Steve Brown talked about a man who asked a mail-order company to send plans for a birdhouse. Instead of sending him the plans for a birdhouse, they sent him plans for a sailboat. He tried to put it together, but it just wouldn't work. He couldn't figure what kind of bird was going to live in this dumb birdhouse. So he wrote a letter and sent the parts back to the company. They wrote a letter of apology and added this postscript: “If you think it was difficult for you, you should have seen the man who got your plans trying to sail a birdhouse.”
Steve Brown comments: “A lot of people are trying to operate on the plans of Christ when they aren't even Christians. So a word of caution: make sure you know Him before you apply the principles” (Steve Brown, “Forgiven and Forgotten,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 139; www. PreachingToday.com).
If you want your life to work, you have to know Jesus. So who is this Jesus? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John 8, John 8, where Jesus tells us who He is.
John 8:12 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” (ESV).
Jesus makes it very clear.
HE IS LIGHT.
He is the light of the World. He is the light which gives life.
At the end of his seven-volume history of the expansion of Christianity, Kenneth Latourette's says this of Jesus:
“No life ever lived on this planet has been so influential in the affairs of men as that of Christ. From that brief life and its apparent frustration has flowed a more powerful force for the triumphal waging of man's long battle than any other ever known by the human race.
“Through it, millions of people have had their inner conflicts resolved. Through it, hundreds of millions have been lifted from illiteracy and ignorance and have been placed upon the road of growing intellectual freedom and control over the physical environment. It has done more to allay the physical ills of disease and famine than any other impulse, and it has emancipated millions from chattel slavery and millions of others from thralldom to vice. It has protected tens of millions from exploitation by their fellows, and it has been the most fruitful source of movements to lessen the horrors of war and to put the relations of men and nations on the basis of justice and peace” (John Stott, “Christians: Salt and Light,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 109; www.PreachingToday.com).
Jesus is indeed the Light of the World, which brings life!
Historian Leonard Griffith, in his history of France under Napoleon, writes about a political prisoner by the name of Charnet. French authorities threw Charnet into prison simply because he had accidentally, by a remark, offended the emperor, Napoleon. They cast him into a dungeon cell and left him to die. As the days and weeks and months passed by, Charnet became embittered at his fate. Slowly but surely, he began to lose his faith in God. And one day, in a moment of anger, he scratched on the wall of his cell, “All things come by chance,” which reflected the injustice that had come his way by chance. He sat in the darkness of that cell growing more bitter by the day.
However, there was one spot in the cell where a single ray of sunlight came every day and remained for a little while. Then one morning, to Charnet’s absolute amazement, he noticed that in the hard, earthen floor of that cell a tiny, green blade was breaking through. It was something living, struggling up toward that shaft of sunlight. It was his only living companion, and his heart went out in joy toward it. He nurtured it with his tiny ration of water, cultivated it, and encouraged its growth. That green blade became his friend. It became his teacher in a sense, and finally it burst through until one day there bloomed from the little plant a beautiful, purple and white flower. Once again Charnet found himself thinking thoughts about God. He scratched off the thing he had scribbled on the wall of his dungeon and in its place wrote, “He who made all things is God.”
Somehow through the guards and their wives and the gossip of the community, this little story reached the ears of Josephine, Napoleon's wife. The story moved her and convinced her that a man who loved a flower that way could not possibly be a dangerous criminal. So she persuaded Napoleon to release him, which he did (David A. Seamands, “Instruction for Thanksgiving,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 62; www.Preaching Today.com).
Please, no matter how dark your world, let the light of Jesus shine through. Let it bring light and life to the barrenness of your life and set you free from the bitterness in your own heart. Please, don’t be like the Pharisees, who rejected the light.
John 8:13-20 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are 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, 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. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people 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.” 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 (ESV).
The chief priests and Pharisees had already ordered his arrest (7:32), because they rejected the light He offered them. As a result, their judgment was superficial, and they did not know God.
Plato once said, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark: the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light” (Plato, Leadership, Vol. 1, no. 2; www.PreachingToday. com).
That was the Pharisees. They feared the light, because they feared losing control. Please, don’t be like them.
Instead, since Jesus is the light, trust Him to guide you. Depend on Him to show you the way.
When Jesus claimed to be the light of the world, he was in an area of the temple (John 8:20), where two colossal, golden lampstands stood. A multitude of lamps hung on those lampstands. The priests lit them after the evening sacrifice, and their light spread all over the city (Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown).
They reminded worshippers of the pillar of fire, which guided God’s people during their wilderness wanderings. And that pillar of fire was the Shekinah Glory, an image of God Himself! So I see Jesus pointing to those large candlesticks, saying, “I am that Light. I am the Shekinah Glory, the one who can guide you through your wilderness experiences.
One weekend, author Paul Tripp gave his teenage son permission to spend the weekend at a friend's house. But during the weekend Paul received a call from the friend's mother, informing him that Paul's son was not at her home (Her son had felt guilty about covering for Paul's son and confessed to his mom). After Paul told his wife about their son's deception, Paul said, “Luella could feel my anger, and she said, ‘I think you need to pray.’ I said, ‘I don't think I can pray for him right now.’ She said, ‘I didn't mean for you to pray for him; I think you need to pray for you.’”
Paul writes:
I went to my bedroom to pray for God's help, and it hit me that, because of his love, God had already begun a work of rescue in my son's life. God was the one who pressed in on the conscience of my son's friend, causing him to confess to his mom. God was the one who gave her the courage to make that difficult call to me. And God was the one giving me time to get a hold of myself before my son came home. Now, rather than wanting to rip into my son, I wanted to be part of what this God of grace was doing in this moment of rebellion, deception, hurt, and disappointment.
After giving his son a couple of hours to relax upon his return, Paul asked him if they could talk.
“Do you ever think about how much God loves you?” Paul asked his son.
“Sometimes,” he answered.
“Do you ever think how much God's grace operates in your life every day?”
His son looked up but didn't speak.
“Do you know how much God's grace was working in your life even this weekend?”
“Who told you?” his son asked.
Paul said: “You have lived your life in the light. You've made good choices. You've been an easy son to parent, but this weekend you took a step toward the darkness. You can live in the darkness if you want. You can learn to lie and deceive. You can use your friends as your cover… You can step over God's boundaries. Or you can determine to live in God's light. I'm pleading with you: don't live in the darkness; live in the light.”
“As I turned to walk away,” Paul wrote, “I heard his voice from behind me saying, ‘Dad, don't go.’ As I turned around, with tears in his eyes, he said, ‘Dad, I want to live in the light, but it's so hard. Will you help me?’” (Paul David Tripp, Forever: Why You Can't Live Without It, Zondervan, 2011, pp. 151-153; www.PreachingToday.com).
Living in the light is hard, but with God’s help you can do it. After all, Jesus is the light—Just trust Him to guide you. Depend on Him to walk with you along the way. More than that…
JESUS IS LIFE.
He gives eternal life to everyone who believes in Him. He grants life and freedom to all who trust His word. Look at what Jesus says to the Pharisees, who rejected Him.
John 8:21-22 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.” So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” (ESV)
They totally misunderstood Him, as always. Jesus was not planning to commit suicide. He was describing His return to heaven, a place they could not see unless they believed in Him.
John 8:23-24 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; 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” (ESV).
Literally, unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins. Jesus declares that you must believe that He is YHWH God, the eternal I AM, to escape death. He takes on the personal name of God—I AM, because He IS the self-existing One. He IS the One who has life in Himself. But the Pharisees are not about to accept that.
John 8:25-28a So they said to him, “Who are you?” 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, and I declare to the world what 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… (ESV)
Literally, then you will know that I AM. After Jesus dies on the cross, they will come to realize who He really is—the I AM, the self-existing One, the One who has life in Himself.
“And” Jesus says in John 8:28, “you will know that… I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me
John 8:29-30 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 (ESV).
Many believed that God sent Jesus, but did they really believe?
John 8:31-32 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (ESV).
If you live in His Word, you are truly His disciple, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” (ESV)
They challenge Jesus because they think they’re free.
John 8:34-36 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (ESV).
They were slaves to sin, but Jesus offers to set them free from sin, which is true freedom.
John 8:37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you (ESV).
They have rejected His Word, so they are not true disciples, they don’t know the truth, and they are enslaved to sin. Jesus continues…
John 8:38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father” (ESV).
They’re not only enslaved to sin because they reject the truth. They are offspring of the devil himself.
John 8:39-47 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God” (ESV).
No. They are from the devil himself. And not only these Jews, but also anyone who rejects the word of Christ. If you are not living in His Word, you’re a slave to sin and an offspring of the devil.
Please, don’t reject Christ’s words like these Jews. Instead, abide in His Word; live in the statements of Christ; immerse yourself in them. For He is the I AM, the self-existing one, the one who has life in Himself. Jesus IS life!
So please, trust Him to free you from your slavery to sin and death. Depend on Him to release you from bondage and give you life. Rely on Him to deliver you from Satan’s hold on you and grant you eternal life.
In the movie The Shawshank Redemption, "Red" Redding tells the story of Andy Dufresne—a young, successful banker wrongly convicted of murdering his wife in 1947 and sentenced to two consecutive life terms at Shawshank Prison.
Halfway through the film, an old con, Brooks Hadlin, becomes enraged and threatens to take another inmate's life. Please excuse the language and take a look (show video: Shawshank Redemption—Brooks institutionalized scene).
He holds a makeshift knife at the inmate’s throat, but a few tense moments later, Red and Andy persuade Brooks to lay down his knife. That's when they discover that Brooks had just received word that his parole was finally approved. The mere thought of freedom outside the prison walls was enough to send Brooks over the edge.
Later, discussing it in the prison yard, an inmate concludes that Brooks had "bugged out," gone mad. Red quickly disagrees:
Brooks ain't no bug! He's just…institutionalized. The man's been in here 50 years—50 years! This is all he knows. In here, he's an important man. He's an educated man. Outside, he's nothing, just a used-up con with arthritis in both hands. Probably couldn't get a library card if he tried. You know what I'm trying to say?
You believe whatever you want… but I'm telling you, these walls are funny. First, you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes… you get so you depend on them.
That's institutionalized.
I could never get like that.
Oh yea. Say that when you’ve been here as long as Brooks has.
You’re… right. They send you here for life and that’s exactly what they take, the part the counts anyway (The Shawshank Redemption, Castle Rock, 1994, rated R, based on the short novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King, directed by Frank Darabont, 0:58:53 to 0:59:56) www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmtBUybnXuo).
Like prison walls, sin takes the life out of you. It institutionalizes you, giving you a false sense of security.
Please, trust Christ to free you from your comfortable prison of sin and be free indeed! Then abide in His Word. Immerse yourself in the Bible and so become one of His true disciples.
Jesus is light—trust Him to guide you. Jesus is life—trust Him to free you. Finally…
JESUS IS LORD.
Christ is YHWH God, Himself. He is the Creator and Controller of all.
When Jesus accuses his audience of having the lying devil as their father, they resist Him even more.
John 8:48-58 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (ESV).
Jesus does it again for the third time in this chapter—1st in verse 24, then in verse 28, and now here in verse 58. Jesus claims to be the eternal I AM, YHWH God Himself. It was how God introduced Himself to Moses at the burning bush in the wilderness (Exodus 3:14). Now, it’s how Jesus introduces Himself to the world—as the eternal I AM, who existed from eternity past, long before Abraham ever came on the scene. There is no mistaking it. Jesus claims to be God Himself, and His Jewish audience finally gets it, but they don’t like it.
John 8:59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple (ESV).
They were going to stone Him for blasphemy, because they understood His claim to be YHWH God Himself.
If Jesus were a mere man, this would be the height of blasphemy, worthy of capital punishment. But if Jesus is the God-man, this is the height of greatness, worthy of all praise and honor. Jesus claims to be the Lord God of all, which leaves you with no other option but to accept or reject His claim.
C. S. Lewis put it this way in his book Mere Christianity:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell.
You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).
So, what will you do with Jesus? Shut Him up for a fool? Spit at Him as a demon? Or fall at His feet and call Him Lord? I pray it’s the latter, for Jesus is indeed Lord, and there can only be one response.
Trust Him to rule you. Depend on Him to control your affairs. Rely on Him to take charge of every aspect of your existence. Give your life totally and completely to Him.
In 1875, William Ernest Henly wrote a poem after recovering from the amputation of his left leg in an Edinburgh hospital at a time when hospitalization often meant death. It is a poem that has become very popular these days, which graduation speakers often quote. It goes like this:
Out of the night that covers me, black as a pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed.
Beyond this veil of wrath and tears clings but the harrow of the shading.
Yet the menace of the years finds in self I meet unafraid;
Matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.
Those are brave words, but they’re foolish bravery. You see, the man who wrote those words took his own life in utter despair.
How much better is the attitude expressed by the author who wrote a Christian answer to “Invictus.” It goes like this:
Out of the light that dazzles me, bright is the sun from pole to pole.
I thank the God I know to be, for Christ the conqueror of my soul.
Since he's the sway of circumstance, I would not wince nor cry aloud.
Under that rule which men call chance, my head with joy is humbly bowed.
Beyond this place of sin and tears, that life with him. And he's the aide
That spite diminished of the years keeps and shall keep me unafraid.
It matters not, though straight the gate, He cleared from punishments the scroll.
Christ is the master of my fate. Christ the captain of my soul
(Frank Pollard, “Our Greatest Victory,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 175; www.PreachingToday.com).
My dear friends, Jesus is light—trust Him to guide you. Jesus is life—trust Him to free you. Jesus Lord—trust Him to rule you. Ask Him to be the Master of your fate. Ask Him to be the Captain of your soul. It’s the only way your life will make any sense.
