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!
Spiritual darkness represents sin and the sin nature that is inherent within humanity! Jesus was speaking about sin in this passage… the sin that separates us from God!
Just as the earth comes between the sun and our homes and causes a great darkness to fall upon us… so does sin come between us and the SON… us and our Creator… and causes a great darkness to come upon us.
Now you may say that the darkness of night passes and the sun rises in the morning and that is true of the physical world…this is how God created things! But in the spiritual world, the darkness comes and does not leave… when we are plunged into spiritual darkness there is no hope of ever seeing the light… there is no sunrise to look forward to… only the darkness that envelopes our soul.
But Jesus speaks plainly here about that spiritual darkness… He says, very clearly, and very boldly… “…I have come into the world as light…” this statement declares to those around Him that He is claiming to be the answer for the spiritual darkness!
Basically what we hear in this passage is Jesus telling those around Him, as well as Jesus telling ALL throughout history, “I have come to those in darkness to give them light, so that they may walk IN the light!”
Jesus very clearly proclaims a definitive and straight forward message in this verse by telling all around Him that He has come to deliver us from our spiritual darkness… “I am the solution to your problem…” is what Jesus is saying!
Now there are many in this world who will tell you that they don’t have a problem… that they are NOT in darkness… that they are clear about their lives and the direction they are headed. They seem to have it all figured out! Do you know anyone like that? I have met several…
The problem with that is that we are finite creatures… we have limits to both our knowledge and understanding. On top of that, humans are very focused on themselves… determining all they do and say upon how it affects themselves first and then MAYBE others.
It is because of this ‘nature’ of selfish focus, that we are separated from God… In the Garden Adam and Eve desired a moment of pleasure from partaking of the forbidden tree… they thought they knew what they were doing and where they were going!
They thought their actions would make them just like God… they thought they were headed for easy street and freedom as a God… but the reality of the matter was FAR different that what they had thought!
The same goes for us today. We THINK we have it all figured out and that we can seek after anything we desire… that we can be the rulers of our own destiny… but the reality of it is that we are NOT and CANNOT be the rulers of our destiny!
Because we are finite being and will surrender to death one day… death holds a firm grip on shutting us down and controlling us! Because of death, we are NOT in control!
Because of death and sin… spiritually we walk like people walking in physical darkness, thinking we KNOW what is there and where to go, but not really sure and running into a lot of things that hurt us, distract us, and can lead us in the wrong direction…
However, Jesus has seen the problem [darkness] and He has told us of the solution [Light… Him!] and has offered that solution to any who will surrender to Him!
Without Jesus we are walking in a spiritual darkness out of which we will NEVER be able to escape! We are lost in the darkness of sin… hopeless and helpless, but Jesus has come! Jesus has come to bring us light! Jesus can and will GIVE that light to you today!
Preacher… I know your Jesus…I’ve seen His followers… I have been to His ‘church’… Jesus is NOT a light to the world; He is a judgmental and critical person… All He does is judge me… and all YOU want to do preacher is judge me!
Some of you here today may think that assessment of the church is somewhat unfair and critical… but that is what the world thinks about the church today! Most of the world sees Christianity as a judgmental and critical group who looks down on the world and can only see the wrong!
But what I am here to tell you today is that Jesus is NOT that man… Jesus is NOT that sort of God… look what Jesus says in the very next verse!
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.
Jesus is very clear here in this passage as well as the verse before it… He speaks the truth… He preaches the truth… and for those who hear His words, but rejects them… Jesus does NOT judge them!
The world sees Jesus as this cosmic judge that is sitting on His bench waiting to crush whomever slips up in the least… The world thinks that Jesus requires perfection…and if we are not perfect that Jesus is there to administer Godly justice and discipline.
But here is the reality of the matter… Jesus is NOT what the world says He is… He has not come to the world as a judge, this is the world’s view! Jesus came for entirely different reasons…
But first and foremost, Jesus tells His disciples AND those who listen to Him that He has come to be our Savior! Jesus, who in the form of God, did not consider that to be something to keep Him from coming to us…
Jesus stepped outside His glory as God, wrapped Himself in flesh and assumed a life of a normal, everyday person. Born of humble beginnings and raised in a typical normal life…
But Jesus came for a purpose… He came out of His love for us… He stepped out of glory and into the humility of humanness for a reason, and that is so we would be able to escape the darkness! Jesus came not to judge or condemn us, but Jesus came to bring life, forgiveness and most of all, salvation! Jesus came to save!
Here Jesus wanted those around to know that even if they don’t accept His words right now… He is not going to judge them at this time… He is going to be patient, and loving, and offer salvation to them when they do accept Him.
Some take this verse to mean that Jesus will NEVER judge those who reject Him as Messiah… to those who reject Him as Savior… but that is not the context of this passage. The context is not focused on those who reject… but on the fact that Jesus came to save!
Jesus came to save and it is because of God’s unmerited favor we can know salvation… It is because of God’s grace that we can walk as we should walk. God’s grace goes far beyond YOUR sin… goes far beyond whatever separates us from God!
Peter knew and experienced this grace first hand… Do you remember the story about Peter denying Jesus? He had bragged about how faithful he was going to be and when it came down to it… Peter wilted under the pressure! Peter denied Jesus…and Jesus looked directly at Him… Peter was devastated… so much so that he went fishing to get his mind off things!
I want to show you a video clip about what happened after that…[show Grace video here…]
Now that is grace… Grace is God seeing exactly what we have done… where we have sinned… and then forgiving us even though we do NOT deserve it! In our passage today Jesus reveals that grace in that he says He has not come to judge but to save us… He has not come to condemn us to the darkness, but to deliver us into the light!
Today as you sit in your seat, I want you to know that Jesus is NOT sitting in judgment of you, but He wants to show His love FOR you by redeeming you, forgiving you and saving you!
Don’t you want to experience His grace today? I want to challenge you this morning to step out and come to this altar to receive God’s unmerited favor of forgiveness and salvation! Come as we begin to sing…
