"I Have Come!" Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: April 21, 2011

Date Preached: April 24, 2011

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Series Title: Falling in Love With Jesus

Sermon Title: Jesus – Come to Save

Sermon Text: John 12:46-47 [ESV]

John 11:38-44

46I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

I have come

As a light (solution)

Into the darkness (problem)

Not as a judge (world’s view)

But as a Savior (God’s view)

46I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

I have come… words the echo the resolute nature of Jesus and His mission! I being the description of God’s presence in this world. John 1 reveals to us that this man Jesus, was God wrapped in flesh! The ‘I’ from Jesus represents God Himself…God has come!

The angel told Joseph that he and Mary a son was on its way that that son would be the fulfillment of the OT prophecy of Isaiah where Isaiah said, ‘"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" which means “God with us!”

Jesus said, “I have come…” which is also a defined and definite action on the part of God to interact with His creation! I ‘have’… have being the auxiliary or ‘helping’ verb that shows or expresses the action of the subject…

In this case the subject being Jesus… using the first person pronoun “I”… Jesus is revealing and expressing an action He has accomplished, “I have…” What action is this? Jesus says, “I have come…”

This is a definitive statement by Jesus about Himself and His mission… He is pronouncing to the world that He who is God wrapped in flesh has come to this world… on a mission! I have come… an event that happened at one time but carries with it a lasting and eternal significance for the world.

Jesus has come into this world… wrapped in flesh as a baby born into humble surroundings and raised by a humble, blue collar, NON-privileged working family! Jesus came into this world in a humble fashion, even though He deserved and could have demanded so much more!

Jesus says here in John 12, “I have come…” but just what was Jesus saying when He states this very bold and definitive statement? Well… Jesus details that mission very clearly, as He says, “I have come into the world…” which reveals His clearly defined destination… Jesus came into this world ON PURPOSE… FOR A PURPOSE!

I have come to this world… to bring light! I bring the light of the Father…the light of Heaven… the light of Creation… the light of eternal life… the light of redemption and salvation! Jesus came to bring light to a world soaked and steeping in darkness!

But what darkness was Jesus speaking about? Now we know what light is…and we know what darkness is… Darkness is nothingness… the total absence of light! But just what is this ‘darkness’ that Jesus is speaking about… is He speaking about the literal darkness that we experience when the sun goes down or when we are shut out of the sun’s rays?

Well, let’s look at it from that perspective for a moment… to help us get our bearings on the subject. When you try to walk thru your house in the dark, you cannot see all that is there. You think you know what is there… you think you know where everything is, but in reality you are only guessing…

It is only when we turn on the light can we see to navigate safely throughout our house. Yes, we can probably make our way, but the way is fraught with hazards and pitfalls… the light clears away any problems for us to reach the part of the house we want to reach.

But when we look at what Jesus says here, I believe we all come to the conclusion that literal or physical darkness is NOT what Jesus is speaking about when He says, “…so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness…”

No… Jesus is speaking about spiritual matters here and the darkness He is referring to here is a word picture for your mind to help you to “see” and understand what He is talking about… a word picture is what we call a metaphor! Jesus taught with metaphor on many occasions… this was one of His favorite methods of relating a point to the people.

Here Jesus speaks of darkness, and He is speaking of ‘spiritual darkness’… Spiritual darkness represents the absence of the light of God… or a separation from God!