The Light Has Come
A Sermon on John 3:19
Originally preached April 14, 1957
Scripture
19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Sermon Description
In this sermon on John 3:19 titled “The Light Has Come,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that this is the most tragic verse in all of Scripture. This is because though God has provided a way of salvation in His Son Jesus Christ, in sinful blindness people reject Jesus. They stumble over the message of God’s free grace in Christ because they seek to establish their own righteousness apart from God. Why do they oppose the gospel message? The answer is because they do not believe that they are in need. They do not see that they are sinners in need of redemption and God’s mercy. They do not come to grips with the clear facts of their own sin and brokenness; they seek to explain away sin, guilt, and death. The answer to humanity’s hopeless condition is Jesus, who is able to save even the worst sinners. Because they are unable to believe the message of the gospel on their own, it is only God who can grant the gift of belief and repentance. Even though humanity is lost in darkness and alienated from God, God in His power is able to give sight to the blind and restore the hearing of the deafest sinner. This is because God is the author of all salvation and blessing.
Sermon Breakdown
- Men do not realize that the fact of Christ is the most momentous question facing them.
- Men do not realize who Christ is. They regard him as irrelevant.
- Men do not realize that all we need and infinitely more is found in Christ.
- The world is as it is because men are spending time with theories instead of facts.
- The world does not know who Christ is, so they do not consider the fact of Christ.
- The Bible and Christianity call us to face the facts, the primary fact being that the light (Christ) has come.
- Christ is not just a man but the eternal Son of God who came down from heaven. The incarnation is a fact of history.
- We must look at the facts of Christ's life, death, resurrection, and impact as recorded in the Gospels and history.
- The world desperately needs light on God, man, the world, life, death, and eternity. This light is found only in Christ.
- Christ reveals God as holy, glorious, infinite, and light. God is not like man.
- Christ reveals that man is sinful, perishing, and helpless to save himself. Man is a slave to sin and needs to be born again.
- Christ reveals that the world does not know God. The world was once paradise but now is fallen due to sin.
- Christ shows us how to live an abundant life of joy, peace, and rest in him. He can liberate us from sin and enable us to conquer.
- Christ provides light on death and eternity. Death is not the end. There is life after death and judgment. Christ died so we can have eternal life.
- We must come to the light (Christ) by believing in him, confessing our sins, and surrendering our lives to him. Then we will walk in the light of life.
Sermon Q&A
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Sermon Questions and Answers from John 3:19
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones identify as "the most tragic verse in the Bible" and why?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies John 3:19 as "the most tragic verse in the whole of the Bible" because it holds us face to face with the tragedy of the world in sin and the most tragic event in human history - the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. As he states: "This verse, I say, holds us face to face with both these things. We see why the world is as it is. And we are looking at that tragedy of tragedies, the foolish mob that cried away with him, crucify him, and chose a robber, Barabbas, to be released instead."
According to the sermon, what is humanity's fundamental problem - intellectual or moral?
According to Lloyd-Jones, humanity's fundamental problem is moral and spiritual, not intellectual as many assume. He states: "Man, as we've seen, is still persuaded and convinced that his essential problem is intellectual, whereas our Lord is here revealing so clearly that the essential problem is moral and is spiritual." This is evidenced by the text which says "men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil."
What does Lloyd-Jones identify as the "height of the tragedy" concerning God's love?
The height of the tragedy, according to Lloyd-Jones, is that "the world, in its blindness, turns God's greatest act of love into something that becomes the means of its own condemnation." He states, "The condemnation is that God's greatest act of love, even God's greatest act of love, is so misunderstood and refused and rejected that that very thing becomes the means of our condemnation. Now there is no tragedy greater than that."
Why does Dr. Lloyd-Jones say the world rejects Christ despite being in trouble?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones outlines several reasons why the world rejects Christ despite its troubles: 1. People do not realize that the fact of Christ is the most momentous question facing them - they're preoccupied with theories rather than facts. 2. They do not realize who Christ truly is - they see Him as irrelevant because they don't recognize His true identity. 3. They do not realize that everything they need and more is found in Christ - they look elsewhere for solutions to their problems.
What kind of "light" does Christ bring according to the sermon?
According to Lloyd-Jones, Christ brings light on: 1. God - revealing who God truly is 2. Ourselves - showing our true condition as slaves to sin 3. The world - explaining why the world is as it is 4. How to live - offering guidance for abundant life 5. How to die - providing peace in the face of death 6. Eternity - giving assurance about what comes after death
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones describe man's relationship to sin?
Lloyd-Jones describes humans as slaves to sin, quoting Jesus: "He that committeth sin is the servant of sin." He explains that we are "the slaves and the servants of sin" with "lusts and evil passions and desires within us, and we are governed and controlled by them." He rejects the concept of free will in this context, saying, "Free will. What are you talking about? You haven't got it. You're the slave of an evil nature within you, and you know you are."
What is the only hope for mankind according to the sermon?
The only hope for mankind, according to Lloyd-Jones, is to be born again through faith in Christ. He states, "There is only one hope for him. He must be born again." Later he elaborates that salvation comes through "believing this message that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten son of God... That he, the son of God, came... to deliver us. To deliver us from sin, from its punishment. By dying for our sins."
What does it mean to "come to the light" according to Dr. Lloyd-Jones?
Coming to the light means: 1. Believing the message about Jesus as God's Son 2. Recognizing your sin and hopelessness 3. Confessing your sins to God and repenting 4. Believing "as a little child this message" 5. Surrendering your life to Christ 6. "Leaving all and going after him"
Lloyd-Jones says: "Coming to the light means turning away from everything and turning to him and saying, I see it. I believe your message. I see myself in sin and hopelessness and shame. I believe you've died for me. I leave myself to you. Take me. Possess me."
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.