TEXT: John 12:46
INTRO: In these weeks moving up toward Christmas, our Wednesday studies are from John 12:44-50. In this brief passage John has recorded a summary of why Christ came taken from the mouth of Jesus Himself. Tonight we will move into vs. 46.
- JESUS CAME TO DELIVER US FROM THE DARKNESS.
- . Jesus mentions that He has come to deliver people from darkness. What does He mean by that?
Darkness is the state of being without any light, and thus without the ability to see or to be aware of where we are, where we are heading, and who or what we are encountering.
ILLUS: #1: It’s like being locked in an unfamiliar blackened room. #2: Or imagine driving down a highway on which there is no light whatsoever in a car also without any lights inside or out. B. What is darkness in the issue of life? There was the “Dark Ages,” with cultural, economic, and intellectual deterioration. Spiritually, it is full of immorality.
The people of who Christ spoke were those who lived life guided by selfish, brutal, and pagan ideas.
- CHRIST CLAIMS TO BE LIGHT.
- The smallest shaft of light changes the darkness forever. Life moves from ignorance to knowledge, from falsehood to truth, from hopelessness to hope.
In Gen. 1, the account of creation is given saying, on the first day, the first act of God, was to create light. Why? Because light is necessary for life to be sustained.
- Jesus is making a wonderful claim: Jesus will deliver those who have been caught in the darkness. He is the Deliverer! Jesus has come to enlighten their minds, encourage their hearts, and give life with God through all eternity! And how will this be accomplished?
III. IT WILL BE FOR EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES.
- READ vs. 46 again. In a dark world faith is based on darkness. It is to believe in self,; in luck or coincidence; in idols that produce a false hope.
When the light comes, and the falsehoods are revealed, the dangers are pushed back, truth becomes clear, then faith changes.
Saving faith is a trusted devotion and dependence on the Light Giver.
- Who is the one who believes? It is the person who, in honest humility and full dependence, surrenders to the One from whom hope appears.
CONCLUSION
The story goes that on the night of Christ’s birth, there in that Bethlehem stable, a star shone in the night, pointing the way to the Christ Child. Those who saw the light and followed it, discovered the plan and purpose of God and were delivered from their dark world.