Light of the World, John 3:16-21
Introduction
The famed Congregational Preacher, Dwight L. Moody, once said, “The great trouble is that people take everything in general, and do not take it to themselves. Suppose a man should say to me, ‘Moody, there was a man in Europe who died last week, and left five million dollars to a certain individual.’ ‘Well,’ I say, ‘I don’t doubt that; it’s rather a common thing to happen,’ and I don’t think anything more about it. But suppose he says, ‘But he left the money to you.’ Then I pay attention; I say, ‘To me?’ ‘Yes, he left it to you.’ I become suddenly interested. I want to know all about it. So we are apt to think Christ died for sinners; He died for everybody and for nobody in particular. But when the truth comes to me that eternal life is mine, and all the glories of heaven are mine, I begin to be interested. I say, ‘Where is the chapter and verse where it says I can be saved?’ If I put myself among sinners, I take the place of the sinner, then that salvation is mine and I am sure of it for time and eternity.”
Transition
To whom did God give such a rich inheritance as that of His own son? For whom did Christ come into the world to save? It is for you and for me!
As I enter the Scripture this morning, it is to the aim of expounding the nature of the light which has been shed in Christ. Most specifically, my enterprise, here today, is that upon expositing the Word of God as it is found in the Gospel of John 3:16-21, we will all walk from this place more full in the knowledge that it is not for someone far away, not for some person somewhere that Christ came, but that it is most specifically to illuminate our darkened souls, that the light came.
Salvation is not a universal principal or a good idea. Salvation in Christ Jesus is to be an experiential reality. In other words, Salvation in Christ is not something we know about but it is something live in. It is not like a trinket which adorns our neck which can easily remove or lose; salvation is the spirit of God intertwined with our spirit like two strands of very strong rope.
Colossians 2:6-9 says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (NIV)
Exposition
Now then, Salvation is something we live in because the Scripture tells us that we are in Christ. Living in Christ is an essential part of the Christian life. Indeed, it is the primary thing which motivates all Christian belief and activity.
Just as a man who longs to sail on the sea must first learn the meaning of the riggings, moorings, and sail, so too, a person longing to live a life worthy of the Gospel to which they are called, must come to discover what the Scriptures tells us in regard to life in Christ; life illuminated by the light of the world; the light of the entire world and the light of the world of our individual souls.
Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (NIV) – Salvation is in Christ.
Romans 12:5 says, “So in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (NIV) – Unity is in Christ.
I Corinthians 1:30 says, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (NIV) – Righteousness, holiness, and redemption are found in Christ and as we are brought into the body of Christ through faith, our souls are illuminated with the light of His righteousness, His holiness, and His redemption.
We become one with Christ and all that we are resides in Him and all that He is resides in us. Being in Christ is a matter of being in completion submission to Christ for his sake, even as He was in perfect submission to the Father for our sake.
To be found is a permanent situation because being found in Christ involves not merely a temporary decision but a permanent change of address; a change of status from sinner to saint, a change not only in the nature of relation with God but also a change in the very nature of our nature.
A college man walked into a photography studio with a picture of his girlfriend. He wanted the picture duplicated and enlarged for a frame in his dorm room. The owner of the store noticed the inscription on the back of the picture, it said, “My dearest Tom, I love you with all my heart, I love you more & more each day that we are together, and I will love you forever & ever. I am yours for all eternity.” It was signed “Diane,” and it contained a P.S.: “If we ever break up, I want this picture back.” Dear Saints of God, when Christ calls us & we follow Him, there’s no “PS” with Christ. We are His & He is ours!
The Light of the World – Christ – has not come into the world merely to bring a little light, to add a little illumination to the light which is already present; The Light of the World – Jesus Christ – has come to put all things into a completely new light; to offer a radically different and altered perspective than that which was previously available to humanity.
The Light of Christ is the light of truth, of the unfolding revelation of God’s sovereign plans and purposes in this world; the Light of Christ is not a restatement of formerly understand things; it is thoroughly different from that dim and fading light which had been known in the world before His coming.
Speaking of the Messianic age to come, in Isaiah 48:6, the prophet writes, “You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? ‘From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.” (NIV)
This morning, though, I want not so much to encourage as to the uniqueness of the Light of Christ, though that is certainly true. This morning, I submit to you that the most blessed aspect of the newness of the Light which Christ brings, is that the light is not only for the world in a general sense, but that it is for you and for me personally. The light of Christ which has come to the world has come to us.
We live in the light, we are illuminated by the light, we are warmed by the light, the darkness of the terrible injustice that we see rampant in the world around us, fades amidst the overwhelming plentiful richness of the light of Christ!
For who has Christ came? For whom has God given the precious gift of His Son? Christ has come for all, for the entire world. Romans 5:15 says, “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” (NIV)
The gift of Christ was given to the many and by necessity you and I are part of the many. The masses are comprised not of masses but of great collections of individuals. To say that Christ came to pay the penalty for the sins of the world is, very much by necessity, to say that Christ came to pay the penalty for my sin and for your sin, and for my neighbor’s sin, and for the sins of all men.
To be sure that is not to say that the sins of the entire world were forgiven in Christ. The blood of Christ is sufficient for all of the sins of the entire world but it is only efficient for those who enter in to the all; by faith alone in Christ alone.
After a mission service, the preacher of the evening was hurrying away to a late train. He had just three minutes to catch it when he saw a man running after him. “Oh, sir,” he said breathlessly as he came up, “can you help me? I am very anxious about my salvation.” “Well,” replied the preacher, “my train is just here, and it is the last one; but look up Isaiah 53:6. Go in at the first ‘all’ and go out at the last ‘all.’ Good night.” The man stood staring after him until he had disappeared into the station and then he muttered, “Go in at the first ‘all’ and go out at the last ‘all.’ What does he mean?” When he arrived home he took down his Bible and turning to Isaiah 53:6 read these words, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” “Go in at the first ‘all,’ ” he repeated. “ ‘All we like sheep have gone astray.’ I am to go in with that ‘all.’ Yes, I see. It just means that I am one of those who have gone astray. And go out with the last ‘all.’ ‘The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ I see. Yes, I am to go out free with those whose iniquity has been laid on Christ.” At last he realized his individual lost condition and his individual redemption. This is actually the message of John 1:9. The eternal Light of Christ illumines the individual who responds affirmatively. “Go in at the first ‘all’ and go out at the last ‘all.’”
Conclusion
It is easy, isn’t it, to lose sight of the individual nature of salvation. It is not difficult to lose sight of the experiential reality of the Gospel. It is altogether natural, especially after following after Christ for a time, to go through periods in our faith journey where the light of Christ seems dull in this little corner of the world we call our individual experience.
The Light of the World came to illuminate not only a darkened world generally though, the Light of Christ is shed abroad in our very hearts; our very souls are warmed by its precious light.
Christ came to provide for us the means of salvation which we had no means of providing in our own strength, good works, or power. Christ came to illuminate our lives with the light of truth; not the heavy burden of good works or the dark dreary dismal drudgery of compulsion to the law.
Just as the burden of sin has been lifted in Christ, so too, the weight of its consequence has been freed from our shoulders. It was our Cross that Christ bore on Calvary’s hill. It was our sin that He took upon himself. The light of Christ has freed us. Halleluiah, the light of Christ has set us free!
In his classic work, “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” John Bunyan wrote, “So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.
Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, “He hath given me rest by his sorrow and life by his death.” Then he stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden.”
Fellow pilgrims on life’s journey, this is the personal invitation which we have received from the throne of God. Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (NIV)
Today, let us open our eyes to the light of Christ shining into our hearts even as it shines into the world. Let us go forth from this place having been freed from the burden of sin; freed from carrying our Cross to placing our trust in the great gift of God – the Light of the World – Jesus Christ who took our place, bore our burden, and today offers us the light of eternal salvation!
Amen.
