Children of the Light
A Sermon on John 8:12
Originally preached May 15, 1960
Scripture
12¶ 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.
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
- Jesus proclaims that he is the light of the world.
- There are summaries of the Christian gospel found throughout the Bible.
- It is easy to miss the central message of the faith by focusing on details and problems.
- The world has a false impression of Christianity as merely a negative protest.
- The message of Christianity is that Jesus is the light of the world.
- We must look to Jesus, not the darkness.
- Jesus alone can save us from the darkness.
- The important thing is Jesus himself, not just his teachings.
- Christianity is exclusive - Jesus alone is the light of the world.
- We need to know God, and we can only know God through Jesus.
- We also need to know ourselves, and we can only truly know ourselves through Jesus.
- Modern views of humanity are wrong. We can only know what humanity should be by looking at Jesus.
- Jesus shows us that man was created in God's image but has fallen into sin.
- Sin is universal - all have sinned.
- Sin brings spiritual death, darkness, and moral perversion.
- The end result of sin is eternal death under God's wrath.
- Jesus came to save us from sin, death, darkness, and God's wrath.
- We must turn to Jesus, the light of the world, to be saved.
Sermon Q&A
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on John 8:12: Understanding Christ as the Light of the World
What does Jesus mean when He says "I am the light of the world"?
According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, when Jesus states "I am the light of the world," He is making an exclusive claim that He alone can illuminate spiritual truth. Lloyd-Jones emphasizes: "I, he says, and I alone can do this. Ours is a very exclusive gospel. There is no second, there is no helper needed. I, he says, and I alone, that's the emphasis of the original. I and I alone am the light of the world." This statement means Jesus is the only source of spiritual understanding about God, humanity, sin, and salvation.
Why does Dr. Lloyd-Jones say the world doesn't understand itself without Christ?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that without Christ, humanity remains in darkness about its true nature. He states: "The trouble is, I say, that men doesn't know himself. He doesn't know the truth about himself." Lloyd-Jones points out that modern views of humanity are fundamentally flawed - whether seeing humans as merely reasoning animals, biological machines, or economic products. Only Christ reveals that humans are spiritual beings made in God's image with immortal souls. "You'll never know God except in Christ. I say more. You'll never know man except you look at Christ," Lloyd-Jones affirms.
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones identify as the main problem of humanity?
The main problem of humanity, according to Lloyd-Jones, is sin and the resulting spiritual darkness. He explains: "Why is the world as it is? Why are men and women living as they are? Why are they ignoring God and never turning to him in prayer? Why don't they believe in Christ? Why are they living to the flesh in this present world? Why is their one and only concern to preserve the life of the body...? Why don't they ever think about the soul and this eternal destiny? Why? Because they're in the darkness." This spiritual blindness leads to misplaced priorities and eternal consequences.
How does following Christ solve the problem of spiritual darkness according to this sermon?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones teaches that following Christ brings light to the darkness of our spiritual existence. He quotes Jesus: "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." When we follow Christ, we receive true understanding about God, ourselves, sin, and salvation. Lloyd-Jones explains that Christ "came to save you from that hell, from that endless torment outside the face of God and the bliss of paradise and of glory. To save you from the devil and from these evil, perverted nature. And to remake your soul and to make it through man of you again in the image of God as God made men at the beginning."
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones say about human attempts to fix the world's problems?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones is deeply skeptical of human attempts to fix the world's problems apart from Christ. He states: "This isn't to be pessimistic... This is to be realistic. Isn't mankind foolish? It says on the one hand it's not interested in the gospel. Why? Well, they say it's fairy tale. It's make belief. I'm a realist, says the modern men... I want realism. Well, my friend, if you want realism, you'd better come quickly to the Bible. It's the newspapers who are fooling you and telling your fairy tales." He argues that world peace conferences, political solutions, and human ingenuity cannot address the fundamental problem of sin.
What is the eternal consequence of rejecting Christ according to this sermon?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones warns that rejecting Christ leads to eternal separation from God. Using the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, he emphasizes: "A man's eternal destiny is determined in this life and in this world. No second chance, no movement from hell to heaven after death. No universal redemption... but a great gulf, fixed and fixed to all eternity with never an end, one or the other, forever and forever and forever." The sermon emphasizes that our decisions in this life regarding Christ have eternal consequences that cannot be changed after death.
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones define sin in this sermon?
In this sermon, Dr. Lloyd-Jones defines sin as universal, inherited, and spiritually deadly. He states: "We are all born sinners. We are all born in a state of sin. We don't come in a neutral state into this world and then go wrong. We are born wrong. We've inherited it." He describes sin as causing spiritual death and blindness: "What sin does to us is to make us spiritually dead. We're all dead in trespasses and sins, as the apostle Paul puts it. What's it mean? Well, it means that the spiritual side of our nature is not functioning." Sin results in moral perversion and places people under the sway of the devil.
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones say about the soul and its importance?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that the soul is what makes a human truly human and distinguishes us from animals. Quoting Jesus, he asks: "What shall it profit a man, though he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Lloyd-Jones laments that modern society focuses entirely on the physical while neglecting the spiritual: "I can tell you why the world is as it is tonight. It is because it doesn't realize that men has got a soul. They're only interested in the body." He insists that caring for one's immortal soul should be the highest priority, as it determines one's eternal destiny.
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.