Introduction
I grew up on the coast of SC and if you have ever been there during the summer you may have seen the phenomenon known as the palmetto bug. The palmetto bug is really a roach. It is big and so black and shiny that it looks almost blue. What really makes the palmetto bug different from other vermin is that they are not afraid of the light. They will come out at almost any time and scare unsuspecting little sisters and moms to death. Heh heh heh.
Describing the Biblical Text
In this text Jesus has just finished forgiving the woman caught in adultery.
He is now discussing who he is and what His nature is.
I want you to look back at chapter 7 for just a second. We will begin our reading at verse 40.
The Pharisees had already concluded that Jesus was a problem.
They wanted Him out of the way.
They were willing to do anything to get him out of the way except make themselves look bad.
This is why we see them asking others why they did not seize Jesus.
The Pharisees didn’t want to arrest Jesus because of his popularity so they were hoping someone else would do it.
But they didn’t.
And, their answer as to why they didn’t was so compelling.
Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.
Narrate the Contextual application
Then the Pharisees were getting kind of bent out of shape over the guards not arresting Jesus and they began to question his teaching based on his following.
That would be like me questioning Charles Stanley’s teaching because the ACLU didn’t like it.
Yet there was something that we might not see at first glance.
The guards did not arrest Jesus because he was giving them something that they had not received in a long time and that was light.
Jesus was teaching them like they had never been taught before.
They were hearing things they never heard before.
Life Application (thesis)
Jesus was revealing the teaching of heaven and they were experiencing God like they had never experienced Him before.
That’s because they had light.
You know what I mean.
Have you ever lost power at night?
You forget where the furniture is until a stubbed toe reminds you.
Then, when the lights come back on you are relieved because you don’t have to stumble around the house with lamps and candles.
Think about living life without light.
Not luminescent light but the light from Heaven.
Think about life with no revelation from God to lead us to truth or to help us to see right from Wrong.
That is really what a life without Jesus is.
It is a life without light.
When we are following Jesus we have the light of life.
This will then bring the lights up for us as we will see two illuminations from this text.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Following Jesus means that our lives are illumined by Him.
The Palmetto bug is different from most other roaches in that they are not repelled by the light.
I have been in people’s homes who did not really care about their housekeeping and they would take you 9into a room and turn on the light and a gazillion roaches and bugs would run for cover.
Palmetto bugs will come out to the light.
If you get a well lit Palmetto tree it will be covered by the bluish black bugs crawling chirping and flying, yes flying all around it.
Look at vv 12
What really characterizes the life of the follower of Christ is how that person actually follows Christ.
Christ is a light that draws his followers after Him.
I received a bumper sticker on my facebook page yesterday that said, “It is not a religion, it is a relationship.”
The follower of Jesus Christ wants to deepen and to develop that relationship.
IOW he wants to walk in the light in order to be with Jesus and where Jesus is.
John 3:19-21 says this, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
If we desire to be Christlike, something has to be there to do a couple of things.
Something has to reveal the sin that can easily beset and ruin our relationship to the Lord and even with other believers.
When light shines into darkness, particularly the darkened heart, it reveals the blackness of sin and the destruction of that behavior.
It reveals the reality of our condemnation before God.
But the light also reveals the will of God.
There is a family that I know that is facing a very serious decision regarding some spiritual issues.
This is a family that desires to be in the center of God’s will so what are they doing?
They are praying; they are seeking the counsel of their pastor and other godly people; they are looking for wisdom in the Bible.
They are shining the light of Christ on their situation.
What is our reaction to the light?
Remember the words of verse 12?
I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.
As we live our lives and the light of truth shines on us revealing both our sin and the Fathers will, how do we react?
Are we like those palmetto bus that fly to the light and chirp and crawl all over that tree or are we like the vermin roaches that run for cover anywhere we can hide from the light?
That really defines us as followers of Jesus Christ.
Do we want to live in the light or away from it?
Listen to what the apostle John wrote later in the book of 1 john
5This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Our second illumination this morning is this
Following Jesus means that our Lord is illumined by Him.
Look at verses 18-20
Jesus is the light o the world bearing witness to himself but doing that in order that should do something as well.
Jesus left the church on the earth to be his body.
He left us here as His mouthpieces for righteousness.
He lift us here to be light as well.
Matthew 5:14 tells us this, “14“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15“nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Knowing Christ means that we are also the light of the world and that means swe need to be sharing the message of the Gospel with people who do not know Jesus.
You know why we are not the biggest church in High Point?
It is because we do very little with the gospel.
It will take more that just me talking about it from this pulpit once a week to start seeing people getting saved.
It’s going to take me and you and you and you and you going to win them at work, in our neighborhoods and at our social happenings.
Jesus is using our lives to bear witness to Him
I was over at Scott’s house last year and he brought out this big light that would blind an astronaut on the moon if you shined it in his eyes.
That is the kind of light we are supposed to be for Jesus.
We are supposed to shine brightly so that others can see his light in us.
What does it mean to have the light of life?
It means that we can see our sin and God’s good will for us and it means others can see Christ in us.
Let his light shine in your life today.
Let it shine
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