The World's Response to the Light part 1

Well, take your Bible this morning and turn with me to the Gospel of John. To the Gospel of John. Now Brother Keith said earlier that we have been going through the Gospel of John for a few weeks. And obviously this is Easter Sunday morning, a time when we celebrate Easter, that the tomb is empty, that our Christ is not dead, that he does sit at the right hand of the Father as Lord and God of all making intercession for us who are his bride. And that's Easter, that's what we celebrate on this particular morning. And Christians throughout the ages have done that. And I like it.

And this week as I was praying about where we would go in God's Word, God led me to stay on track with our message in the Gospel of John. Now in that I do not want to communicate to you that I do not want to celebrate Easter. I do. It is on my heart and it is on my mind and it has been all this week. But we do know what the Scripture says about Easter. Easter was when the Christ was resurrected on the third day. Not only did he suffer and bleed and die, we looked at that account. Not only was he placed in a borrowed tomb, but he did come out of the grave. He was risen.

But the Scripture goes on to say that he did ascend to the right hand of the Father and right now he sits at the right hand of the Father. He is alive. The throne is occupied and it is occupied by Christ. And that is our desire here at the life of Nola Baptist Church. Not only do we want Christ to sit on the throne where he occupies the throne right now, but we want him to be on the throne in the life of this church. Isn't that right? We don't want any man or any family or any committee or any group of people to govern the affairs of the church.

We want the Living Lord to do that because he's coming back for us one day and we believe that soon. But in worshipping our Lord this morning on this Easter morning, I want us to stay in our series in John. We're going to be in verse 9 through 11 this morning. The Gospel of John is all about Christ. I have just rolled around this thing, this subject in my mind at heart all week. The chapter is about Christ. The Gospel of John is about Christ. It is about the Living God who offered salvation to all men. And that's why I believe we need to stay in our verses in John this morning.

Now for those of you who are visiting with us, the series that we are in is called Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live. That is the theme of the Gospel of John. We have seen that as we have already started in chapter 1 and we see it all throughout the book. John is about exalting Christ as deity. He is the promised Messiah. And John's message all through the book from chapter 1 all the way to chapter 21 is that men might believe and live and have true life in Christ. Now as we turn to the scripture this morning, I want you to notice that we are moving from the witness that we saw last week.

Remember verses 6 through 8 were about a witness. I explained to you and taught you last Sunday that John has a habit of giving witnesses all throughout his Gospel account and what he is doing is making his case for Christ and we saw the first witness which was John the Baptist. Remember John's message. It was so powerful, it was so relevant and he was a very loud voice who was a witness. We learned that he was sent from God, he was a witness of the light. And what did John say that all men might believe through his witness. So we saw that powerful witness. Now this morning's message like I said earlier starts in verse 9.

Really the entire message is verse 9 through 13. We are going to divide it up in a part 1 and a part 2. Now just my personal feelings with that are like this. A lot of times in my study I will look at a portion of scripture and I will desire to keep it together. I will desire to make it one message. Earlier this week I shared with Brother Keith my outline for the message and I shared with him that we were going to go from verse 9 through 13. But the reason I divide it sometimes into a part 1 and part 2 is because of time.

We just only have a certain amount of time and we need to sometimes take our time with a few verses so that we can get all that God wants us to give. So that's my personal feelings. That's why sometimes I will divide up the verses. This morning we will look at verses 9 through 11 and next week we will look at verses 12 through 13. So let's go to the verses together. John chapter 1 starting in verse 9. John says therefore or there was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him.

He came into his own and those who were his own did not receive him. Now we will stop there this morning but notice verse 12 through 13 because this is a continuous message. But as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God even to those who believe in his name who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God. Now the title of the message this morning is the world's response to the light. The world's response to the light. Now in my study that's what I see coming out of verses 9 through 13. The world's response to the light. What do we see here?

John is presenting Christ Jesus as the light who is coming to the world and man's response to that light and like I said it's part one because next week we're going to look at part two. So this morning the world's response to the light part one. Now in the scripture that we've just read you do see that John returns to Christ. That is the main theme of the book and that's why I think it is important for us to stick in our messages in John even on an Easter morning because what are we going to see? Christ exalted in these verses. So this morning I'm going to give you two main truths and if you would write them down. Number one the light came.

Number one the light came. That will be from verses 9 through 10 or the first portion of verse 10. The light came and then number two the light was rejected. That will be from the second portion of verse 10 and verse 11. The light came and the light was rejected. Go back with me to verse 9 and the beginning of verse 10. What does John say? "There was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man." And notice what verse 10 says, "And he was in the world." What do we see in those verses? The light came. Now remember the context. Remember what's going on in the lives of the Jewish people.

The Jewish people, the nation of Israel, they were looking for the promised Messiah. As a matter of fact if you go back and you look at the beginning of the Gospels, especially in the Gospel of Luke, we see that there were certain individuals who were hanging on the edge of time waiting for the Messiah. You remember when Joseph and Mary came to present Jesus in the temple? What happened? There was the old man Simeon who was waiting on the consolation of Israel. And what did he do? He scooped up that baby Jesus and what did he do? He spoke about who this Christ child was. Then a little later in the story there was the prophetess Anna.

She was an old widow. She was praying and fasting and she spoke in a prophetic manner about the promised Messiah as well. What am I showing you? All of the populace for the most part were waiting on the promised Messiah. And look, there were many false messiahs who had come. There was much anticipation, much confusion. That's why last week we saw that John was very clear in saying that John the Baptist was not the Messiah. So what do we see in the background? The light has come and there were so many people yearning and hungering and they were watching the horizon for the light.

Now you know my habit, we're going to break down these verses and we're going to see what's in these verses. So if you're taking notes, I want you to write down first, the true light came. First, the true light came. Listen to the verse, there was the true light which coming into the world. Now many of us would probably read right past that word true but this word true is key. Is a key word in verse 9. If you wrote in your Bible, I'd like you to circle it or underline it, make note of it because it is a key word. This word true is used 28 times in the New Testament and all but five are used by John. Is John trying to tell us something?

This word refers to what is genuine and what is real. What is John doing? John is trying to emphasize that Christ was the true light. John is trying to emphasize that Jesus was the true Messiah. Jesus was genuine and real in every way. Remember there had been many false messiahs who had come along and John is just saying, let me tell you, the true, the genuine, the good, the correct light has come into the world. Second I want you to notice the true light, the true light came to every man. Go back to the verses. There was the true light which coming into the world. Now notice, enlightens every man.

Now I don't know if you realize it but this portion of verse 9 is hotly debated by many people in theological and church circles. A lot of people will ask the question, did Christ come for some or did Christ come for all? That is hotly debated in many places and as a matter of fact a lot of better minds than you and I have have not been able to rectify many of these truths concerning this text. But what do we see? John is saying that the light came and the light came to enlighten every man. Now I have explained to you the proper method in interpreting scripture. You must get this.

If we interpret one scripture but we contradict other scripture, our first interpretation is incorrect. Scripture always interprets other scripture. John will always, always fall right in line with the other gospels. As a matter of fact John will always fall right in line with Paul and Peter and all of the other writings in the New Testament as well. So what I want to show you is other scripture that help us understand what John is saying. I'm going to read to you a portion of scripture out of Romans. Drop this verse down for your latter study.

But Romans chapter 1 verse 18 through 21, Paul explains to us what this light coming to enlighten all men. Listen to what Paul says. "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." Now listen close to verse 19. "Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them.

For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power, his divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse." Now what do we see Paul say in Romans chapter 1 that falls in line with John? Let me summarize it for you. Two things. Paul says that lost humanity is without excuse because they have the law of God written on their hearts. There's another place in scripture that deals with this and that's chapter 2 verse 14 and 15 and also in the book of Ephesians. What do we see with this?

God tells us through what Paul says that lost humanity has the law of God written on their hearts. So what that tells us is man is enlightened by the very law of God written on their heart. But what else did Paul say in Romans? The second thing is that there is evidence all around mankind and that is the creation. And what Paul says is lost humanity has been enlightened as to who God is because the law written on their heart and the evidence of the creation all around them. Man is without excuse.

So when man rebels against God, they rebel against the law written on their heart and they rebel against the evidence of the created creation all around them. You get that? I like what John MacArthur says concerning this. He says even those who never become children of God are accountable for the knowledge of God and his revealed in his light revealed in Christ. Though all men are spiritually dead according to Ephesians chapter 2 and blind, they are accountable for the knowledge of God revealed in creation and in their conscience. Romans chapter 2 verses 14 and 15 speak about that man has a conscience that God gave them. What is Paul saying?

The law of God is written on their heart and therefore when they sin against that law, there is a conscience that God has given them and they violate that conscience therefore incurring guilt. What do we see in this? What John is saying is that all mankind have been enlightened by the law of God written on their heart and also the creation that is around them and yes that is all mankind. The third thing I want you to see out of these verses verses 9 and 10 is that the world was made through him. Go back to the verses therefore or there was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man and this is the beginning of verse 10.

He was in the world and the world was made through him. What do we see? He, this is Christ, was in the creation that he had created. Now there is another key word here and that word is world. I would like you to underline that and note that word world because it is key. Now this word world is used three different ways in the New Testament. This is real simplistic and it would be easy for you to understand. First of all the physical world. We have already learned from verses 1 through 5 that Christ did create the physical world. So the word world can be applied to the physical world but also it can be applied to humanity.

Now we know that Christ did create mankind. He created Adam and he created Eve. We saw the pluralistic language in Genesis chapter 1, 2 and 3 when God said let us create man in our image. That is Christ Jesus. He was there in Genesis. But the third way that this word world is used is the evil world system governed by Satan. Now what is John speaking of when he uses this word world? John is speaking of the physical world and humanity. Now listen that has been corrupted by sin. Genesis 3 shows us that when Adam and Eve sinned that not only did Adam and Eve sin but all of the creation sin.

Even though the creation around us testifies that God created it, it is still fallen. It is affected by sin. But what do we see? John is saying that the world was made by him, the physical world and humanity and what John is saying is that the creator came to the creation. Now remember the context. There were those who were attacking who Christ was in John's day. John is saying that he is the true genuine real light and he is coming to the world and he is the light of every man. That's all John is saying in these verses. Now an application.

I always want to do good by application because you've got to be able to take the eternal truths of God's word and bring them on down to your mind and your thinking and your life and how you relate to God. So how do these verses relate to us? Now remember in verses 1 through 5 that we talked about religious pluralism. Now that might sound like some high and mighty words but our religious pluralism is the description of the culture in which we live. We have all of these different religions that we face today. We have Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses.

We have Christians and we have Islam and we have all of these different religions that are out there but in religious pluralism not only do I have to accept the other religions but I have to accept the truth that is found within their religion and true religious pluralism does not preach and teach exclusive truth. But what is John saying? John is saying that Jesus is the true light. So according to what John says, Jesus is the true light and all of these other voices and all of these other religions and all of these so called lights that are out there are not lights. They are false lights.

They are lies that have crept up through the grating over the pit of hell and what is John saying? Jesus is the true light. So when you leave here this morning you'd be assured that the Jesus of the Bible, the word of God tells us that Jesus is the true light. The second thing that I want you to really take home with you is that Jesus is the true light of all men. You see the verses that I've just dealt with you and read to you, they explore these questions that haunt so many. What about the millions who die without Christ?

Well according to what Roman says and what Paul gives us in Romans that mankind when they die without hearing Christ they are guilty of violating the word of God in their heart and they are guilty of worshiping the creation rather than the creator. So when men, when whole tribes, when entire peoples never hear the name of Jesus but yet they worship the creation therefore they sin against the one true God and they do not spend eternity with God. That's a difficult thing to digest but it's true because that's what the word says. But what about this Christ enlightens all men? For me this tells me that we have a great responsibility.

We must go to those people and we must tell them about Christ and we must tell them that these unknown gods that they do worship can be found in none other than the true light, the light of Christ. But I want to get a little more specific with you this morning. I want to tell you something. Every one of you here you have the light of Christ. You are not like the individuals and tribes and peoples who have lived in the far out corners of the world and lived and died without hearing of Jesus. You are not like those peoples and I want to tell you you have the light of Christ. Let me show you some ways you have the light of Christ.

First of all, Romans says that you have the light of Christ in your heart. What Paul says is the law of God was written. It was stamped on your heart and when you sin against God, you sin against that law, you violate that conscience that God has given you and therefore you are guilty. Not only that, when you choose to worship the creation rather than the one true God, you are guilty because the creation should cause us to look up and look up to the one true God. It is never to be worshiped, it is evidence of the one who has given us that creation.

And when mankind worships the creation rather than the creator, they have sinned against that light. Also you have the word of God. I would venture to say that every one of you have at least one Bible. It might not be with you now this morning but it's at least in your home. And what do we have found in between these leather covers? What do we have found in the Old Testament and the New Testament? What we have is the perfect and the complete revelation of God.

And when we have the word of God in our hands, when we know what the word of God says and yet we sin against that, we reject that and we choose to live life our own way, what we are doing is we are sinning against the light found in the word. I will tell you another way that people have the light and you have the light and that's the church. And I will be honest with you, the church is bruised and battered and it always has been. The church has been wracked through and through with sin because it is full of people.

And I have heard people say, "Well, you know, I don't want to go to church down there with the hypocrites." Well, you are just like everybody else. I don't want to go to the church with the hypocrites either. But see the only problem is I am one. You are one. We are all one. We are all just one big fat hypocrite. Why? Because we are sinners. And those of us who are truly redeemed, we don't want to live in sin. We want to live for the Lord. And what I am trying to show you is that we have the light of the church deposited here on earth and that is the center of God's work here on earth. God is coming back for the church.

Christ is coming back for the bride. And when men and women and when even people here reject the work of the church, ignore the work of the church, that is sinning against the light that God has given. I can give you another way that some people sin against the light around them and that is the work of God that is around you. I have seen this happen through the years in ministry. I have seen teenagers get saved. God radically saved them. And I have seen moms and dads stand up and revile it. What are they doing? They are sinning against the light around them. I have seen spouses get saved.

I will never forget in my old home church, there was a family that started coming. They were unchurched. And I will never forget that man got gloriously saved. His name was David. Yes, he came down to y'all. He counseled with the pastor. He went through the ministry. But God gloriously saved him. He left his life of sin and he left his life of self. And he started living for the Lord Jesus. But all along his wife hated it. All along his wife reviled it. And what was she doing? She was sinning against that light right there in her face. And I want to ask you this morning, I want to ask you, do you sin against the light that God has given you?

Do you sin against that which God has written in your heart? Do you sin against the creation by not seeing the God that gave us the creation? Do you sin against the light in the Bible and the light of the church and the light of the work of God around you? Because see, listen, if some of you were to get honest, you would see that you are sinning against such great light. Far more light than most people have. So what do we see? The light came. Let's move on to the main truth. Number two, the light, it was rejected. There's a little transition there in verse 10.

Notice what verse 10 says, "And he was in the world and the world was made through him." Remember, we've already covered that. But notice this transition, "And, and the world did not know him." See, John's changing his thought. Notice what it says, "And the world did not know him," verse 11, "he came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him." So what do we see? The light came, but now we see that the light was rejected. Now to be truthful, verses 10 or the last portion of verse 10 and verse 11 are really bad news. It's really negative. This is true, but it is negative.

Now we must accept, now listen close, we must accept the positive as well as the negative. You know, every now and then I'll hear people say, "Well, I just want to hear positive messages." I want to hear a positive theme coming out of the life of the church. I cannot give you a positive message. I've got to give you what God gives, and some of it's good and some of it's bad. It's all good, but some of it is negative in nature, and I can't help that if all I do is give you what's positive, then I'll sin against God and I'll sin against the word, and I'll do you an injustice.

So this is negative in its tone, but it's truth, and any truth is good for those of us who love the Lord. So let's break down these verses, and I want to show you a couple of things out of these verses. First, I want you to see that the world did not know him. Isn't that what John said? And the world did not know him. Now the King James, the English Standard Version, and the New American, it says no. Now the New International Version says, "Recognize." Now again, this word "world," we've got to see how John is using it. Remember, it can refer to the physical world, it can refer to humanity, and it can refer to the evil world system around us.

But what John is talking about is the world of humanity, the world of humanity, the world that he came to. When he left eternity and he stepped into time, the world of people that he came in contact with, they did not know him and they did not recognize him. So it's very important for us to see that. This is really a general use. This applies to all peoples that he has come in contact with. So the world did not know him. Second, I want you to see that the Jews did not know him. Go to verse 11.

"He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him." Now the English Standard Version reads, "He came to his own and his own people did not receive him." Now what are we seeing here? This is none other than the Jewish people, the nation of Israel. Jesus was a Jew. His mother and father were Jew. As a matter of fact, Matthew, in writing his gospel, because he has primarily a Jewish audience, he is very concerned about giving the genealogy of Christ and he very accurately gives the genealogy of Christ to prove to the Jews that Jesus was a true Jew. He was not an imposter.

So Jesus, a true Jew of the house of Israel, what does it say? He was rejected by his own people. Now in the original, this verse 11, it can be translated his own property or his own home. You get that? It can be translated his own property or his own home. So with that in mind, let's go back to the verse. He came to his own, he came to his own property and he came to his own home. But what does it say? They rejected him. Now this is referring to the Jewish people, while previously at the end of verse 10, it's referring to the world. It's referring to humanity in general.

Now we know that this has been a habit all throughout the story of God interacting with his own people. Now I will read you a verse out of Jeremiah that talks about the fact that God's people, the nation of Israel rejected God and the light that God had given. Listen to what Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 25 and 26 says. Jeremiah is describing the people of Israel, God's people. And he says, "Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all my servants." That's the prophets. "I have sent you all my servants," the prophets, "daily, rising, early, and sending them.

Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffen their neck, and they did evil more than their fathers." What's Jeremiah saying? Jeremiah is showing what God says. God says, "I sent my prophets to my people and they rose up and they rejected my prophets." And that's exactly what happened when Jesus came. But I want to give you another key word. If you don't get this word, you might miss some of what God wants to give us in verse 10 and 11. And that key word is "no." Go back to verse 10. "And the world did not know him." And if you would, I would ask you to circle it or note it or underline it.

Now this applies to the world, but it also applies to the Jews. Now what does this word "no" mean? This is not knowing intellectual information. This is knowing personally. This is knowing intimately. This is having a personal, intimate knowledge. Now I'm going to reach back and I'm going to give you an Old Testament example that perfectly illustrates what this word "no" means. If we go all the way back in time to Genesis chapter 1, and what does that creation story say? That God created Adam and God said that he saw that Adam was alone and what did he do? He created him a perfect helpmate, a perfect partner, and he created Eve.

God loved Adam and Eve so much that he gave him a perfect home and he gave him a perfect job and they had perfect fellowship with God the Father. But we know that they ruined that by sinning against God when they disobeyed what God said. But what does it say? God told Adam and Eve to increase in number and fill the earth. And the Scripture says that Adam lay with his wife. Now those of us who understand the birds and the bees know what that means. It says that Adam lay with his wife and it says that he knew his wife. Now what does that mean? He had intimate relationship.

He had intimate relationship, a personal relationship with the wife that God had given him. And a lot of people misinterpret this word "no." They interpret it as just intellectual knowledge and that is very erroneous. Let me show you how erroneous that would be. If I were to tell you that Adam had his wife Eve and they never came together, they just cohabitated together in a home and they just said "Hello, good morning, how are you doing?" But yet they never knew one another intimately. You would say that's not much of a marriage and you would be right. See that perfectly illustrates what John is saying because what is he saying?

Go back to the verse. "And the world did not know him." The Jews did not know him. They rejected him. They did not have personal intimate fellowship with Christ. Now let me show you that the intellect won't save because what happens when the wise men from the east came? They came before the Roman leaders. The Roman leaders, what did they do? What did Herod do? He brought the religious leaders and they inquired about the Christ child and all of a sudden the religious leaders just started spouting off. Old Testament prophecy after Old Testament prophecy accurately, perfectly about the coming Jesus.

"And the wise men from the east took the testimony of the religious leaders and they journeyed right to where the Christ child was." Now get this. Those religious leaders had those prophecies that they had studied for generations and they refused to follow those prophecies. Therefore, they had an intellectual knowledge about who the Messiah would be but yet they did not know him. He was foreign to them and they rejected him. So with that in mind, listen to what the verse says again.

"And the world did not know him and he came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him because they did not know him either." And Jesus is clearly teaching that Christ was rejected by many. He was rejected by Jew and he was rejected by a Gentile. They were exercising their will against God by rejecting the light that came. They knew of Christ. They had intellectual knowledge of Christ but they rejected him, therefore refusing to know him intimately. Now what does that mean for us today? Now we must remember that man has a will. Let me say that again. We must remember that man has a will and man can exercise that will.

We find that beautifully illustrated in Adam and Eve. Adam was created perfect. Eve was created perfect. All of the creation was perfect. The garden was perfect. There was no sin that had entered the creation. And what did Adam and Eve do? They exercised their will by disobeying the perfect commandment that God gave them and we see a perfect exercise of their will. Now this gets us into the age old question. Does man have free will or does man have will? Let me say this again. Does man have free will or does man have will? Now I want to correct you on this. Man does not have free will.

Man can only exercise his will under the sovereignty of God. Adam and Eve exercised their will and they sin against God but they could not exercise free will by correcting their mistake. And what do we see? We see the sovereign work of God because God barred them from the tree of life that they would eat that tree and that they would live forever in that fallen state. That is the sovereign will of God controlling that will. So it is erroneous to say that man has free will but it is perfectly correct scripturally to say that man has will. Adam exercised that will.

The world exercised that will when they saw Christ and the Jewish people exercised that will. See there are those today who reject Christ exercising their will. There are those who have never heard of Christ and Paul says that they reject God by worshiping and de-creation and rejecting the law of God written on their heart. That's exercising their will. And what are we seeing here? People exercise their will. And yet what I want us to see is for you and for me, for us, remember what I said earlier. We have received far more light. We have the light of Christ.

We have what God has given us with the light of Christ in this story right before us. We have the light of the gospel written on our heart, the law of God on our heart. We have the light of the creation. We have the light of the Bible. We have the light of the church. We have the light of the work around us. And I want to ask you, are you rejecting the light that is right before your eyes? You've got to ask that question because that's exactly what happened. Do you really see the perfect God of the universe and His Son Jesus who was in the creation of? He had a perfect witness, yes, in John. But what does John say?

Jesus stepped out of eternity. He stepped into time and so many mankind rejected Him. The Gentiles rejected Him. The Samaritans rejected Him. And even His own people rejected Him. And we see Christ's heart as He stood over Jerusalem. What did He do? He wept over Jerusalem because He saw His own people rejecting Him. And see, I want to ask you, are you rejecting the light that God has put before you? And I love you enough to tell you that if you are, you are rejecting far more light than so many people have on the face of the earth.

Do you realize that there are people who are in tribal situations, who live in obscure places, who look to the sky and cry out for light? And yet there are people here within the sound of my voice and you reject the light that God has before you. Y'all know we have a friend in India right now. He goes into places, He goes into the Himalayas, He and friends, and they backpack and hike days journey into the mountains and they go into villages and they sit down and they tell people about Christ who have never heard of Christ. They don't have this light. I'll never forget about a year ago. Luke said that he went into a home high in the Himalayas.

And there was an individual there who had heard of Jesus some 20 plus years before. And for over 20 years they would look to the sky and they had heard the name of Jesus and they said, "God, please send somebody to tell me more about this Jesus." And all of a sudden here comes some big American with a Bible with some Indian friends to give them. "More light." But see, I want to bring it back home to you. It wouldn't be fair to you if I didn't. Are you rejecting the light? Look at the light that God has given you. Do you realize how good God has been to you? He has given you the law of God on your heart.

He has given you a wonderful creation, although it's been affected by sin. He has given you a full copy of the revelation of God. He has given you a church. He has put the church before you to be a demonstration of who Christ is. And He has put the work of God around you. And I'm afraid that there are some of you here tonight, this morning, you're still rejecting light. It is parading right before your eyes and you are just like the people of Israel that Jeremiah spoke about. You're stiffening your neck. And I would say to you, you have a lot of light. And you will be responsible.

Listen, sir, listen, man, you will be responsible for that light. I want to go back to the crucifixion story as I begin to close. If we read ahead in the Gospel of John, we see that in John chapter 11, as Jesus enters Jerusalem, what did the crowds do? They took palm branches. They took clothes. They laid them out before Him. And what does the Scripture say? On that palm, we used to call it Palm Sunday. What happened? They cried out, "Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is He who came in the name of the Lord!" And they go on to say, "Even the King of Israel!" What are they saying? "You are the Messiah, the one we have been longing for!

You are the light!" You get that? What a beautiful picture! We celebrate that in the life of the church! But a few days later, what happens? That same crowd screamed to the top of their voices, "Crucify Him!" You remember what was going on with Pilate? It sought to weasel his way out of executing Jesus. What did he say to the crowd? He said, "Would you take according to tradition? Would you allow me to free Jesus? Or do you want me to free this insurrectionist named Barabbas?" Which one? And he wanted them to choose Barabbas because he saw the innocence of Christ. And what did the crowd do? They screamed, "No! Give us Christ!

Crucify Him!" Every minute they're praising and saying, "You're the King of Israel!" And the next minute they're screaming, "Crucify Him!" Now I want to ask you a question. Do some not do that in our culture today? I'm afraid that there are some they put on their Sunday best. They acknowledge Easter. They come to church. And all of the other days of the year, I'm afraid some of you scream, "Crucify!" You might say, "Preacher, you're being mighty harsh!" Listen, I love you enough to tell you the truth. It's not enough for you. It's not enough for humanity.

It's not enough for us to just take the palm branch and once a year wave it and say, "We love you, Jesus. You're the King of the Jews. You're the Savior of the world." It's not enough. He's the light of the world. He came to seek and to save. And John says he came to seek and save all men. And I don't understand how all that works. All I'm supposed to do is declare it. And I want to ask you this morning, has there been a time when God Himself came and He saved you? He saved you like we see in verses 12 through 13. Not of a decision that you made. It was a work that God did. God isolated you.

God worked in you and He showed you who you truly are and He worked a miracle in your life. Listen, does that happen to you? If it hasn't, you're rejecting light. And a lot of it. What's the title this morning? The World's Response to the Light. Pardon me. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I want to start by, Lord, I want to pray for us Christians. Lord, those of us who were redeemed and blood-bought, Lord, don't let us wave our palm branch just on Sundays. Say we love you.