, like you would think, well Matt, you seem to be some brave woodsman. Nuh, I don't. I mean, listen, I squealed like a little girl and hit the ground. I hit the ground. I mean, I was so scared. Look, I didn't, I didn't wet my pants, but it was close, all right? I mean, it was close. I mean, I hit the ground and for 30 minutes y'all, I didn't know what to do. 30 minutes, it was still just black as black could be outside. And I was like, I ain't going nowhere. I ain't going nowhere. And finally, finally, finally, sun started to come up over the horizon. And I made my way to where I was going. You know what would've solved that whole debacle if I would've just taken out my light? My light?
Now you know this, you don't have to be a hundred to know this. Remember when you were a kid and they, they, your parents put you down for bed and all of a sudden they turn the lights off. You remember it was then when something was coming out from under your bed or coming outta your closet unless you had what? A nightlight. Listen guys, that's what light does for us. In fact, I want you to write down a couple things about light this morning. But it's not just about light. This is about the light this morning that's gonna help us back our way into what Jesus is saying when he proclaims that he is the light of the world. In fact, write a couple of these things down and then I want you to see 'em from what Jesus says. Number one, light. Light gives comfort.
Light gives comfort. Why? Because, because what does it do? It puts our minds at ease and it shows us our surroundings. We feel more comfortable in it because we know what's ahead of us. It brings comfort. Second light provides safety. It provides safety. This is why so many of your houses are like a prison and you can't get within 50 yards of them without all the lights coming on, right? 'cause You got these motion activated lights everywhere. One of the safest things you can do for a city is just bring in new lights and it actually deters crime. It provides safety. Number three, light, the light brings clarity. It brings clarity, literally everything around it. What does light do? It takes away the ambiguity. It takes it away. If you lay ever laid in your bed at night, going is something over there, right? Until you turn the light on, it just takes it away.
It shows us what's real. It shows us what's honest. It shows us what's right. It shows us even the fact that like, like when a crime is being committed or some financial thing is being discovered, then what do we say about it? It has come to light. That this, it brings clarity. What else did the light do? The light it illuminates our way. It illuminates our way. We see it all over the Bible where it tells us that God's word is a lamp into our feet, a light into our path. Man, think about the headlights on your car. What if they weren't there when you were driving down the country road? It illuminates the way in front of us. Light also. Number five, it, it brings beauty. It reveals beauty in front of us. Every fifth grade kid in science learns that light, literally in science,
everything we see around us is because of light. The landscapes, the people, the oceans, the colors is all a result of light bouncing off of something and hitting us. It reveals beauty. How boring would it be to live in a black and white world? And here's the last one. I hope you see where these themes are going. The light, it gives life. Number five, it gives life. Did you know that light is the fundamental building block of all of life? Without light, we wouldn't have food. We couldn't go outside. And actually at its core, we would not have existence at all because light gives life. Do you remember in the creation story when God created light, it was on the first day. It was before the sun, before the moon, before the people, before the heavens, before the earth, before all of it. God creates light.
So stay with me here. When Jesus, let's get back to Jesus. When Jesus steps onto the scene right here, and when Jesus says, I am the light of the world, what Jesus is saying is, is Jesus is saying I am all of these things. I'm all of these things that we just described. I'm all of those things that you ever heard about life. And I am even so much more. Jesus is saying, I am the one that brings comfort. I am the one that brings safety. I am the one that brings clarity. I am the one that illuminates the path in front of you. I am the one that shows beauty and he says, and I am the one that gives and sustains life because I am God and I am for you. That's the promise. That's what Jesus is saying right here. So the claim is that he is light.
Now, no matter where you are on your spiritual journey, whether you're the most absolute spiritual person, spiritually mature believer, or if you're just kind of beginning to experience this thing called Christianity, this has implications for you. It has implications for you, and it has an application for you that we're gonna see on the backside of this morning. And this is an incredibly powerful statement that can bring us comfort, that can bring us direction, that can bring us away in our hearts, that even in our darkest moments, we know what we can grab hold of. But on the other side of this claim, have you ever thought about how audacious this claim was of Jesus to make? I mean, if it was anybody else but Jesus that stepped onto the scene and said, I am the light of the world, we would just look at him like a crazy person.
But Jesus in this moment, and if you've been actually tracking with us through the whole gospel of John, you'll see that Jesus continues to make these claims over and over and over again. And every single time it seems like right, every time Jesus gets this crowd around him, he always stops the crowd in whatever they are doing. And he always turns everything to himself. This is what Jesus does. Why? To show us who he is and also to disprove this idea to them and to us that he's just this good guy, this miracle worker, or even this prophet. He's disproven this idea that we can just have a little bit of Jesus, but just hold on to everything else that we want in life. We can have a little bit of Jesus where we want him and just bar him from the ar other areas of our life.
Jesus stops the crowd every week in these I am statements to point at himself to say, I am God and I'm the only one that will fulfill you. That's the point. You see, Jesus is always stirring up things and he's always pointing to himself and he's always making it about him. Not because he's just this, this jerk, but because he knows what he has to offer, listen to me closely, is better than anything that we can come up with to guide our lives. That's what Jesus knows. That's why he gets so upset. You're gonna see it in a minute. That's why he gets so upset when people hear him and just turn their back on him. Not because he's just mad at the situation. He's mad because he knows that he is the light. And what he has to offer will fulfill them and light their path and give them eternity.
In fact, lemme give you a little principle that can kind of put all this together. I put it in your notes this morning. It's the principle that everything falls apart. If Jesus is not the light of your life, everything falls apart. If Jesus is not the light, pick out which you ever one in those six that you're struggling with, everything falls apart. Now with that being said, all right, that's the message. You're like, whew, Matt, that was quick. No, no, no, you ain't getting off that easy. All right. I want us to grab some popcorn and I want us to see how Jesus makes this point. Because listen, you can understand that He's the light of the world just by outside looking in. But just like last week, if we see how Jesus makes this point, it's an even more incredible picture that he is God and he is for you and he wants to be in your life.
Now, I know we're in John chapter eight, but I wanna give you the context from what Jesus is saying here in John chapter seven. 'cause John seven sets up the scene, sets up the setting for the promise. In fact, let me read it to you, John chapter seven, verses 38 and 39. Here's what it says. Here's what sets up the whole phrase He's the light of the world. Here's what he says in verse 37. It says, on the last and the greatest day of the festival, remember the idea of festival. Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, let anyone who is thirsty come after me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. All right, so listen, if you're tracking the timeline of Jesus, John tells us what we are about to see in the next text, in the next promise, where he tells us He's the light of the world.
What we're about to see happens during the festival. Now the festival that he's talking about is called the Festival of the Tabernacles or the Festival of the Booths or the Festival of the Tents. You can name it whichever one you want to. We don't really talk about this festival a whole lot, but it was an incredibly important time in the life of Israel. It was a week in the life of Israel that they came together to celebrate God's faithfulness of what he did as they were in the wilderness of how he prepared them, how he provided for them, and how he was with them. And a couple of things happened during this festival every year that are incredibly important to get us to what Jesus said. Couple of things happen. There's three that I wanna point out. The first thing that happened every single year to help them celebrate was that if you were in Israel and in the surrounding areas and you were a practicing Jew, you would get your family together and you would come to Jerusalem and you would build yourself a little structure, a little booth or a little tent outside the city to celebrate for seven days what the Lord has done for you.
Now. So think of it as kind of like a camp out for your family, to which I know I just lost some of you right there. You're like, Uhuh, it ain't the Marriott. I'm not going. But think about it like a camp out. Why did they do it? They were celebrating how God gave them shelter in the wilderness during the 40 years of the Exodus. They were celebrating how God protected them and they lived like their ancestors lived. It was a celebration and a thankfulness time. That was the first thing they did. The second thing they did during this festival is that every night the people as well as the priest, they would pour water onto the ground. Now we're like, well that's weird, Matt. Why are they wasting water? What in the world's going on, it actually has some incredible significance to it. It seems crazy, but it's not.
This was a moment that they were thanking God for water. You're like for water, Matt? Yeah, for water. Why? Because go back to the Exodus story. Remember in the Exodus, they ran outta water. They asked Moses what to do. And in Exodus chapter 17, Moses strikes the rock and water comes gushing out of the rock to give their families the ability to live. So at this festival, every year, they're celebrating the intents, how their ancestors live, and they're thanking God for the sustenance that he gave them along the way with the water, right? In fact, I wanna point out right here an incredible moment in the verses that we just read in 37 and 38. It was right after that they would've poured this water out. That in John chapter seven, verse 37 and 38, watch what Jesus said again, on the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, let anyone who is thirsty, calm and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, what did he say? Rivers of living water will flow from within 'em. Now it's one thing to read that, but when you read it in context of what they're celebrating and what they're doing, Jesus steps up and says, living water that you have been thanking God for is who I am. I might add this, the same words that he gave to the woman at the well. So there's tents, there's water being poured onto the ground. And the third thing that they did every year is the most profound. This is the one I love. And the third thing they did is every year the priests would get together and they would build this huge structure in the temple courtyard. They would build this huge candelabra or this elaborate scaffolding that they put these big vats of oil onto every single evening during this festival, they would light them up.
Now when I say huge, it was 75 feet tall, had many, many lights on 'em, and the vats of oil would hold up to 46 gallons of oil. Alright? It was massive. It was massive. So big. The historians tell us that when they lit this thing at night during this festival, it would light the whole city of Jerusalem up. Don't think like today where you've got skyscrapers everywhere. Think first century, middle East, everything's kind of low. They build this thing huge and now they're lighting this huge light over the courtyard of the temple. Now as a result of this, it gave them ability to worship God all into the night that they didn't normally have. So this celebration was a loud one. The temple musicians would come out, they would play their instruments all night long. The people would sing before the Lord. They would dance before the Lord.
They're obviously not old school Baptist, right? They would dance before the Lord. They would celebrate before the Lord recite the Psalms before the Lord. They would sing thanks to God all under this bright light of these massive burning fires or lights. So think Texas a and m bonfire, right? Think burley man, Burning Man festival, right? With all none of the craziness, right? Think that in your mind. So this festival so far, they're celebrating the safetiness. They're celebrating the fact that God gave them water, but also in the fire. They're celebrating this idea. Remember this, when God was in the wilderness with them, what was it that led them? Most of the time it was the fire at nighttime. It was the fire at night. You see, if you remember right, the fire led them everywhere they needed to go. If the fire didn't go, they didn't go.
If the fire didn't move, they didn't move. So this light at night during this festival at the temple I might add, which was the symbol of God's presence, was to commemorate what God had done as he led them in the wilderness by the pillar of fire, cloud by day, and to remind them that God one day would send prophetically, it's in the Old Testament, send another light to deliver all of us that so believe to our promised land. That's the festival. This light is incredible. This fire is incredible. Actually in the Old Testament, when they received this fire, do you remember all that It did. It lit their way. It split the Red Sea. It stood behind them. When the army was coming at them, it hovered over the temple. This fire of God. The glory of God in the Old Testament was always with the ark.
If you remember right, when Solomon built the first temple and they dedicated that same fire descended from heaven, it entered into the Holy of Holies and it was a reminder of God's presence. It was God's presence to his people. So this festival, the celebration, the celebration that the fire and the presence of God was with them happened every single night during the festival of the Booths except for the last night. You say, Matt, why not the last night did they run out of oil? No, the last night they did not light the fires. You say, well, why didn't they light the fires? They didn't light the fires because a hundred years before Jesus, actually a hundred years before Jesus, the fire of the Lord had left the temple. It had left the temple. If you go back to the the book of Ezekiel, you'll see in Ezekiel chapter 10, Ezekiel warned them and warned them and warned them and warned the people, Hey, if you don't turn back to God, if you don't turn back to God, God will give you over to your ways and he will remove his presence from you.
And finally, they didn't listen to Ezekiel and God's people were given to their own ways. In Ezekiel 10 18, it literally says this. It says, then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherub. Stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. If you go down to chapter 11 and Ezekiel verse 23, it tells us that the glory of the Lord went up from within the city and it stopped above the mountain east of it. So what is happening there, Matt? What's happening is the glory of God, this fire that has always been with them at the temple and in the wilderness because of their sin, it had left the temple. It went out through the east gate, which I might add is where Jesus rode the donkey back in to be crucified.
He went out the Eastgate up the Mount of Olives over the Mount of Olives, never to be found again. God's presence had left the temple. Now, the seventh night of the festival was this dark night. That was the symbol of where they stood in God's presence and their desire and their hope for God to send them his light. All the while they're wondering, God, when will your glory come back? When will you send this light? Now stay with me because what happens in chapter eight? In chapter eight, Jesus steps into the temple Courtyards the night had gone. The next morning when he set the lady in adultery free, Jesus steps into the same courtyard. Now, I need you to picture something in your mind. Some of you, you're really good at this, some of you, you're a little rigid and you need to like get a little bit of imagination.
All right? I need you in your mind just for a minute to picture Jesus standing in the courtyard, alright? He's standing in this courtyard right behind Jesus is this huge candelabra structure that had been dark all night long. It had been depressing all night long. The band didn't play. The music wasn't there. The light wasn't shining. Jesus had just set this lady free in the first 11 verses. You can read it this week in John from being in adultery. And now Jesus stands in front of this dark light that was not lit in chapter eight. And what does Jesus say? Verse 12, I can just see his finger pointing at it. He says, I am the light of the world and whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Now listen, church, I know that might should fire you up because it fires me up.
All right? Here's why. 'cause Jesus steps onto the scene, catch the fullness here he's saying, listen, listen, listen, listen. You've been celebrating this feast. You've been celebrating this deal. You've been pouring water. You've been living in these trashy tents. But now I am the one. I am here and I'm God's light and I'm his presence. I'm his peace and I'm his protection. What did we say earlier? Light does, I'm the comfort and I am the safety. I am the clarity. I am the beauty. And then he looks up and he says, and because you know me, you can have the light because I am the light. I am the light. Man, skeptic, listen to me. That don't happen by happenstance. That is God weaving through history, his purpose and his plan. And Jesus stepping onto the scene and he is saying, I am the one that brings all that you need.
In fact, write this principle down, just as Jesus claimed to be all that they had been looking for, he is also the only thing that will give us a fulfilled life. That's what he said. Listen, some of these people had been doing the same festival their whole lives just begging God, send us the light, send us the light, send your glory back here. And all the time Jesus was waiting till the moment the Father said, now go. And Jesus is now standing in front of this saying, I am the one that fulfills all of you. Listen to me teenager, the rest of the stuff in your life will never fulfill you like Jesus. Listen to me adult, your kids will never fulfill you like Jesus. Listen to me, adults, your job, your career, career, career all of what is around you will never fulfill
you. Will never light your life. You can try it all you want to. You can chase it all you want to, but all you will find yourself is in the fetal position surrounded by pigs, shrilling like a girl. 'cause Jesus is the light of the world. Listen, this is the promise. This is what is on the table. This is what Jesus does. And he starts again with this idea of I am, which should have been significant enough, right? I mean, like we said last week, the next words in this because of how Jesus did it at the temple, when he did it during the festival, right As he did it in front of this huge structure, right? And once he said that he is the one that they long for, like we said last week, we would expect revival to break out, right? We would expect everybody to fall on their faces and go, oh, thank you.
This is what I've always been looking for, which really should happen. But because of the sinfulness of man and the religion that had taken root in so many of the people, even after he says all of this, they miss Jesus. They miss Jesus. In fact, you gotta read the rest of this chapter this week. Alright, we ain't got time or we are never getting outta here today. But this is what I want you to just promise me. You'll read it this week. Because in verse 13, they start dogging on Jesus for testifying about himself. And they're like, Hey, you gotta have somebody else with you to do that. And he's like, oh, I do. It's the father. And we win. All right. We win in verse 20. They get so mad at Jesus, they try to arrest him, but somehow he was protected and they couldn't touch him.
I don't know if he had the force field. I don't know how it works. You decide in your mind in verse 27, they still wouldn't believe him even after they were like w couldn't touch him. They still wouldn't believe him in verse 27. And they still wouldn't. To make it worse, in verse 29 and 30 in this chapter, many of the common folks saw the power of Jesus we're drawn in to the deity of Jesus. And some of the common people, many of them, verse 30 said, they gave their life to Jesus on the spot. We just made the old crusty religious people even more mad at this point 'cause they were losing power. So they began to challenge Jesus's claim to be God and challenged Jesus's claim to be with a Father. And then all of a sudden Jesus finally just bows up in verse 42 and looks at these people and says this, if God were your Father, you would love me.
For I have come here from God and I've not come on my own. God sent me in verse 51, he looks at him again and says, very truly, whoever obeys my word will never see death. Now you would think even after that they're like, oh, go get 'em. Jesus, that'll do it. It didn't do it again. Instead they doubled down and they called Jesus demon possessed, which is never a good idea. Whole nother message, right? All the while Jesus just keeps showing His love keeps showing that he is God keeps showing that he wants them to walk, keeps showing that he wants to illuminate their life. He keeps on and keeps on, but yet they keep pushing him away. It gets so bad that in John 8:56 it says this, Jesus looks at him and says, your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought I see in my day.
Now this was the ultimate trump card to really peev them off, right? Jesus, he saw and was glad. Verse 57, you're not 50 years old, they said to Jesus. And you've seen Abraham? Very truly I tell you Jesus answered, before Abraham was born, I am. And at that they picked up stones and they tried to stone Jesus. But Jesus hid himself. How? I don't know, but it's awesome. I gotta ask him one day and he slipped away from the temple grounds. To which all this, alright, let bring it back 'cause I know you're like, Matt, what does this have to do with me? It has everything to do with you. You know why? Because you are in this story not physically but spiritually. You are in the story. And I hope you're seeing it, that Jesus's offer is on the table for him to be the light to your life.
But the question is, what will you do with the light? What will you do with it? I mean, in many, many ways, many of us are like these religious people, right? We go to the religious stuff. We have the religious moment. We might even wear the religious garb. We treat our lives as this religious thing. We do the deal every year. We might even sing and we might even dance. But what are we doing when Jesus shows up on the scene and demands us to give him our lives? He doesn't just demand a little bit. He demands all of it. And when we give all of it to him, he gives all of himself to us and he illuminates every single piece of who we are. Some of us are like those religious leaders, but you know what? Some of us are like the, like the others in verse 30 that actually saw Jesus for who he is and believed. And believed and gave their life to Jesus.
But I'm just gonna ask you this morning, which one of those are you? Which one? In fact, lemme give you three quick walkaway action steps based on what we just read in scripture. Number one, for some of you today, your next step is just to recognize Jesus as the light of the world. It's just to recognize that I'm not even saying like fully recognize some of you, you're so new to this thing I call Christianity, that your first step is just to start thinking about spiritual things, just to start thinking about Jesus. Can I, can I just be honest with you? That is an incredible step when your heart just begins to release a little bit of the hardness and you just begin to see Jesus as the light of the world. Let me, lemme talk to you guys for just a minute if that's you here in the room.
Listen, there is evidence that he is who he says he is. There is backed up evidence that everything is true and he says it every single week. And on top of that, the offer is there for you to turn your heart and turn your life over to him. So listen, if you're new to this thing called Christianity, if you're just starting to peep into this thing where Jesus is, Lord, can I just ask you to do something for us this week? Would you just let us know that that's where you are? And would you just ask us, Hey Matt, listen, I'm just now into this. Would you just pray with me that God would continue to show himself to me? Listen, 'cause here's what I wanna do with you. Number one, I just wanna pray over you this morning, but number two, I wanna put you with a mentor.
I wanna put you with somebody that can just keep showing you what it looks like to recognize Jesus as the light of the world. Maybe that's where you are this morning. Or maybe some of you, you're already kind of processed through that you've been thinking about Jesus. You've been kinda walking this path for a little bit and now you find yourself being drawn in. You know what I'm talking about? Being drawn in being, the Bible word for that is being convicted. And something in your soul is telling you today that today you need to go from recognizing Jesus as the light that today you need to take the next step and you just need to repent and belief. I'm not talking about just believe that there is a God. I'm talking about the changing direction, inviting Christ to be your king, giving him your life and asking him to forgive you and move in your life.
Listen, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that some of you in this room, that is your next step for Jesus to light your world. I know it's, I've talked to you, we've had conversations around it. There are things in you that may be up until today that have held you back from making that step. But I'm telling you, do you today need to give your life to the light of the world? That's the question, a love in John chapter 12, I didn't put it in your notes. In John 12, verse 35, Jesus speaking of him being the light, listen to what he said to these people. This is for some of you today. Jesus said, then ge. Then Jesus told them, John 12:35, you are going to have the light just a little while longer. He's looking at them going, Hey, we've been doing this for a long time.
We've been walking this path for a long time. And watch what he says. He says, walk while you have the light before the darkness overtakes you. Listen, for some of you in here, you might be creeping into that territory. The you like the temple in Jerusalem might be creeping into this idea where God finally just gives you over to the desires of your heart and he removes the conviction off of you. And then you walk as you wanna walk. Listen, some of you need to take the advantage today to trust Jesus. Now, what's holding you back? He's the light of the world. He's the one that brings comfort and safety and clarity. He illuminates. He shows beauty, he gives, and he sustains life. I can tell you what's holding you back. It's only you, but he gives life. So maybe today, that's your step in just a second to walk up to myself or one of these counselors and say, Hey, I need to trust Jesus with my life today.
Or maybe you are a believer in Jesus today. Maybe today. Here's number three. Jesus didn't mention it. Maybe today what you need to do here it is, is you need to realize that Christ, that in Christ you are the light of the world. Maybe you have moved past just seeing Jesus, you've moved past repenting and believing, but maybe you, maybe you've been a Christian for a little while, that your next step is to realize that Christ, in Christ, you are now the light of the world. Do you realize that you are now the temple structure. You are now the candelabra that glows the light in the love of Christ you are now. In fact, Paul says it like this in Ephesians five, eight. He says, for once you were in darkness, but now you are in the light of the Lord, live as children of the light.
Matthew five, Jesus says it like this in verse 14. He says, you are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden, neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. No. Instead, they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, catch this believer, let your light so shine before others that they may see your good deeds and they may glorify God in heaven. Believer to you today, what part of your life is not lighting the world for Jesus? Listen, we're gonna walk into a time of invitation today, and I fully know that there are many, many decisions that need to take place in here today. Some of them may be private, some of them need to be public. Some of them just need to have a moment at this altar to say, here I am Lord Jesus. Let me be a light on a hill. But here's what I know. They all revolve around the name of Jesus, the light of the world.