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Sermon #5461

Children of the Light

A Sermon on John 8:12

Originally preached May 15, 1960

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Scripture

John 8:12 ESV KJV
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)

Sermon Description

In this sermon on John 8:12 titled “Children of the Light,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones addresses one of the problems that haunts the human race, namely a lack of knowledge of self. Throughout time, humankind has had many opinions of what constitutes a human. At times, civilization has regarded humankind as being nothing more than animals that engage in all sorts of passions, hungers, and lusts. At other times, humankind has concerned itself solely with the biological, believing people are slaves to their biology. Contrary to these ideas, Dr. Lloyd-Jones clarifies that every human being is made in the image of God and is a soul of inestimable value that will one day face a judgement of eternal consequence. The outcome of the soul is worth more than the whole world. Jesus said, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” Dr. Lloyd-Jones elaborates that the time of decision is not later, but now. Everyone will die and face judgement. Seek God at a time when He may be found. Those who receive Christ are no longer in darkness but are called children of light and have a saving-knowledge of God through Jesus.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. Jesus proclaims that he is the light of the world.
  2. There are summaries of the Christian gospel found throughout the Bible.
  3. It is easy to miss the central message of the faith by focusing on details and problems.
  4. The world has a false impression of Christianity as merely a negative protest.
  5. The message of Christianity is that Jesus is the light of the world.
  6. We must look to Jesus, not the darkness.
  7. Jesus alone can save us from the darkness.
  8. The important thing is Jesus himself, not just his teachings.
  9. Christianity is exclusive - Jesus alone is the light of the world.
  10. We need to know God, and we can only know God through Jesus.
  11. We also need to know ourselves, and we can only truly know ourselves through Jesus.
  12. Modern views of humanity are wrong. We can only know what humanity should be by looking at Jesus.
  13. Jesus shows us that man was created in God's image but has fallen into sin.
  14. Sin is universal - all have sinned.
  15. Sin brings spiritual death, darkness, and moral perversion.
  16. The end result of sin is eternal death under God's wrath.
  17. Jesus came to save us from sin, death, darkness, and God's wrath.
  18. We must turn to Jesus, the light of the world, to be saved.

The Book of John

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.