12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father1 who sent me.17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father1 who sent me.17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:
I invite you to open your Bibles to John chapter 8. John 8. As returning there, I just want to, say how encouraged I was I've been this past 2 weeks. 2 weeks ago, I talked a bit about us putting on what we call advent gatherings as an intentional way to use our homes, to reach out to people in this advent season. And, in 2 weeks, we had over 100 people asking to be host, for that, which actually was a little overwhelming trying to to organize that, but so encouraged that that many people in our church want to use, the place they live as a way to outreach to their neighbors.
Joel Brooks:
For those of you who didn't, who wanted to do that and I didn't get you a guide, because I think I printed off like 10 of them, so I wasn't prepared. I've got a ton more of these. You can see me after the service and I'll give you one of those guides. This morning we return to John, John chapter 8 and I'll begin reading in verse 12. Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world.
Joel Brooks:
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So the Pharisees said to him, you're bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. Jesus answered, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. For I know where I came from and where I am going.
Joel Brooks:
But you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true. For it is not I alone who judge, but I and the father who sent me.
Joel Brooks:
In your law, it is written that the testimony of 2 men is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself and the father who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him, therefore, where is your father? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also.
Joel Brooks:
These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple. But no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come. So he said to them, again, I'm going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I'm going, you cannot come. So the Jews said, will he kill himself?
Joel Brooks:
Since he says where I'm going, you cannot come. He said to them, you were from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you told you that you would die in your sins for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. So they said to him, who are you?
Joel Brooks:
Jesus said to them, just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true. I declare to the world that I have heard from him. They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the father. So Jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority.
Joel Brooks:
But I speak just as the father taught me, and he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. As he was saying these things, many believed in him. Pray with me. Our father, we thank you for your word, and how when we read your word, it is not just black ink on white pages, but through your spirit, we get to hear you calling us Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
And we ask that right now you would do that, That you would call people out of the domain of darkness into part of the kingdom of light. Father, I pray that my words in this moment would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Joel Brooks:
In this text, we get to the second of the 7 I am's that are in the gospel of John. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Now especially as we come up on the Christmas season, we kinda get used to hearing that statement, but this is an extraordinary claim. You you you do realize that normal people don't talk like this? All of you, look at the person sitting next to you.
Joel Brooks:
Just just go ahead look at them. Be a little awkward here. Now, if at some point in the service that person were to kinda lean over and whisper in your ear, hey I've been thinking about it. I am the light of the world. And if you follow me, you will not walk in darkness.
Joel Brooks:
If that person said that, you might tell them in a soothing voice, that's nice. But inside you're thinking run, just run, get away. Normal people do not make statements like this. But Jesus made a statement like this. It's an extraordinary claim.
Joel Brooks:
And Jesus, he's not saying that he can point us to the light. He is actually saying, I am the light. He is pointing to himself. And Jesus is making claims like this all of the time. He says, I am the bread of life.
Joel Brooks:
Come to me if you are hungry. Come to me if you are thirsty. Come to me if you are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Jesus is never pointing to others. He's never pointing to some other philosophy, some other religion, some other prophet to come, some other self help book.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus is always pointing to himself as the answer. If we want life, if we want light, we come to him. Now if Jesus is not God, this is an absurd claim. If he's not God, he he's either a liar or he's either crazy. He certainly would not be a good moral teacher if he claimed to be these things and he was not God.
Joel Brooks:
And of course, the people who hear him think he's a liar. They think he's evil. They are seeking to kill him. Now you don't have to be a Christian. You don't really have to have a a understanding of the Bible to at least get a general we saying here.
Joel Brooks:
Because when we look around the world that we live in, we see darkness. Me could see this this past week with what happens in Paris, and the violence is there. You you would see darkness. You look in Birmingham, and you and you see the the 8 year old child killing his his 1 year old sister, and you think darkness. The world is full of darkness.
Joel Brooks:
Is full of evil, violence, racism, greed, corruption. And this isn't a modern problem. We we can't say, like, the world is just getting worse and worse. No. These things have always been this way.
Joel Brooks:
Every civilization and every time has been full of these things. And I think that all of us here are smart enough to realize that that's not just going away, That you just can't throw enough money at the problem and fix it. It's not just about equal distribution of resources and that will fix it. There's not any degree of education that will fix it. Certainly, there is no election to come that is going to fix it.
Joel Brooks:
The world and the people who live in it are broken. That's what we mean by darkness. And when Jesus says he is the light of the world, he's saying first he is the one who exposes all of the evil, and then he is the one who brings in the light, who brings healing, who brings life to this broken and dark world. I think we we just instinctively we we get this. Even if you don't know much about the Bible, if you're not a Christian, when you just hear Jesus say that He is the light of the world, you understand that this is a good message, that He is bringing hope and He's bringing life into a dark place.
Joel Brooks:
That just as the sun brings life to all things, Jesus is he's bringing out the photosynthesis of our souls. Alright? He's what's bringing to life us. So we get this instinctively, but but Jesus is actually pulling together so many different threads of scripture when he says that he is the light of the world. He is saying so much more than just he is hope in a dark place.
Joel Brooks:
Let's walk through a few of these. It's been a few weeks since we've been in the gospel of John. But if you could think backwards, we've been at this time where Jesus has been teaching in the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths. That was that 7 day long celebration in which the people remembered how God delivered them from Egypt and He led them through the wilderness. He fed them food.
Joel Brooks:
He gave them water. And he he led them by a cloud by the day and a pillar of fire by night. Now the the last time we were in John, I actually talked in John 8, the story right before this about the woman who was caught in adultery. You remember that story? How Jesus, you know, he says he who's without sin cast the first stone.
Joel Brooks:
But if you remember, that that story wasn't original to John. It was just kind of inserted there. And because it's inserted there, it actually breaks up the story. What we just read about Jesus saying, I am the light of the world connects to what happened right before that story. So John 7, let me just read to you this.
Joel Brooks:
Have any of you authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But the crowd does not know that the law is is accursed. Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and who was one of them, said to them, does not our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? And they replied, are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.
Joel Brooks:
And then he goes straight to verse 12. Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. And so what we have here, if you see this story flowing, connected, is that these religious leaders had just discarded Jesus's discarded Jesus' claim to be the Messiah because they said, hey, no prophet can even arise out of Galilee. Search the scriptures. And Jesus says, okay.
Joel Brooks:
And he says, I am the light of the world. And he is alluding to Isaiah 9, one of the most famous Christmas passages we have. In which we read, in the latter time, God made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, The Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them a light has now shown.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus is saying, well 8 800 years ago, Isaiah prophesied that from Galilee into Galilee, a light is going to shine. The point of this is what don't debate scripture with Jesus. Alright? Don't say, hey, search the scriptures. It's like, I wrote it, okay?
Joel Brooks:
I know it. Yes, a light will come, and I am that light of the world. But Jesus is even more than this. When Jesus made this statement that he is the light of the world, he is standing at the treasury of the temple. Look at that in verse 20.
Joel Brooks:
Says these words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple. Now the reason John gives this detail is because it's important when understanding what Jesus is saying. In the wall of the treasury, there hung 2 enormous candelabras, 2 enormous torches that were lit during this festival. There were the way that the people of God, they remembered that God went before the Israelites both as a as a cloud, a luminous cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And so they lit these 2 huge torches to remember that that is how God delivered and led his people out of the land of Egypt and through the Red Sea.
Joel Brooks:
And so now Jesus is standing beneath these 2 enormous torches that are lighting up much of the city and he's saying, I'm the light of the world. This is me. I'm the luminous cloud by day. I am the pillar of fire that was by night. I am.
Joel Brooks:
And when the people hear this, it's no wonder that they want to kill him. Because Jesus is claiming to be nothing short than the Shekinah glory of God standing in their midst. And so now Jesus, he is standing there and he is saying, look at me. Look at me. Look at me.
Joel Brooks:
I am God, the God who led the Israelites out of Egypt. I am that light. And notice exactly what he says here in verse 12, when he says, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of light. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness.
Joel Brooks:
Just as the Israelites had to follow the pillar of fire, they had to follow it through that Red Sea in order to be saved. Jesus is saying you have to follow me if you want to be a part of the light. You have to follow me if you want to be saved. Jesus is saying I'm the one who now leads you. I am the one who now guides you.
Joel Brooks:
If you remember from when we study the book of Exodus when the people left Egypt and the cloud led them forward. God led them right to the Red Sea. And they were pinned in, by the the approaching army of pharaoh in the Red Sea right there. And what we see is that the cloud, this Shekinah glory of God moved in front of them and set stood as a barrier between the army of pharaoh and the people at the Red Sea. And so this pillar of fire was their protector.
Joel Brooks:
The one who stood in between the oncoming judgment and their eventual freedom. And then during the night, the seas were parted and the people got to cross through the Red Sea on dry land. And this, it was beautifully terrifying. This happened at night. I know, you know, when we picture the parting of the Red Sea, you know, the last movie Exodus or Charlton Heston, you know, the the sea's parting.
Joel Brooks:
It's always in daytime, But it actually happened at night. And as the pillar of fire is standing in between pharaoh's army and the sea, the seas are parted and God's light shines the path through there. And the people are they're walking probably in terror and darkness. All around them is death and destruction. Giant walls of water on either side.
Joel Brooks:
Pharaoh's army behind them, but they have this light lighting the way going before them. And it's only in the morning, as they are all safely across, that then the sea comes crashing down on pharaoh's army. Jesus is saying, I was that pillar of fire. As the son of God, that was me. I led Israel.
Joel Brooks:
I guided Israel. And you know what? I still save God's people now. I still lead them. I still guide them.
Joel Brooks:
I am still the light of the world. And if you do not want to walk in darkness, you need to follow me. We have to trust that Jesus is the one who still saves. Although we are surrounded by darkness, we live in a world full of evil, death. Because of Jesus, he says, you're you're not left in the dark.
Joel Brooks:
I don't leave you in the dark. You know, we have that phrase left in the dark. We use it, maybe if we have a really big decision to make and we don't know what to do, we we say, I'm in the dark here. Or if there is some circumstance that is bringing suffering into your life, Say, I'm just left in the dark. I don't see a way out.
Joel Brooks:
Or perhaps somebody close to you has died. And in despair, you you say, all I see is darkness. I can't ever see a way out of this. But Jesus here is saying that when I'm in your midst, I illuminate the darkness. He said, because I light up things, everything looks different.
Joel Brooks:
Everything looks different in my light. And so you you look at the plans that you have to to make, the enormous decision you have to make, where you're gonna live, what job you're gonna take, whom you're gonna marry. And he's saying, I'm not leaving you groping in the dark. I will guide you through that. If there's a circumstance bringing suffering in your life, he says, let me illuminate that for you.
Joel Brooks:
Don't you know that I cause all things to work together for your good? You don't need to be afraid. Even death itself looks different. My my cousin, my first cousin, she is 39 years old. We found out a couple months ago that she had cancer.
Joel Brooks:
And 2 days ago, we just found out was a very rare and extremely aggressive form of cancer. She will turn 40 on December 2nd. And they said she likely will not make it there. 2 weeks. She's a believer.
Joel Brooks:
Her dad, my uncle is not. He is in darkness and it is devastating him. I mean, as as a father, it will be devastating to see your daughter, your only daughter going through that. No doubt about it. But because he doesn't believe that Jesus is the light of the world, he is in darkness and there is no way out.
Joel Brooks:
The guy is brilliant. He's worked for the CIA for over 40 years. Every problem he has been able to fix his entire life, and now he has gone 2 months without being able to fix a single thing. It's all darkness, and he doesn't see a way out. And the thing that is most terrifying for him is he thinks that when his daughter dies, the lights go out, And that's it.
Joel Brooks:
And Jesus says, no. No. The lights do not go out. As the light of the world, darkness cannot snuff out that light. Her life is just beginning.
Joel Brooks:
The ultimate darkness that we will all walk through is death. The ultimate darkness that we're walking in right now is a sin that leads to death. Look at verse 21. So Jesus said to them again, I'm going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin. Where I'm going, you cannot come.
Joel Brooks:
So the Jews said, really kill himself? Since he says, where I'm going, you cannot come? He said to them, you are from below. I am from above. You're of this world.
Joel Brooks:
I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. Just as every living thing on this planet would eventually die if the sun ceased to give its light, Jesus is saying that unless you come to me and recognize me as the light of this world, you will die. You will die in your sins.
Joel Brooks:
Do do you see how Jesus is pleading with these people? I mean, 21 again, it says, I'm going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin. He's saying, listen to me. This this window of opportunity and believing in me is closing. You've been following me all around Jerusalem, all around while I've been teaching at this Feast of Tabernacles.
Joel Brooks:
You've been taking issue with every single thing I say. You keep rejecting me. But know that the window, the window for you actually believing me is going to come to a close. There's gonna be a time when you will seek to find me and you're not going to be able to because the separation will be complete and it will be everlasting. Listen.
Joel Brooks:
Right now, if you are not clinging to Jesus as the light, you still have a moment. You still have an opportunity, but you will not always have that opportunity. There is going to come a time when your walking in darkness will become permanent. You you you will move from walking into darkness into what the Bible calls walking into outer darkness. Complete darkness.
Joel Brooks:
That's when you reach a point of no return. Outer darkness is what the Bible describes as hell. In Matthew 8, Jesus says that those who don't believe, they will be cast into outer darkness. There will be weeping and there will be the gnashing of teeth. Outer darkness is the place where there is no light, And there is a complete separation from the light of the world.
Joel Brooks:
Now now if you are having a hard time believing this, you're you're a lot like these people that Jesus is talking to. They're they're hearing Jesus say these extraordinary things. I am the light of the world. I'm the Shekinah glory of God. I'm your only hope for salvation.
Joel Brooks:
He's saying all these things and they're like, but you don't look it. You you really just don't look it. And so Jesus says, well, let me tell you where to look. There is one place that you can look that I shine brighter than any other place. And we see that in verse 28.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I am He. And when Jesus talks here about being lifted up, He is talking about going to the cross. He says something very similar to this in John 3, when he says, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, that bronze serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And when he is lifted up, he will draw all people to himself. So the cross is where Jesus is going to shine most bright, and he's going to bring people to himself.
Joel Brooks:
Now the the these candelabras that we talked about earlier, they're that are on this wall where Jesus is saying these things. These things were lifted up high and they were positioned at the highest point in the temple, which of course was the highest point in the land. And when these giant candelabras were lifted up high, they illuminated the whole city. All of Jerusalem could see these lights. And now Jesus is saying, just as these lights are lifted up, so must the Son of Man, the light of the world, be lifted up so that all may see Him.
Joel Brooks:
And I will be lifted up on the cross. That is where I'll become most bright and most glorious. It is there on the cross that we see the love and the forgiveness of Jesus shining forth most brightly. It's there that he takes all of the darkness of this world and he puts it on him. Remember what happened when Jesus was on the cross that says darkness covered the land?
Joel Brooks:
Do you remember that? If actually, if you look through cross, you'll see that Jesus takes on almost everything that is described of hell. He takes it on at that point. Hell, a place of eternal burning. Jesus cries out, I thirst.
Joel Brooks:
Separation from God. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Place of darkness. Darkness covers the land. The only thing that didn't change there, the only thing that we don't see is there was no weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Joel Brooks:
The weeping and gnashing of teeth is one who walks in darkness, but wants to be there and saying, God, you stay out of my life. Gnashing their teeth in bitterness. But Jesus on the cross, in the very heart of hell says, father forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. He is pleading with his father.
Joel Brooks:
He is shining so bright in the midst of hell. And he is taking on all of the darkness, all of the brokenness of this world. It's all trying to snuff him out. But as the gospel of John says in the beginning, it could not extinguish the light of Christ. If you're in a dark place and you're wondering if God even loves you, I would say look to the cross.
Joel Brooks:
Look to the cross and you will see his love shining on you. He took away the outer darkness you deserve so that you might become a child of light. The whole Bible testifies that Jesus is the light of the world. Now I'm trying to think through this sermon. I knew I was gonna fail in the sermon.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, as a pastor, you know that a lot. But when you hit that and you're like, how do you talk about Jesus being the light of the world? Literally, almost every page of scripture screams this. I mean, you have Genesis 1:3, right there, you know, right after creation, God spoke and said, let there be light and there is light. So light comes immediately from God's presence.
Joel Brooks:
There's nothing else there. He just says, let there be light and there's light. Before he created the sun and the moon, he created light. Or a moon because the glory of God will be our light. So the bookends of the Bible is that from the presence of God comes light or life.
Joel Brooks:
And every page in between declares that. We were made to bask into the in the light of God. Now as Christians, we not only believe that Jesus is our light, but we also believe that he now makes us a light to others. It's very similar to, you know, when Jesus said he will give us living water. He gives us living water and then he places in us a fountain that then overflows to others.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus says, I'm gonna give you a light and now this light is gonna shine to others. We see this in Matthew chapter 5 when Jesus tells his disciples, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. So here in John, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. And then to his disciples in Matthew 5, he says, you are the light of the world.
Joel Brooks:
And what he is saying is that, I am the light of the world and as I come to you, now you begin to shine my light to others. You also become a light in dark places. Have you, have you ever been in a room where it's completely dark? I mean completely dark and somebody's gonna light a candle and they light a match that's and they light it. Your eyes are immediately drawn to light.
Joel Brooks:
You you can't look elsewhere. You you are immediately you were drawn to any light that pierces darkness. And Jesus is saying, hey church, this is you. This is you. You were to live your life in such a way that you pierce through darkness, just like a candle pierces through the night.
Joel Brooks:
You are to live a life that is so extraordinary, so different than the darkness around you. Every eye is gonna be drawn to you. Simply, you're gonna live a life that you you can't be ignored. People will absolutely be attracted to you and fixated on you as you live this way. He says that you are a city on a hill which cannot be hidden.
Joel Brooks:
If you are truly a Christian who whose life has been changed by Christ, hear me, there is no camouflage that you can put on in which you will blend in with the world. You can't. Jesus says, a city that's set on a hill cannot be hidden. You cannot hide. You will always be distinguished among others.
Joel Brooks:
Light will always shine in the darkness. What this means is if if you are living a life in which you are anxious about the same things that your coworkers are anxious about, then you are not being a light shining in a dark place. If you look like you trust in wealth, just like all of your neighbors trust in wealth, then you are not being a city on a hill. If you spend your free time pursuing the exact same things that people walking in darkness pursue, then you're not being you're not being light. If you fixate on your beauty or or on your appearance in the same way that everybody else does, then you're not light shining in the darkness.
Joel Brooks:
I'm serious about that. If if you spend more time, looking in the mirror, the mirror that's in your bathroom, than you do maybe the mirror of the word of God, and letting that tell you who you are, both tell you your flaws and your beauties, then you're not being a light. We're to bask in the presence of God, and they were to take that light and to reflect it to others. So that's the question, are we being that match that is struck that lights up to where every eye is drawn to it? There's a lot of application I could pull from this, but I really just want to point to 1.
Joel Brooks:
It's the main thrust of all of this. And that's just simply who do you believe Jesus is? Is he the light of the world? I love verse 30. It says, and as he was saying these things, many believed in him.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus didn't do a single miracle here. Alright? Not a single miracle. He simply says this, but then that witness He was talking about earlier, I have another one who bears witness of me. My father, was the father through his spirit, just goes and convicts and people hear and they come to believe.
Joel Brooks:
Yes, you are. You are the light of the world. And these people experience what Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 4. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, which is in the face of Jesus Christ. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:
Father, for those who don't believe, may you shine right now into their hearts. May your spirit testify that what we have heard in Jesus saying, I am the light of the world. That those words are true. For us Christians here, may we believe that even more deeply. May we cling to you as our only hope, our only salvation, our only light that brings life.
Joel Brooks:
And Lord, may our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works and glorify our father in heaven. And we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.