Apply Within

Bob Davis: See, the non-believers are walking in darkness. If you're in complete darkness, everyone, you have no clue. People can tell you you're lost, but you're walking around going, "I know exactly what I'm doing," but you don't know what you're doing.

When you say there is no heaven, you're wrong and you think you're right. So you don't even know; you're not sure which way is up or down. That's where a lot of people are right now. They have no clue; they have no direction. That's why the Lord says they're lost.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply His Word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. Jesus claims to be the light of the world as our study of John continues in chapter 8, verse 12. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: "Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, 'I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'" This is something for every one of us. Jesus continues on with his teaching. That's what he was doing when the Pharisees stopped him. But notice, it was just an interruption. They didn't stop him. He goes on and teaches again. And he makes another one of his great "I Am" statements.

In chapter six, we heard him say this, "I am the bread of life. The bread from heaven, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, yes, but I am the true bread from heaven, the bread of life." That "I Am" is a title. In Exodus chapter three, God calls Moses and Moses is 80 years old and doesn't want the job. God was not taking no for an answer from Mo. Seriously, if you're truly His, He won't take no for an answer from you either.

I've heard Christians say, "I'm never going to forgive him. I'm never going to forgive her." And I say, "You will." "How do you know?" "Because God said you will." You want to walk with God? Yes. Then you are going to forgive or you can't. You want to walk with God, then you're going to forgive and forget and let it go. Drop it and we're going to go on. That's what Jesus tells us.

So look at Exodus chapter three. I'm just going to read two verses. You can read the whole chapter, it's really cool, but verses 13 and 14. Moses is looking for an excuse not to go. Moses said to God, "Behold, or look, when I come to the children of Israel and shall say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' they'll say to me, 'What is his name?' What shall I say to them? What should I tell them?" And God simply said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM." God said this, "This is what you shall say to the children of Israel: I AM has sent me to you."

It's a title. It means the eternally existent one. Always was, always am, always will be. God. Eternally existent. Jesus is actually—and you'll see him do it quite a few more times—Jesus is actually using the title that God Himself used. Now to the Pharisees and the scribes and the doctors of the law, that is blasphemy because they understand clearly he is saying, "I'm God," using the title that God used. They know that old burning bush Moses scripture. Those leaders know that.

So he's using the name of God and the Pharisees will call it blasphemy. They've already said that he's been blaspheming. They want him dead anyway. Now they got more and they will eventually, by the way, put him to death. They will. He says, "I am the light of the world." In the same way, Jesus says there's only one God who is the source of life. Now get this. What he's claiming to be is that one God. "I am the light of the world."

Now who can say that? God is light, John will write in First John, and in Him is no darkness at all. God is light and Jesus just said, "I am the light of the world." So yes, again, not only using the title, but he is claiming to be God Almighty in human flesh. And I am just amazed when I hear teachers or preachers or whatever they are, scholars, say that Jesus never actually claimed to be God. I mean, we're only in chapter eight. We've seen it four or five times already. Just in the Gospel of John, never mind Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Get it?

So when someone tells you that, just go back to where you read it and read it again. You don't have to fight with them. You don't have to go into fisticuffs and make them know you're right. Just know, yes, he did. Yes, he did. He claimed it again right here in chapter eight. John chapter one, verses four and five. John writes, "In Him, Jesus Christ, was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not."

Men refused to believe. Not that they couldn't, but that they wouldn't. He keeps telling the Pharisees, "It's not that you cannot believe, it's that you won't." When someone says to you, "Well, I just don't have enough faith," yes, you do. You may choose not to use it, but yes, you do. "Well, I can't forgive." Yes, you can. Of course you can. Jesus has forgiven me, I can forgive. He's forgiven you, you can. Of course you can. If you won't, that's a whole 'nother Bible study.

And he says to them, "You won't believe in me," not that you can't. But that's what John is saying. "In Him, Jesus Christ, was life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." Refused him, wouldn't have him. And Jesus finishes it off. I read you the verse and I broke it up, so let me read it again. Verse 12. "Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, 'I am the light of the world.'"

Now listen to the rest. "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The one that follows me will never walk in darkness. How long? Never walk in darkness. Can you belong to Jesus Christ and walk in darkness? It can't be done. To follow means this: to believe on him, to trust in him, and to by God's grace walk in him day by day.

It's not just you believed once when you were seven, then you got baptized and it's all been roses and rainbows. No, it's been a daily walk. It is a daily walk. And if you had a rough day today, the good thing about this is right now you can start all over afresh. Now, the unsaved. If you choose to say, "Well, Jesus sounds kind of cool, but that's just not my thing. I don't want that." Okay, well you can call yourself whatever you like, but the Bible says that you refuse to believe. You are a non-believer. "Unsaved" is the word you could use. So the unsaved, the non-believer, they are walking around in darkness.

Now, light reveals. Light makes things visible. First Corinthians chapter two, verses 11 through 14. "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual."

Verse 14 of First Corinthians two: "But the natural man, the non-believer, receives not the things of the spirit of God. Why? They are foolishness to him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned." When you and I come to Jesus Christ, that's what he was saying. The one that follows me will never walk in darkness from that point on. We'll be learning and growing and it will never stop. We'll be learning through all eternity.

We will never walk in darkness, we will have the light of life, Jesus Christ Himself. But these things that you and I are learning are spiritually discerned. So your average garden-variety non-believer can read through their Bible, but they don't know what's being said. I could pick it up and read it and read it through. That's why, because I always wondered this in my own mind, people say, "Well, I've read through the Bible two or three times and then I read through the Tibetan Book of the Dead and I've decided, you know, Wicca religion is for me. Of those two, that one made more sense to me than the Bible did."

And you think, you know why? Because these things are spiritually discerned. Those things are of the devil. They're earthly, they're sinful. And you think, you know the Word of God is a lamp unto your feet and a light to your path. You were nowhere safe to walk. But it's spiritually discerned. You must be born again. And that's what Jesus is telling them.

But if you'll notice, let me read the language. "Then spake Jesus again unto them," verse 12, "saying, 'I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'" Notice something, it's clear here if you will hear it. I'm not adding anything in, but notice this. He's not just the light of the world to the children of Israel. Get it? He's the light of the world to the Gentiles.

The call is to everyone, not just a certain chosen few. He's saying it to these people that are listening, but the message is going to go out from Israel through the whole world. Go out to the highways and byways. Take this to the ends of the earth. Give them the message. The message is this: he's the light to the Gentiles as well, not just the Jewish people. Not just the people in Europe, not just the people over there in Africa, but even the people in America or South America. All over the planet. That's a great point that I think is overlooked.

Jesus is for everybody if they want him. He's for you if you want him. If you recognize that you don't know what you're doing and that your life's a mess and it's all upside down and you're not sure whether you're upside down or right-side up and you can't tell. Jesus is the answer for that. The Pharisees therefore said to him, verse 13, "You bear record of yourself." Jesus answered and said unto them, "Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true or my witness is true, for I know where I came from and I know where I'm going, whither I go. But you cannot tell whence I came and whither I go."

"You judge after the flesh. I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is correct and true for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." Okay, put all that together. He's the light of the world. He just claimed to be God. They're mad at him already. They've already said he's blasphemed. That's another blasphemy in their minds and they're saying, "You're just talking about yourself. We're supposed to believe you just because you say it?"

The Pharisees want to argue with him. They want to challenge him. They challenge Jesus and they challenge him from a legal standpoint. Meaning what? They challenge him right out of the law, God's Word, the law of Moses, the old covenant. They say, "Legally you don't have a leg to stand on. You're testifying all by yourself about yourself. This wouldn't stand up in court. You couldn't run into court and say, 'Hey, I'm innocent and I'm a nice guy,' and the court's not going to believe that, why? Because you're saying it about you, right?" That's their point.

The law ain't going to let you get away with this. If we took you into the court, we'd go by the law of Moses, no way. In the law, remember this everyone, I'll read it to you, but the individual's testimony was not enough. It's never enough. If they say if you're guilty of this, we're going to put you to death. What are you going to say first of all? "I didn't do it." Well, if not, there's something kind of wrong with you. So your testimony alone, it won't stand, not in a court of law even today, because our legal system is based on the law of Moses.

In the law, an individual's testimony is not enough. It wouldn't be sufficient at all by itself. The individual could be lying, so you need two or more witnesses. Deuteronomy 19:15, "One witness shall not rise up against a man for an iniquity or for any sin in any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established." Two or more witnesses.

Didn't Jesus just use that at the beginning of the chapter? And all the witnesses left and he said, "Where are your accusers? Is anybody accusing you?" No, there's no witnesses left. Well, if there's no witnesses, we don't have a case. Go and sin no more. Remember? They thought he was just another man, right? They just think he's some guy from Galilee and they refused to believe that he was the eternal son of God like he said he was. They refused to accept that he would be equal with God.

And listen to what he says. "You don't know what you're talking about. You judge," well, what's his word? "You judge after the flesh." How many of us judge after the flesh? Yeah, we do, don't we? We'll throw some scripture in there, but how do we judge? After the flesh. How come? Because we can't see the heart. He says, "You judge according to the flesh. You only see what you're seeing. You don't even know who I am or what I'm really all about, and you won't listen."

And basically, what he's saying is, "I know where I came from. I came from the Father. I came from heaven. You don't know where I came from, but I know where I came from. And by the way, you don't know where I'm going, and I know where I'm going. When you guys put me to death, I'm going back to the Father. You don't know it. I'm trying to tell you, but you won't listen, but I know it."

In other words, the truth doesn't change if everybody around you doesn't accept it. And that seems to be the world today. Truth, they'll say, is not absolute. If the whole world says it's right to do this, then all of a sudden it becomes right. And if the whole world says now it's no longer right to do that, then it becomes wrong. But the truth is truth never changes. Right never becomes wrong. Wrong never becomes right. Get it?

And God says, "Woe to those who call wrong right and right wrong and dark light, etc." And that's what's going on. He knew that he'd come from heaven and he knew he was going back. They did not know where he came from or where he was going. The problem with the Pharisees was that they judged by outward appearances, the flesh. They judge according to the flesh, human standards. You know why? That's all we have. That is all we have.

So who of us should be judging? Well, the answer comes to a total of none. But then people start pulling out scripture and say, "Well I can do this and I can do that." Yeah, okay, just answer the question, who should be judging? Jesus said the Father, right? Should be doing the judging. God Almighty. They're judging by human standards. In other words, they're judging by what they think they know about him, where they think he came from.

Remember they argued that he's from Galilee and Messiah has to come from Bethlehem. Remember all that silly argument? They didn't know where he was born. They didn't care. And so they're judging by human standards. And that's why Jesus would say in Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, lest you be not judged for with what measure you hand it out, it's going to come back at you." He says, "I judge no man," verse 15. "Yet if I were to judge, my judgment is true for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me."

Keep this in mind: Jesus did not come to judge or to condemn any one of those Pharisees or Sadducees. He didn't come for that. He came to shed his blood for them, to call them home, to call them to himself, just like all the other people he ran into, even his enemies. Jesus said love your enemies. Even his enemies, sworn enemies because they wanted to be, he loved them. So take note: he didn't come to judge or condemn. He came to save them and they said no. Some of them.

Be careful and don't become all about judging others. We need to be like Jesus, not like the devil. And it's kind of easier to be a little more like the devil because the devil is the accuser of the brethren, and he's ripping us to shreds constantly. And Jesus Christ, our advocate with the Father, is there in the throne room and the devil says, "Well look at Bob," and Jesus says, "That's on me. I took that one. I paid. That's on me." Devil says something about you, Jesus says, "That's mine. That's on me. It's forgiven."

And Jesus points it out to them in verse 16. He is one with the Father, so his judgment would be spiritual, righteous, and true. That's why we're told, leave it to him. We can judge, but not to condemnation. We can judge for identification. "It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true or usable, trustable. I am one that bears witness of myself and the Father that sent me bears witness of me." There's two witnesses he said: my Father and me.

Remember the Father spoke out loud when Jesus came out of the water at his baptism? "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." He spoke out loud from heaven. He spoke out loud from the Mount of Transfiguration. "My beloved son, Peter, listen to him." Remember, instead of talking, right? He says, "I am one that bear witness of myself and the Father bears witness of me." And they said to him—they have no clue what he's talking about but they're mocking—"Where is your father?" Jesus answered, "You neither know me nor my father. If you had known me, you would have known my father also."

These words Jesus spoke in the treasury right there in the temple area as he taught in the temple. And no man laid hands on him. No one even put a finger on him because his hour had not yet come. It wasn't time to arrest Jesus. When it's time, they don't even have to come and get him. He—they did, but he said, "You don't need the weapons. I'm turning myself in right now. Here am I, take me." Why? Because my hour is now. The time for him to die.

Jesus says, "You are right. The law of Moses does require two witnesses minimum, two or more." And he says, "And I bear witness of myself and my Father that sent me bears witness of me also. There are your two witnesses, so we're right according with the law." The Pharisees sort of mock him and they say, "Oh really?" Basically, "Where is your father then? Where is the other witness? We want to talk to him. Where is your father?"

Listen to this. They claim to know the law, but they didn't know the God of the law. They were talking to Jesus Christ there, God Almighty. So these experts had God right in front of them and didn't even recognize him, didn't even know who they were talking to. Common people, regular people who really knew they were a mess, they loved the Lord and saw him as their savior and Lord. But the Bible experts, they're just too good at all this and they claim to know the law, but they didn't know the God of the law.

He says they didn't recognize their Messiah and therefore they can't recognize their God either. They didn't recognize their Messiah and they don't know the Lord their God. You can't know one without the other because Jesus says, "I and my Father are one." You can't say that you know God and not have Jesus Christ. You can't say that you have Jesus and not know the Father. You can't do it; you can't separate them. The cults do that. They'll say Jesus isn't the son of God, but we believe in God. No, you don't. Because if you don't know the son, you don't know the Father. And if you don't know the Father, you don't know the son.

And I like this because it's not time yet, they can't even touch him. They can't lay a finger on Jesus. Christian, are you afraid? Are you afraid sometimes, catch yourself afraid? Well, what if this happens? What if that happens? Well, here's what I'm learning: they can't lay a finger on you until it's time. They were right there in the treasury, right there. They have the temple guards, the temple police, the temple soldiers really is what they are. And they couldn't even touch him.

And the reason they couldn't touch him the Bible says is it's not time for you to touch me. When it's time, you can touch me all you want. That's up to my Father. But right now no, I'm busy, I'm teaching. And he kept teaching. There was nothing they could do because his hour had not yet come. It wasn't time for him to be crucified, to shed his blood, to go to the cross and suffer. But he will and it's coming up soon because we're already in chapter eight. It's coming up soon. He will, but not until it's time.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM.

You can download today's message in its entirety at northcountrychapel.com/studies. That's northcountrychapel.com/studies. If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again: 1-800-572-8851.

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