 All right, our sermon title this morning is The Light of the World. The Light of the World, we're in part two. We began this brief look at this paragraph in John's Gospel, chapter eight, verses 12 through 20. We began this last week. When the Lord comes to those in the temple, the people there in the court of women that day and proclaims to them that I am the light of the world, he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. What a glorious offer. What a glorious summary of the Gospel, amen. The Lord Jesus Christ is the light that this dark world needs. So we come again now this week to this glorious light, this wonderful text of scripture, in John chapter eight, verses 12 through 20, Jesus Christ is the light of the world. As we go through this, again, this is in the context of a confrontation that the Lord Jesus Christ is having with the Pharisees. And we've seen those frequently confrontations that the Lord has with false disciples, confrontations now in the temple there in Jerusalem with the Pharisees, the scribes, those in opposition to him. And John has said previously in his Gospel already that this light, we know that to be the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of truth, the light of the Gospel has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil. Now, to me, studying this, it's been just a tremendous blessing to me to be able to study these passages, but it just never stops to amaze me how in darkness people are. If you read God's word and you see their reactions and you see how they respond to him, right? And then if you're out witnessing and you're out talking to people and you see how hard-hearted and how blind people are to this glorious grace, this wonderful mercy of God, it's astounding, it's astounding. John also says, everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light unless his deeds should be exposed. And so in that statement from John in chapter three there, he gives us an explanation for why people do that. Why do people respond with such hostility to the Gospel? Why here do these Pharisees just blindly ignore all the evidence laid out before them in favor of their own opinions, their own thoughts, their own human reasoning? The only explanation is, is that they love their sin. They'd rather be in darkness rather than go into the light because if they go into light, their deeds will be exposed. That's the effect of the light. If you think about the effect of the light, so to speak, from Scripture, the light brings truth. The light brings glory. The light brings mercy and forgiveness and grace from God, but it also exposes wickedness. It also exposes hatred and contempt and rebellion. It exposes the depravity of man. The light has that dual purpose, doesn't it? You turn the light on, it brings truth and grace and mercy and forgiveness and love. You turn the light on and the roaches scatter looking for a dark corner to seep into, right? Has also the added effect of exposing wickedness. This world, as we know full well, lies in darkness. You can sense it, cancer, you can see it. Every day when you turn on the news, turn on the radio, just watch people, you know? Spend a day at the happiest place on earth, so to speak, and watch the depravity of man. We sense it, I reminded of Exodus, in Exodus chapter nine, I believe it is, where God sends the ninth plague, the darkness on Egypt, right? And if you remember when God sends the plague, he says, it'll be a darkness that can even be felt. That's the kind of darkness that we're in the midst of. Don't you sense it, because you just feel it. You come in from out of this world and you need a shower. It's just the filth of this dark world, darkness everywhere. It's interesting that in Exodus, at that plague though, darkness everywhere, but where? When in the camp of God's people. Now this is a little taste of heaven, right? A church like this, where you just see the evident love that you have for one another. This is a little foretaste of glory, to be a part of a people like this that care for one another and love one another, and demonstrate that love. That's what it means to be a part of God's people. There's light here, and it's good. We love the light, we rejoice in the light. It's interestingly enough, if you look back over the centuries at where we are today, it really began, interestingly enough, during a period of time that historians and scholars have called the age of the enlightenment. Have you ever read about that before? Out of the dark ages, so to speak, came the age of enlightenment, the latter part of the 17th century into the 18th century, the age of illumination, some called it. The age of light, some called it. It began today, what we see is secular humanism. Essentially, Emmanuel Kant defined the age of enlightenment as coming out from under the tutelage, the instruction, or the authority of another. Now what other was Kant referring to? God, the church, the Bible. That's right. And that if we're gonna be enlightened, our light comes from our own human reasoning. As sort of people in Western Europe at that time began to be more literate, they began, so to speak, thinking for themselves, and the age of enlightenment basically represented this idea that someone would take themselves out from under the absolute truth or the absolute authority of someone else, namely God, and they would transfer themselves under their own authority, their own enlightened reason, should you know to be pure darkness, and that was called the age of enlightenment. That's what is led today to relativism. There is no more, if you talk to somebody, there is no more absolute truth. Truth is what resides within themselves. You talk to people of this post-modern world that we live in, where everything, as long as it pleases you, as long as it's right to you, it's right for everyone else. We have to tolerate that nonsense. The age of enlightenment, it's the age of darkness. They call it progress. If you listen to politicians, progressives. It's not progress, it's progress deeper and deeper into darkness, because it takes us deeper and deeper and deeper into our own wicked hearts and deeper and deeper and deeper away from the only truth which is in Christ our Lord, which is in the God of the Bible, which is in the Scriptures, the truth of God. The light shines on the dark heart of man, doesn't it? It exposes his depravity. Do you see yourselves in these examples? As we study these passages of Scripture and we come to look at the Pharisees and how they responded, do you see yourself in that? Maybe before Christ, do you see that slippery slope that you were on and the darkness, the depravity of your own heart? Now that you're in Christ, if you're in Christ, you've turned from your sin and you're living for him, trusting him alone, do you see that tug of your own heart back into your own wicked reasoning? Thinking, wanting to think for yourself, decide for yourself. Wanting to define what it looks like to be a Christian from your own ideas, your own opinions, figments of your own imagination rather than submitting yourself to God's Word happens all the time. It's the pull of our flesh is within the heart of man there resides a deep and profound darkness and it's only the light of God's Word, the light of the gospel, the light of Christ that can shed light on that darkness and give you, as John says here, the light of life. As this world plunges deeper and deeper into darkness, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ just resonate in our ears that as far as a way as people try to get from the absolute truth of God, God's Word, not one jot or tittle of it will ever pass away, amen. So back in John chapter eight this morning, we're looking at the light. We're looking at the light of the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, we're gonna see the darkness in the heart of the Pharisees. So last week we began with the only true enlightenment in the world, the Lord Jesus Christ and his opening statement in verse 12, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. Today, we'll review that opening statement and get into the great witness that is brought forth in verses 13 and 14. We'll look at the righteous judge in verses 15 through 18 and we'll see the tragic verdict in verses 19 and 20. So let's look at the Lord's opening statement. This is a trial of sorts. The Lord Jesus Christ is on trial in the minds and hearts of these wicked Pharisees but also they don't know it yet but these wicked Pharisees are on trial and it's the truth of God's word that casts its verdict upon them. We're gonna see that as we work through the text. But the Lord's opening statement if you will in this trial comes in verse 12. Jesus spoke to them again saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. God is said to be the light. In the Old Testament, God was the light. We see it in the New Testament. 1 John chapter 1 verse 5. This is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 15. He who is the blessed and only potentate, the king of kings and Lord of lords who alone has immortality dwelling in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. Psalm chapter 104 verse 1. Oh Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty. You cover yourself with light as with a garment who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. In James chapter 1 verse 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Comes down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. So in light of all that scripture, right? Pun intended, Jesus stands here in the temple at the end of this feast and he pronounces to the people in the treasury that he is the light of the world. Not only that he has light or that he comes with light but the Lord Jesus Christ is the light. Those of us who read and study the Bible, we know exactly what the Lord is claiming here. We know exactly. This is a clear statement of his deity. It's one of the seven great I am statements in the gospel of John of God's of Jesus's deity to be God in the flesh. And we know that Jesus is the light of the world because he is one with the father. We'll see that here. He comes from the father. He speaks for the father. He will return to the father. He is the light that has come into the world. And we know, don't we, that that light certainly reveals our sin. At the same time, it reveals the Lord Jesus Christ. That light reveals your sin. And think about it this way. Like the relief that you might feel with an early diagnosis to an aggressive, deadly cancer, we need to have our sin revealed, don't we? We need our sin revealed. We need the light to expose our condition to those who despair over their sinfulness before a holy God, to those who are hopeless, to save themselves from the wrath of God and from the penalty of hell, to those who are spiritually bankrupt, to those with no righteousness of your own. And I say those things specifically in that way. This statement of the Lord Jesus Christ specifically speaks to your greatest need. To the greatest need that you have. If you're in darkness this morning, you don't have to stay there. If you're in darkness this morning, you can come to the light. Turn from your sin. Turn from living light for yourself. Deny yourself. Take up the cross. Take up light. Turn to Christ in trusting yourself in all things to him. Turn from the darkness. Turn to the light and follow him. Charles Wesley wrote this, long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night, thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke the dungeon, flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed thee. That's what it looks like to be a Christian. To come to the light, to follow him. To follow him means that we're attached to him. We're joined to the hip to him, so to speak. Walking diligently after him. It's an apprenticeship. It's what the word disciple means. We're not just a learner. We're a learning follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we learn from him, we take those lessons and we apply those lessons in our own lives to live for him more faithfully. It's like an apprenticeship. Many today treat it like a class lecture. That's not following the Lord. Just taking in information and that information not transforming your heart and transforming your life, it's not Christianity. That information is for transformation to change who you are. You join yourself to him. You join yourself to his cause. You join yourself to his words. You join yourself to his gospel commission. He becomes your bread of life. He becomes your water from the rock. He becomes the bright shining cloud that you follow by day and the fire that you follow by night. And you rise, as Wesley said, go forth and follow him. And so, as A.W. Pink says, just as if it were possible to follow the sun in its complete circuit, we should always be in broad daylight, so the one who is actually following Christ shall not walk in darkness. We're to be under that light, in that light constantly. In him was life, John says, and this life was the light of men. We were all once dead. We were all once blind to that light. Everyone in this room, blind to that light. Walking according to our flesh, walking in darkness, groping around, so to speak, looking for what we would call truth. It's usually what just gratifies our own sinful wills or sinful inclinations. We were blind until the Spirit of God came and imparted life to your hopeless soul. That life comes through Christ our Lord, through the gospel. And at once, when the gospel came, when the Lord came and sought you, at once our eyes are open, right? Divine light floods into your heart, floods into your soul. It's shed abroad in your hearts and you have the light of life, amen? You know that transforming work of the gospel if you're in Christ. There's been a work of grace in your heart. If you're a genuine Christian now, you walk in that light. Can a Christian fail to do that? From time to time, of course they can. And for a period of time, their sanctification comes to a screeching halt and they grieve the Spirit of God before a time, for a time. Walking in that light means repenting of sin, turning from sin and following Him. Acts 17-28 describes it this way. For in Him we live and we move and we have our being. Listen to this from Paul regarding light in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6. Paul says, 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 in the face of Jesus Christ. And we have this treasure, Paul describes here, in jars of clay, weak, fragile, breakable, so to speak, to show that the surpassing power of that light, the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ, belongs to God and not to us. Our strength is in the might of our own hand. The strength of our own arm. Our strength is in the Lord. Paul goes on to say because that power is in the Christian life by virtue of God's spirit within us. He goes on to say we're afflicted in every way, but we're not crushed, we're perplexed, but not driven to despair. We're persecuted, but we're not forsaken. We're struck down, but we're not destroyed. That describes the Christian life, doesn't it? Always carrying in us, in the body, in our bodies, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We carry His death in us as we pick up and take our cross and bear our cross, the instrument of our own execution. And we live for Him, dying to ourselves, denying ourselves and embracing the Lord Jesus Christ, living for Him. So that, verse 10, the life of Jesus, that perfect, glorious, holy, majestic, divine righteousness that is only attributable to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ alone may also be manifested or demonstrated shown in us. Why? For we who live are always given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Do you give yourself over to death that way for the Lord Jesus Christ? In what way have you died to yourself? Think about it. Have you taken time out of your schedule to go evangelizing with the gospel that will save someone's soul? Do you come regularly and faithfully to the preaching and teaching of God's Word? Do you go in the morning to that closet where you can pray to the Lord, study His Word? Do you die to self? Do you deny the indulgence of your flesh so that you can live for Him? So that the Lord Jesus Christ might be made manifest in you who don't walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, right? That's not mystical. That's not superstitious. You live by faith in Him. Trusting Him. When you live by faith in Him, you trust Him that His commandments are for your good and you live and obey His commandments. So you obey the Lord, relying on strength that the Spirit provides. You fight sin. You wage a holy warfare against the inclinations of your flesh. You prioritize the means of grace. You exercise yourself toward godliness. You fight 2 Timothy 2. You fight as a good soldier. Not entangling yourself in the affairs of this life. Does that reflect your life? You don't entangle yourself in the affairs of this life. You fight as a good soldier for the Lord Jesus Christ. You compete according to the rules, as Paul says, wanting to obtain the prize. You labor like a hard-working farmer. The word to follow Him, again, is used of a soldier following his commanding officer into battle or as a slave obeying his master. And you do all this with endurance, with perseverance. Faith in Him. Does that describe your life? Do you believe Him? Do you follow Him into the trenches? Examine yourself according to the light of God's Word. Do you have the light of a new nature? Do you have the light of a new heart? Are you a new man in Christ, a new woman in Christ? Do you deny yourself? Listen, if you don't, you are in darkness still. That's the definition of a Christian, the definition of one who follows Him. Do you believe Him? One day, those in darkness will be cast forever into outer darkness where they'll suffer the penalty for their sin. Cry out for mercy. If you cry out for mercy, God will hear you. If you're a Christian and you have the light, then walk in that light. Walk in that light. You can't essentially call yourself a Christian unless you are walking in that light. Walk in the light. Cry out for the Spirit's help and walk in faith. You can't do it on your own. Walk in faith. The Lord's statement here in John chapter 8 verse 12 is a beautiful, a glorious offer. It's a summary of the gospel, if you will. A life-transforming gospel. The power of God unto salvation to follow Him. And as much as we know exactly what the Lord meant here by I am the light of the world, the Pharisees knew exactly what He meant also. The Lord is on trial here with these hard-hearted Pharisees and He makes this glorious opening statement, I am the light of the world. In defense of this statement now, the Lord brings forth the great witness in verses 13 and 14, the great witness. In the presentation of this witness, we find that it's the Pharisees that have been tried and sentenced already. Point two on your notes, the great witness from verse 13. The Pharisees therefore said to him, you bear witness of yourself, your witness is not true. Jesus answered and said to them in verse 14, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I'm going, but you do not know where I come from and where I'm going. Verse 13 is the reaction of the Pharisees to the Lord's statement in verse 12. You see a therefore in verse 13, and you have to ask what it's there for, right? Ask what it's there for. Jesus Christ just made a staggering claim to deity, His claim to be God in the flesh, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. And upon that statement, therefore the Pharisees said to him, this is their reaction to His claim. You bear witness of yourself, your witness is not true. This is their reaction to His offer, His offer of grace and mercy. His statement here, don't let this be missed on you. His statement here would have astounded them. When the Lord said, I am the light of the world, can you imagine? I'm the light of the world. They would have staggered them. They just, wow, really? Who is this guy? Who does he think he is? They know from the Bible that Yahweh, Jehovah is God of light, is light. And you say this, this Jesus from Nazareth, you say this of yourself, but as astounding as that claim, certainly would have been in their ears, their reaction is astounding to us when you stop and think about it. You're just thinking and doing observations on the text. Their reaction is astounding in its own right. Look at their reaction in context as this confrontation continues. Remember the context. Remember where we're sitting now at this point in time. The Lord Jesus Christ has performed one miracle after another. Just a steady stream, and I'm not talking Benny Hinn-style miracles, or some false teacher fixing someone's, the length of someone's legs so they match up or giving them up, you know, healing their soreness in their back. I mean, these are profound miracles. A man has his withered hand restored, right? There's a paralytic lame from birth who is able to walk. The stories are all over the place about this time, about him raising the widow's son in name, raising her son from death. And he raises a man from the dead. The stories are all over about him healing the sick, giving sight to the blind. Listen, as he's walking, people are just reaching out and touching him and they're being healed, healed of infirmities. He's casting out demons, and the people are listening to them shriek as they come out. He is forgiving sins. He's preaching and teaching like no one ever, ever. And at the end of verse 26, it says, look at verse 26, and look at their reaction. He says at the end there, I speak to the world those things which I heard from him. Now, who is he speaking of here in verse 26? He's speaking of God the Father. I speak those things. He preached. He taught like no one else ever has because he spoke words from the Father, direct revelation from Almighty God through the Lord Jesus Christ here. I speak to the world those things which I heard from him. He's speaking of God. Verse 27, they did not understand that he spoke to them of the Father. Why did they not understand? Despite all that evidence, think about it, all that evidence, why didn't they understand? Because they walk in darkness. They're blinded. They are blinded to the evidence, blinded by their own hard-hearted pride. They're blinded by their self-righteousness. Their own hate. John says the light shown in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. They just don't get it. Now, where does this darkness lead? If we're looking at their reaction and how astounding their reaction is, drop down to verse 59. By the end of this conversation, they want to kill him. Verse 59 says, then they took up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hit himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by. Jesus miraculously departs the temple because his hour had not yet come. Now, in contrast to that, in contrast to the Pharisees and their staggering reaction, despite all of that evidence, unbelief, you can never get enough evidence. Right? If someone's stealing their unbelief, there's just not enough proof to convince them. All of these arguments weren't going to convince them either because of their hard-hearted unbelief. But here, look at the contrast in verse 28. Jesus said to them. He's talking. He's in the court of the women near the treasury, near those boxes where the temple tithes were given. Look at verse 28. Jesus said to them, when you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am and that I do nothing of myself. But as my Father taught me, I speak these things. He who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone for I always do those things that please Him. And what does it say there in verse 30? How did many in the temple that day respond to His words? As we're saying these things, many believed in Him. No miracles at this point in time. It is the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, right? The Word of God. You may be here today and you may begin this service as an unbeliever. And by the end of this service, you can walk out of here a believer. A child, do you believe that? A child of light. If you would but humble yourself and hear His words. There doesn't need to be any speaking in tongues. No miraculous healing, so to speak in here. Words of prophecy, which today are a bunch of nonsense. God's Word is enough. It's God's Word through the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that will give life to your wretched soul. However here, to go a little deeper, let's look at this profile of darkness in this example of the Pharisees. The Pharisees here walk in darkness. That's the why they reject it. It's the only thing that explains it. Simple, straightforward answer is that the Pharisees walk in darkness. They're steeled in their unbelief. They withdrew from the light. They shrank from it because they love the darkness rather than the light. Their deeds were evil. They wanted to extinguish the light. They withdrew from it. The Lord gives us here a profile of this unbelief beginning in verse 13. Let's take a look at this from this text. A profile of their darkness beginning in verse 13. The Pharisees here, number one, the first thing I want you to see are in darkness because of their own fallen reason. Their own fallen reason. They're in darkness because of the futility of their own thoughts. Romans 1 says the futility of their thinking, right? The futile thoughts. They're in ignorance. The Pharisees, therefore, said to him, I want you to see this in their reaction. The Pharisees, therefore, said to him, you bear witness of yourself. Your witness is not true. Now that, why? Why does that statement represent a darkened mind? Think about it. Why does that statement reflect futile human reasoning? One reason is because it entirely misses the point. It entirely misses the point. The Pharisees were talking about this yesterday. The Pharisees were masters at missing the point. They're majoring in the miners. They turn molehills into mountains. They turn mountains into molehills, right? They can't see the forest because they're staring at the knot hole on one tree. They miss the point altogether. Basically here, the Pharisees, I think about it for a moment, the Pharisees are throwing out the Lord's case. And it's a glorious case. They're throwing out his case on a technicality. And they miss the point. All of this tremendous evidence, and they're focused on a procedural point, on a point of procedure. It is exactly what they have been thinking and doing, focused on when the Lord has healed on the Sabbath. They miss the point. They throw out the Lord's case on a technicality. A lame man from birth, right? Lame from birth has been miraculously healed. He can walk. Lame from birth, having never walked, and this lame man jumps up and walks. I can picture him running around the temple grounds, jumping up and down, proclaiming the glories of God. I can walk. Look at him run. Look at him jump. The Pharisees are sitting there looking at him, right? Who is this? Who can perform such miracles? Certainly he's from God. They don't think that. They don't think that. They think to themselves, wait a minute. This isn't supposed to be done on a Saturday. We don't allow for this kind of thing on a Saturday. What are you talking about? The guy is jumping and running. It's a miracle. Who is this man who has performed such a miracle? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. He's not supposed to be carrying his mat around. That was their act. Can you see that stupidity of it all? That just a complete, they completely miss the point. Despite all the evidence presented to them, they are saying, Jesus could not claim any credibility for himself as the light of the world on the basis of his witness alone, right? In order for his witness to be valid, you're going to have to come along with two or three other witnesses in addition to his own. It's a procedural point. It's like, you know this guy is completely guilty and they let him off because of a technicality in the trial, right? They claim a mistrial and you have to murder or walk because of a technicality. Here, this is the greatest case ever made, the clearest case ever made of the Lord's deity, and yet they throw it out on a technicality. They say, therefore, your witness here, because you're bearing witness to yourself, your witness here isn't valid. It's when they say it's not true. That's what they mean. It's not valid here. It's not acceptable here. Meaning it's not true. If you look back a couple of pages at John chapter 5 verse 31, I want you to see this is not a contradiction of something that the Lord has already said. In John chapter 5 verse 31, the Lord says, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. Right? Do you see that? If you go back to John chapter 8, he says, even if I bear witness of myself in verse 14, my witness is true. Some might say, well, that looks like a contradiction in Scripture. Not if you look at the context, read your Bible. There are people who will argue that the Word of God is not the Word of God because of statements like this. In chapter 5 verse 31, he calls it. He tells them, after the healing of the lame man, the Lord Jesus Christ says to the Pharisees, look, if I testify of myself here, you guys aren't going to accept it. You're not going to accept it as valid or true because I bear witness of myself. He's calling them out, rebuking them in their technicality, you know, in their jurisprudence, so to speak. And he calls exactly, he says in chapter 5 verse 31, exactly what they're doing right here. It's a fulfillment of the teaching of the Lord in John chapter 5 verse 31, that now they're saying, yes, you're bearing witness to yourself, your witness isn't valid. You can't bear witness of yourself. And so we're astonished. Aren't you just astonished in thinking about it at their blindness, at the darkness of their hearts? You see a guy with a withered hand and the withered hand miraculously restored full. A man blind from birth and his eyesight restored. He's healed. Demons coming out, throwing people down, throwing people into the fire, tossing them around. The demon comes out shouting and it's like, would that not just stagger your mind? And yet these Pharisees, oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, can't do that on a Saturday. Can't do that around here. It's just, it's, the Pharisees are here and they're trying to block out the sun with their thumb. They can't be done. They're having to squint through all the light, right, squint. To keep from seeing it. Your claim isn't valid here. It's ridiculous. It's absurd. But yet listen now, and this is where the, where the truth of this comes in. We can all display this kind of heart, can't we? Every single one of us in here can display this kind of heart to one degree or another in a way that we respond to people. Sometimes in the way that we evangelize or the way that we think about biblical truth, we can get ourselves so worked up over some fine point of doctrine. And we can lead people astray and be divisive with that. Just all kinds of ways that we can display this very heart. We've got to be so, so careful. Jesus rebukes it in verse 14. Jesus answered and said to them, listen, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true. He is the great witness, the great I am. His witness is true for I know where I came from, the Lord said and where I'm going, but you don't know where I'm from. You don't know where I'm going. He basically says, listen, I don't have to submit myself to your ignorant technicality. My witness is evidently true. There's more evidence that you know what to do with. The source where I came from, the Lord is saying, is entirely supportive of my witness. I am the great witness. And here they don't know it. They're in hard-hearted, rebellious darkness. In Matthew chapter 13 verse 13, that's why the Lord Jesus Christ says, that's why I teach them in parables, so that seeing, they do not see. Hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand. They stand in darkness. They stand in the darkness of their own wicked human reasoning. They stand in the futility of their own thoughts. They stand completely and ignorantly miss the glory and wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ. Reveals a deep, profound depravity, darkness in the heart of man, doesn't it? That we can be guilty of such wicked, absurd treason. All people outside of Christ think this way to one degree or another. You might find somebody talking to someone. They're thinking to themselves, listen, I'm a thinking person. I don't need this Bible written by men. I'm smart. I believe in science. And they miss the point. What do you think of the Bible? Yeah, you ask them. What do you think of the Bible? There's so many contradictions. You know, 531 says my witness isn't true. 814 says my witness is true. You can't believe the Bible written by a bunch of men. Who did Cain marry, really? Right? People wear polyester and shellfish today. Why is that not wrong today? It was wrong in the Old Testament. See the excuses they make. That's just your interpretation, they say. They say all that and they've never read it. They don't read the Bible. They have no idea. It's so simple to answer those questions. But they don't want those questions answered. They want to remain willfully ignorant so that they can remain in their darkness because they love their evil deeds. Unbelief never has enough evidence. Words alone should have been enough to these Pharisees. They think they have a reasonable argument for their unbelief and they steal themselves in their unbelief. I heard one commentator make the distinction. I thought it was a good distinction too. Between that unbelief that generates ignorance and the unbelief that is the result of ignorance. I think about that for a moment. I think that's a good distinction. If your ignorance has arisen because of your sealed, hard-hearted unbelief, you're in trouble. You are just like these Pharisees. If you don't turn from that wickedness, you're going to go to hell. At least with that person whose unbelief has arisen out of their ignorance, you can inform them, can't you? You can give them the words of truth. You can speak truth to them. And maybe like Nicodemus, they're going to be reasonable to that truth, responsive to that truth. But if your hardened and sealed unbelief has led you into this darkened ignorance, like that depicted here by the Pharisees, then you're in real trouble. Let that not be said of anyone in this room. Be open to these claims of the Lord in the Bible. Many professing Christians today, many professing Christians do the same thing. And listen, their simple approach to the Lord with these things is enough to damn them to hell. Their approach is all wrong. Many professing Christians do the same thing. They think to themselves often, you know, I've got a good reason to move. I've got a good reason to move. And I have no consideration whatsoever for a church. I think about that. I can move. I've got a good reason to take that job. I've got a good reason to take that job. And yet no consideration given whatsoever for the fact that job, knowing what you know about it, will take you from the Lord. Take you from serving Him. Will take you from being connected to the body. I don't have to command to obey that command. I don't have to obey. Besides, we're all sinners. I'm a Christian. I don't have to obey that command. I don't want to. I don't like to. So I'm not going to. Many professing Christians do the same thing with the same heart. So first, we see they're given over to darkened human reasoning. Secondly, speaking of their approach to God in verse 13, their very tone in verse 13 is reprehensible. And so point two is they are in darkness where we're going to define that darkness because of their own pride and contempt. It's defined by their own pride and contempt. You can hear it, can't you? You bear witness of yourself. Your witness isn't true. You're the contempt in their words. How demeaning, right? How contemptuous, how disrespectful, how close-minded, how blasphemous. Jesus was continuously shutting them down, always shutting them down. Obviously something of God in the way that he spoke. The temple guards that came to arrest him, no one ever spoke like this man spoke. Yet here, they don't respond as many did in verse 30 who heard his words and believed. They don't respond even like Nicodemus did. Think about how different these Pharisees are from Nicodemus that we saw in John chapter 3. They demonstrate a determined hostility, a resolved contempt. It's their pride and contempt. Point three, the darkness in verse 15 is defined by judging according to the flesh. Look at John chapter 8 verse 15. Here, Jesus says, you judge according to the flesh, I judge no one. Verse 15, they're in darkness because they judge according to the flesh. In this sense, they are like Nicodemus. I want you to see that. They simply cannot see the glory of God behind the flesh of this carpenter from Nazareth. They just can't see the glory of God behind him. They don't know where he is physically from because they refuse to check. They won't even go to the temple records and check. And they don't know where he is ultimately from because they simply will not listen to him. They refuse to hear. So they can't see the spiritual truth behind the physical words. It's the same problem that Nicodemus had when Nicodemus judged according to the flesh and not according to the spirit. Look back quickly at John chapter 3. Just a couple of pages to the left. John chapter 3 and verse 3. Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he has the work of regeneration by God, by God's spirit in the heart, bringing him back from dead to life, to life, from death to life. He's been born again. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh. So you don't understand the things of the spirit because they are spiritually discerned. Those things are of the flesh. We only think according to the flesh. Do not marvel, verse 7, that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes. You hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from, where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. Nicodemus answered and said to him, how can these things be? You just can't grasp it, right? Because these are spiritual truths and they're spiritually discerned. Jesus answered and said to him, are you the teacher of Israel and don't know these things? Most assuredly I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen and you do not receive our witness. If I have told you earthly things you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? If I can John chapter 8, just can't get it. People outside of Christ are determined, resolved, to shut out God's revelation, to shut out the light. Okay? So they don't even consider to themselves or they attempt to suppress that truth and unrighteousness that there's even a spiritual realm to contend with at all. They remove the supernatural. They pull all the miracles out. They look for scientific answers to everything. They just blot out the revelation of God. And that's the whole premise of this book. There is a spiritual realm, so to speak, that we must contend with. God is overall, sovereign overall. Martin Lloyd-Jones says they don't imagine that there is another realm to consider. I can't help but turn to a beautiful illustration of this quickly in 2 Kings. Turn with me to 2 Kings. Why don't you look at 2 Kings chapter 6? Just a beautiful illustration of this from the Old Testament, an Old Testament story. And I love Old Testament accounts. Much that we can learn from them. 2 Kings chapter 6, and look beginning at verse 8. And here we have an account of the Syrians who were about to lay siege to Israel, attack Israel. Listen to the account beginning in verse 8. The king of Syria was making war against Israel, and he consulted with his servant saying, my camp will be in such and such a place, and the man of God, talking about Elisha here, sent to the king of Israel saying, beware that you do not pass this place for the Syrians are coming down there. Here's sort of the context. Now, the king of Syria, Ben-Hadad, making war against Israel, he says, I'm going to go down there, and I'm going to camp at this place, and every time he says that, the man of God, Elisha, goes and warns the people of that place. They look out, warns the king of Israel, the Syrians are coming, and so it's stripping gears in the king of Syria's head. How is this happening? How is every time I go to lay siege to some city in Israel, in this case it's going to be Dothan, how is it that they know I'm coming before I come? He says in verse 10, the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him, and thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice. Verse 11, therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? He's thinking to himself, certainly, there's someone in our own camp who's a traitor, and every time I say, this is where we're going, that traitor runs off and tells the Israelites. He's thinking there's someone in their own camp, right? And one of his servants said, verse 12, none, my Lord, O King, but Elisha, the prophet, who is in Israel, he tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom. Awesome, right? That's God speaking to Elisha, and Elisha is giving away all of his secrets, right? Now look at verse 13. So he said, you know, the king of Syria told them, go and see where he is, that I may send and get him. And it was told him, saying, surely he is in Dothan. Now therefore, verse 14, he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and they surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots, and his servant said to Elisha, Alas, my master, what shall we do? Now look at this servant of Elisha, right? Fearful, worried, anxious, not a lot of faith. No, no faith. But the man of God, Elisha, has great faith. He understands that behind all of this is God, the Lord of hosts, right? God Almighty, the Lord of the armies, the Lord Savioth, who has all the armies at his disposal. And so Elisha's not fearing. He's not going to shake his faith when Iota here. He said, he answered in verse 16, don't fear those who are with us, don't fear for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray open his eyes that he may see this other realm, right? This other reality, this other truth. Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And so when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, strike this people, I pray, with blindness. The judgment of God fell, and he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. Verse 19, Elisha said to them, this is not the way, so now Elisha is going to lead these blind Syrians. You know, if you're in darkness and you're blind, you can be led to destruction. You can be led to judgment. And one day you will. You'll be led by the hand, so to speak, to judgment at the hand of a 30-foot angel that will cast you into outer darkness for all eternity. You can be led to destruction. Here, look at the mercy of God. So it was when they'd come to Samaria. And Samaria at this time was the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. So it was their capital city, the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He came to Samaria. Elisha prayed, Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see and the Lord opened their eyes and they saw that they were inside Samaria, inside the country of Israel, surrounded, so to speak, cut off no hope. And so king of Israel got excited. Their enemy is in Samaria in the capital city here. And so the king of Israel, when he saw them, verse 21, said to Elisha, my father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them? Verse 22, but he answered, you shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set food and water before them. Look at the mercy of God. Set food and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master. Back then, when you had table fellowship, like that, so to speak, it was essentially a covenant of peace. And so here, when the Israelites could have killed them, they didn't. This is the mercy of God. Back in John, chapter 8, there's another reality, another realm that people want to blot out of their minds and stay in their darkness. The Pharisees in John, chapter 8, their unbelief steeled them in their willful ignorance of spiritual truth. And all they could do is judge according to their wicked flesh. You have to understand, you'll never, never, never be saved with that heart. Heart has to change. Heart has to change. Jesus says, you must become as a little child. You must become as a little child. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 21, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. By the way, when Jesus mentions in verse 15 that I judge no one, he's saying, when the Lord says I judge no one, he's saying, I don't judge the way you do. I don't judge the way these Pharisees are judging. I don't judge according to the flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ judges according to the heart. That's right, to the heart. Remember also that Jesus said, I didn't come into the world to judge the world, but all the world through him might be saved. So three, they are in darkness because they judge according to the flesh. Fourth, they're in darkness because that judgment according to the flesh is made preeminent, made supreme. They place their own foolish, futile thinking above the Word of God. They place their own judgments, their own opinions, their own heart, their own inclinations. They place that judgment above the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ or above the judgment of His Word. Their fallen minds become the final arbiter of truth. Their fallen minds become the final court of appeals, so to speak. And all is decided and all is rejected based on the authority of their own fallen human minds, their own ignorant hearts. Even that, think about the foolishness of that, that even that which pertains to the eternal, self-existent, almighty, creating God of the universe. They stand as judge and arbiter over him. Here they stand as judge and arbiter. They've placed themselves in judgment on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what I think. This is what I believe. Here are my thoughts and my thoughts are the final determiner of truth. They judge according to the flesh and they walk in darkness. Remember witnessing to a guy out at the campus, UCF. And I was talking to him. He said, listen, we can talk, but this whole Christianity thing, I don't believe it. And I said, well, tell me where that comes from. Why have you just cast aside 4,000 years of biblical history, 2,000 years of New Testament history, hundreds and hundreds of years of scholarly scholarship on the word of God? Why do you just, almost without a word, just cast all that aside? He said, because I can't believe that one person would die for another. So, damn yourself to hell on your opinion that one person wouldn't die for another. When the Lord clearly says in His word, praise God, that one man did die for the sins of many. They judge according to the flesh. So we see a profile here of their darkness. They're in darkness because of their fallen reason. They're in darkness because of their pride and contempt. They're in darkness because they judge according to the flesh. And they're in darkness because that judgment overrides or overrules all others. So back in our trial, John chapter 8 verse 12, Lord has made His glorious opening statement. He's brought forth a great witness, which is Christ Himself. And now to make His airtight case again, He brings forth 0.3 on their notes, the righteous judge. The righteous judge in verse 16. Yet if I do judge, the Lord says, my judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. Is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am the one who bears witness of myself and the Father who sent me bears witness of me. Christ is the great witness. Christ here is also the righteous judge. He says basically, in your law, it's written that the testimony of two or three witnesses is true and valid. And so Jesus says basically here, bear witness of myself, that's one. And the Father who sent me bears witness of me, that's two. So by the very principles of their own law and by their application of it, these Pharisees are condemned. Notice how Jesus says here, your law. He says your law and not the law because they've corrupted the law. Now it's something else. Because of all their traditions, because of their perversion of it, they've corrupted the law, it's become your law. So Jesus says, fine, listen, fine. I'll show you that even by your own standards, my testimony is true. And you guys are a bunch of hypocrites, right? That's what he's saying to them here. Even by their own testimony, their own principles, his testimony should be valid. So how does God the Father then hear, beginning in verse 16, how is it that God the Father bears witness of the Son? First Moses, there are many ways that God the Father bears witness of the Son. But Moses, Jesus said if he believed Moses, he would believe me. That's right. Moses bears witness of the Son. The prophets bear witness of the Son. His Word bears witness of him. John the Baptist bears witness of him. You hear God the Father's voice at his baptism, bearing witness of Jesus the Son. His miracles bear witness of him. The Lord's point here, in verses 16 to 18, despite all this evidence, is to condemn them. It's to judge them. And his judgment is righteous. His judgment is true. They've allotted for themselves enough rope here to hang themselves. They've been that stubborn. And the testimony of the Lord, testimony of God the Father, that testimony carries with it an obligation to believe. These Pharisees reject it. 1 John chapter 5 verse 9 says this, If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony of God that he is born concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony in himself, the Bible says, right? Those who desire to do his will know the words that he's spoken are from God. That's what the Lord said, right? They have this testimony in themselves. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar. That's right. There's no middle ground here. You're either a God server, a God follower, one who loves the Lord, or you're a God hater. You make him a liar. They make God a liar because they've not believed in the testimony that God is born concerning his Son. Verse 11 says this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. So whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. How do we know that he condemns them here? It's because we see point four on your notes. We see the tragic verdict in verses 19 and 20. The verdict. They said to him in verse 19, where's your father? Listen, Jesus, if your father is going to be your witness, then bring him out. That's what they're saying. I mean, how blasphemous, how contemptuous, how disrespectful the meaning. The Lord is speaking of God the Father and the Pharisees. Listen, if God the Father is going to be your witness, then bring him out. Show him to it. That's so wicked, so hard-hearted. And look at how the light has revealed the hidden things of darkness. As the Lord walks through this confrontation, you can see the darkness of their hearts, can't you? They were incensed with him, burning with anger as he said these words. If it was possible, they would have killed him on the spot. But what does it say in verse 20? So, our had not yet come. No one laid a hand on him. They couldn't lay a hand on him. Just shows over and over and over again, writing in John's Gospel, that even wicked men are unable to carry out their wicked plots unless God allows them to. Now, come a point here, just six months from this time where God will allow them to. God is sovereign overall. You know, that doesn't only point out that God is sovereign overall, but it also points out, if you think about it now, that the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life voluntarily. He's not going to be taken against his will. It's when his will has decreed that he should be taken, the Lord has taken. So, the Lord Jesus Christ lays down his life voluntarily. And not only, not only are they unable to take him before his time, they're unable to stop him when his time comes. They couldn't stop him. When he took the punishment, you and I rightly deserve. Satan couldn't stop him. They couldn't stop him when he's satisfied perfectly the wrath of God on your behalf, on my behalf. The forces of darkness couldn't stop him when a veil was torn from top to bottom. They could not keep the stone in front of the tomb. Forces of darkness couldn't stop him from rising victoriously from the grave. Death could not hold him. Could not be stopped. They couldn't stop him when he ascended to his father. And even now, sits at his right hand making intercession for his saints. Forces of darkness today cannot stop the spread of the gospel. Forces of darkness today cannot snuff out the light of his word. All of the forces of evil, the forces of darkness arrayed against the church cannot snuff out the light of the church. And when Jesus returns to execute judgment, they won't be stopping that either. He comes as Jude says to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds. The wicked will not turn back his hand. Everything here, everything here hinges on a decision, a judgment if you will, for or against the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything is at stake. Are you like these men, these Pharisees? Are you like them in any way? Is there any way in which you see some of that heart in you, some of that darkness in you? Do you see in yourself any hint of their rebellion, any hint of their hard-hearted unbelief? Lord stands before you now in his word with the nail scars in his hands, the scar in his side, and he says to you, I have the light of the world. If you follow me, you'll not walk in darkness any longer. You'll have the light of life. John 12, verse 36, Jesus says, while you have the light, believe the light that you may become sons of light. What's a glorious offer, right? While you have the light, it's not always going to be there. Believe that light that you may become sons of light. At death, if you do that at death, when many in this world will open their eyes to outer darkness, your eyes will be open to the glory and light of heaven. Praise God. Turn from your sin. Believe on him now. Trust him alone. Follow him. Don't walk in darkness. Don't do it. The power of the spirit, walk in light, and you will have the light of life. Let's pray for a few moments. Just silently, just ask the Lord to bless your heart with his word this morning. Let's pray.