Latest / Scripture Central / Come Follow Me Insights (Apr 24 - Apr 30)John 7–10

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Come Follow Me Insights (Apr 24 - Apr 30)John 7–10 · Scripture Central

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  Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to come.
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  Follow me, insights with Taylor and Tyler, presented by
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  scripture Central. We use a lot of visuals in our
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  videos. So if you want to see the
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  visuals, we invite you to find us on YouTube.
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  Thanks for listening and enjoy. I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler.
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  This is scripture Central's, come follow me insights this
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  week, John 7 through 10. So let's jump in in our first
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  episode with chapters 7 and 8 and then we'll do chapters 9 and
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  10 for the second episode this week.
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  Seeing stories to cover in John's gospel in chapter 7 verse
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  10 says, after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee for, he
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  would not walk in jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.
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  The implication is he's not walking openly down in Judea
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  down in Jerusalem. Now, the Jews Feast of
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  Tabernacles was at hand. Feast of Tabernacles, happens in
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  the fall Sometime Late, September, early, October
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  depending on the lunar calendar. As a given year.
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  And so this situates us orient's us so that we can kind of see
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  the rest of John's gospel. We're about six months away,
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  give or take from the Feast of Passover, where Jesus is going
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  to be crucified. So he's got about six months
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  left in his in his life, in his ministry.
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  So, in the context, this is the Feast of Tabernacles, this is to
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  remind the people People, their forefathers have been saved by
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  God from Egyptian bondage, and were brought out in the
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  wilderness and there, they lived in these temporary booths.
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  And that is where they encountered God was out in the
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  wilderness. So we see themes here, of God,
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  finding his people are bringing them in the Into the Wilderness
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  to save them. So think about this context as
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  we read this next chapter. Yeah.
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  So you're up in Galilee Jesus has this interesting interaction
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  with his brothers, his own family members, We're verse 3,
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  says his brother and therefore said unto him, depart hence and
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  go into Judea that. I disciples Also may see the
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  works that thou doest. So, his own family members are
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  saying it, go down, people need to see more of your works, and
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  Jesus told them that he's not going to go, but he sends them a
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  head. But then you get this little
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  interesting insertion by John in verse 5, where he says As for
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  neither, did his Brethren believe in him, his own family
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  members, didn't believe that he was divine to them, he was just
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  their oldest brother. And verse 6 says my time is not
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  yet come but your time is always ready.
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  So he sends the rest of his family members along with
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  probably many of his disciples to go down to Jerusalem to this
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  Feast of the Tabernacle saying I'm not going to come down yet.
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  But then he ends up going down later.
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  Now, if we pause there for just a minute, keep in mind later on
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  scriptural tradition holds that James, the writer of the Epistle
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  of James is a half-brother of Jesus, as well as Jude another
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  possible half, brother of Jesus, who later on right Epistles, who
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  become converted. But the the message is that
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  James especially is only converted after After the
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  resurrection of Jesus Christ, not during his ministry, so we
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  end up with the group going down.
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  But then Jesus showed up in the middle of the feast, look at
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  verse 14. Now, about the midst of the
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  feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
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  So he came after all, and the Jews marveled saying, how know,
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  if this man letters having never learned?
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  Was he able to read? He didn't come through any of
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  our schools. They have the two major
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  rabbinical schools in that day, the school of shammai and the
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  school of Halal and Jesus isn't a graduate of either program and
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  they're shocked that he's able to be lettered that he can read.
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  Keep in mind, we don't know the exact.
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  But many scholars put the estimate somewhere between three
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  and ten percent of the population is able to read.
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  It's a A very unusual capacity and they're shocked that Jesus
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  in that Elite group of literate, people.
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  And then he gives the answer not directly to them, but veiled to
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  his disciples. And I think for us today to
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  benefit from look of her 16 and 17.
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  Jesus answered and said, my Doctrine is not mine but his the
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  To me. It's almost as if to say you
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  went to the school of Halal or shammai, but I went to the
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  school of him that sent me my father, taught me what I need
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  and and I'm not doing my own my own teaching.
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  I'm not making anything up. What could verse 17?
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  If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine,
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  whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself, he's
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  basically saying put it to the test.
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  Don't have to assume that. I'm just making up these
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  teachings, do it and then you'll learn whether it's of God, or
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  whether it's man-made, what a beautiful principle, you know,
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  if we apply this to any Doctrine or any commandment or any aspect
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  of the Gospel or church today, verse 17 is amazing because it
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  becomes this opportunity for us to put the Lord To the test in
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  an appropriate way to say is the law of tithing just made up.
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  Well, you can read about it, you can study other people's
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  experience with it. You can become the world's
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  expert on the law of tithing and still not fully know whether
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  it's of God. Jesus formula here is the way
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  you really discover. If a Doctrine is of God Is by
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  doing it, not just by studying it, any Builds on this basis,
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  I'm not speaking out of my own authority.
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  I'm not trying to glorify myself Verse 18.
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  He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own Glory but he
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  that seeketh his glory that sent him same is true, and no
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  unrighteousness is in him. So Jesus is representing the
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  authority of God. And what happens in the world
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  today? People try to speak on their own
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  authority or in the authority of somebody who is in their realm
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  of, of associations. Jesus is people in usual, he
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  speaks on the authority of God, and then this conversation gets
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  heavy really fast. It turns a corner, very quickly
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  here and it becomes one of the biggest confrontations we've
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  had. We had a fairly lengthy
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  confrontation with the Pharisees in the leaders back in John
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  chapter 5. But this one, this one is up a
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  notch. He starts in verse 19, did not
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  Moses, give you the law and yet none of you keepeth the law.
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  Why go ye about to kill me. Whoa that that was a major major
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  line that he just stepped over when he says none of you are
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  keeping the law. Because this whole group.
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  What are they Pride themselves with?
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  We keep the law. We are the lawkeepers and we are
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  so much better at it than everybody else.
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  And now, here's this man saying I know you're not keeping the
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  lon, you're not righteous, you're self-righteous.
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  And he doesn't have a lot of patience for self-righteousness.
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  And he then continues in this conversation with them, notice
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  in verse 24. He says judge not according to
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  the appearance and the Joseph Smith translation says,
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  according to your traditions Stop making your judgments on
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  People based on the Traditions but judge righteous judgment.
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  So notice one of their responses in verse 27 howbeit.
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  We know this man whence he is, we know who he is, and we know
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  where he comes from. But when Christ cometh, no man
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  knoweth whence he is, are you noticing there now?
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  Teaching one of their Traditions that when the Messiah comes,
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  he's going to come Out of out of the east or out of unknown lands
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  and he's going to show up on a, on a big stallion, with a drawn
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  sword, and wipe out the, the Roman government and restore the
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  kingdom to Israel. That's their tradition.
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  But they're like boat. But we know you, we know where
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  you're from, you're From Galilee the Backwater, this gets back to
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  this question. We keep seeing the identity of
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  Jesus, who is Jesus. This is An ongoing question and
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  it's important because it reverberates still, today, who
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  is Jesus? And do you know him and the more
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  clearly we get about the identity of the Jesus and our
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  relationship to him. The more we are brought into
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  that Covenant relationship but they're making these
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  assumptions. They know who he is and because
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  of those assumptions, it keeps him on the wrong path.
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  So as we continue to read, we want to ask ourselves.
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  Have I truly known Jesus? That's an extremely relevant
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  point for all of us to wrestle with is, am I doing the same
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  thing to the Lord Jesus Christ as these Pharisees and leaders?
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  The people back? Then we're I'm creating a box
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  and I'm trying to fit God into that predefined box that I have
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  made for him and when he doesn't fit it then I say well that's
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  clearly not the Lord. It's amazing how much he does in
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  our life that we probably don't recognize as coming from him.
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  So look at verse 28, then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught
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  saying ye both know me and you know whence I am and I am not
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  come of myself but he that sent me.
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  Is true whom ye know not so Jesus is going to use this
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  phrase, just watch for it sent me sent me.
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  It's going to show up in twenty, eight twenty nine, thirty three.
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  It's going to come up across the page when we when we keep moving
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  forward in chapter 8, as well. He keeps bringing up this idea
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  of I am not here on my own. I I didn't bring myself here.
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  I was sent here. I am on a mission by him who
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  sent me and he starts describing more of that, that relationship.
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  It's beautiful, verse 29. I know him for, I am from him
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  and he hath sent me. I wish I would have known this
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  Doctrine better. When I went out on my mission at
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  age, 19 to really understand and contemplate what it means to
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  live life. Wearing that name over over my
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  heart, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with
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  with my name, Elder Griffin, on that tag to be able to have this
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  kind of perspective would have deepened, my experience.
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  To realize, I didn't go to Brazil.
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  I didn't go and serve among the people in the, in the Crea
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  Chiba, Brazil and mission of my own I was sent there.
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  And if I had spent more time contemplating, he who it was,
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  that sent me on that mission and saying, being able to say, I
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  know him and I am from him and he hath sent me.
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  I would have probably spent more time, loving people and
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  connecting better with them and helping them.
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  Connect better with God than just me doing the socially
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  acceptable thing of serving. My mission starting at age 19.
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  If we skip down to verse 38 he says he that believeth on me, as
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  the scripture has said out of his belly shall flow.
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  Rivers of Living Water, is moving water.
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  Now, let's tie Some things in. It's the Feast of the
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  Tabernacles and one of the things that they would do at the
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  Feast of Tabernacles is they would have this incredible
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  procession down to the to the bottom of the city of Jerusalem
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  to the far south to the pool of Siloam which beautifully means
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  sent. He that sent me.
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  And we're going to get the pool of Siloam miracle in chapter
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  nine in the second episode this week.
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  So they would go down to the pool and get water and then
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  bring it back up to the temple for this.
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  Glorious celebration. So they pour the water out at
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  the, to the altar, at the temple, in the symbolism here,
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  we think has to do with the prophecies.
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  We have in the Old Testament, at some point in the future, Living
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  Waters will flow out from Jerusalem out to the Dead Sea
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  and heal it. And there was a sense among the
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  Jews that the temple was the naval of the World or the belly
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  of the world. So, all the Jews knew this.
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  Well, listen to what Jesus is saying, but verse 37 in the last
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  day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if
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  any man thirst let him come to me and drink so already
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  everybody's getting ready to see this water symbolically poured
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  out as a sign of everlasting water to quench all thirst and
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  Jesus is saying I will provide that for you and then he says he
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  that believeth on On me, as the scripture has said, out of his
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  belly shall flow rivers of Living Water.
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  Wow. The temple was the center of the
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  Jewish Community their religion, their state.
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  And Jesus is saying, if you accept me, you will become a
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  temple and this would have been so mind-boggling for a lot of
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  people. Some people would have gotten,
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  it said, we have now seen the truth and others would have been
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  deeply angry that Jesus Was in their minds trampling on their
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  traditions and their symbols which you've beautifully.
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  Just summarized look over 40 through 43.
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  It says many of the people therefore when they heard this
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  saying said of a truth this is the profit.
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  Another said this is the Christ but some said shall Christ come
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  out of Galilee as the Messiah really going to be a Galilean.
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  And then you jump down to 43. So there was a division among
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  the people because of him, just because he's, they're teaching
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  them, loving them perform. These Miracles, doesn't mean
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  that everybody is going to accept him.
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  There was a division as he's declaring who he is.
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  Now, one of my favorite quotes along, these lines comes from
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  c.s. Lewis in mere trip.
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  Mere Christianity near the end of chapter 3 in that book.
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  He says Christ says that he is humble and meek.
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  And we believe him not noticing that.
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  If he were merely a man, humility and meekness, or the
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  very last characteristics, we could attribute to some of his
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  sayings and c.s. Lewis goes on to say, I am
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  trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish
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  thing that people often say about him.
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  I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher.
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  But I don't accept his claim to be God.
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  That is the one thing we must not say a man who was merely a
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  man and said, the sort of things Jesus said, would not be a great
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  moral teacher, he would either be a lunatic on a level with the
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  man who says he is a poached egg or else he would be the devil of
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  hell. You must make your choice
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  either. This man was and is the Son of
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  God or else a Madman. Or something worse.
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  You can shut him up for a fool. You can spit at him and kill him
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  as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and
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  God but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his
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  being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.
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  He did not intend to so you can see how he's being more open now
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  and declaring his identity and it's causing this division
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  summer calling him crazy, some are calling him the I stand,
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  others are seeking his destruction which now sets the
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  stage for verse 1. Jesus went unto the Mount of
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  Olives and early. In the morning, he came again
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  into the temple and all the people came unto him and he sat
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  down and taught them. So now picture this setting
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  visually you're in the temple. It's early in the morning and
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  you get this group of people who comes and gathers Around Jesus
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  and he's teaching seeing them. And then they're interrupted the
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  scribes and the Pharisees brought unto a unto him, a woman
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  taken in adultery, and when they had set her in the midst.
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  So now we get another group of people, these scribes and
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  Pharisees who come into this setting, and they set the woman
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  in the midst, in the middle of the group center of attention.
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  And these are the spiritual leaders of the people.
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  They found this woman taken in the very Act of adultery, they
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  say unto him Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the
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  very act. Now, Moses in the law, commanded
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  us that such should be stoned. But what sayest?
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  Thou. This should cause everyone to
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  start asking a couple of questions.
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  If she was caught in the very act, then the first question
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  should be Be. Where's the man?
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  Because in the law of Moses, if you read the actual law that
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  they're, they're quoting from and they're trying to trap
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  Jesus. In the emphasis is on, bringing
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  the man for judgment and the woman with him.
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  But in this case, they've already broken the law because
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  they've only brought the woman. They haven't brought the man so
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  it's starting to feel very much like a setup like a trap.
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  Other thing to consider how many, how many adulterers have
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  they been stoning recently for that?
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  Practice this, this provision in the law of Moses, two Stone
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  adulterers. It has probably been centuries
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  800-plus or more years since they have been executing the law
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  as it's written in Leviticus. Where it or Leviticus 20?
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  Verse 10 and Deuteronomy 22. It's been hundreds of years.
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  Now they're pulling this law saying.
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  Well Moses said that such should be stoned.
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  But what sayest thou? Can you see how they're setting
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  up this? Perfect trap thinking we've got
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  him because if he says go ahead and stone her, then we can say
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  yes. So much for your new, your new
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  gospel you've been preaching, and if he says don't Stone her,
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  now they have in their minds. Legal grounds to condemn him of
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  setting himself above Moses. This next verse is super
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  significant, I think 46 this. They said tempting him.
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  That they might have to accuse him but Jesus stooped down, and
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  with his finger, wrote on the ground as though he heard them
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  not. And some years ago, when I was
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  in the Brigham Young University of Jerusalem Center, a fellow
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  student mentioned. We just s didn't Jehovah Right.
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  The law with his finger on Stones.
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  I wonder if there's something going on here.
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  Yeah. Isn't that fascinating the
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  instead of talking to the Pharisees and scribes or talking
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  to the woman or talking to the crowd instead of answering their
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  question directly? He's simply stooped down and
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  this is the only instance in the entire New Testament, where you
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  get Jesus writing or a record of him writing anything and what is
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  his right? Ting, instrument his finger on
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  the ground and keep in mind, the temple is still under
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  construction. At this time, it's a 46-year
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  construction project and there are still lots of construction
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  elements there. So you can picture this Stone
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  floor with, maybe some dust and sand, and dirt, and he writes on
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  the stone. So to speak with his finger
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  tight into this beautiful symbolism from Mount Sinai, it
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  goes on. So when they continued asking
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  him, he lifted up himself and said Unto them.
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  He that is without sin. Among you let him first cast a
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  stone at her. And again, he stooped down and
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  wrote on the ground and this, this fellow student said, I
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  wonder if what Jesus was doing was writing with his finger.
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  The upgraded law that no longer do we Stone people.
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  But the new law is we first. Look at our own sin before, we
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  are willing to cast, any stones, and there were plenty of them on
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  the Temple Mount from those. Construction site.
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  So you get this this incredible moment where the tension in the
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  air must have been huge with this Interruption and now by
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  Jesus stooping down and writing with his finger on the ground.
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  Everyone in the crowd, all of these people and maybe even the
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  woman. They're now looking at what he's
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  writing on the ground. Most of them probably couldn't
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  read what it whatever it was he was writing But this group would
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  be more likely to be able to read it and you can just picture
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  over time this quiet steady. I'm not going to engage you.
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  It allows the temperature to come down a little bit in that
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  setting and they keep asking him.
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  But did you notice the significance of his statement
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  when he actually did address them?
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  He that is without sin among you.
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  Well, there's only one person in the temple.
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  There's only one person in the entire world who fits that
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  description and he's the one who's talking to them.
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  He, he could have just pointed to himself.
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  He, that is without sin, among you let him first cast a stone
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  at her, which under this, this law of Moses, if you're going to
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  execute somebody those Witnesses are the ones that need to cast.
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  The first stone, it's kind of a sign of of I'm serious.
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  It can't be this, this false accusation.
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  So he says, let the person who is without sin among you, go
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  ahead, throw a stone and then he Stoops down and writes again.
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  And there have been a lot of people back in the early days.
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  They loved the early Christian writers.
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  Loved talking about this story and speculating about what he
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  was actually writing on the ground.
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  And there are some some great options out there fact is in our
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  scripture, we don't know he's writing Thing, but whatever it
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  is that he wrote, it had an effect.
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  And what is the outcome they, which heard it being convicted,
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  by their own conscience, went out one by one.
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  Beginning at the eldest even under the last, and Jesus was
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  left alone and the woman standing in the midst, the
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  implication to me, is she still standing in the Midst of a large
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  crowd this group has, now, gone out pricked in their own
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  conscience. One by one.
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  Are you noticing how Jesus really is the master teacher?
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  You have three classrooms here of students, you have the crowd,
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  you have the Pharisees and the scribes, and you have a
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  classroom of one. And Jesus is going to help every
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  single one of those classrooms. This day, this group walks out
• 25:13
  pricked in Own conscience, they walk out feeling guilty about
• 25:18
  something and hopefully filling a degree of Sorrow that would
• 25:22
  lead them to repentance, but at least he diverts that group.
• 25:28
  And now I love the wording here in John's account where he says,
• 25:32
  and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing in the midst
• 25:38
  as far as Jesus is concerned. He's not looking at the midst of
• 25:42
  the Earth. The Group at the crowd, he's
• 25:45
  seeing the woman. It's a classroom of one and now
• 25:50
  becomes one of the now begins one of the sweetest teaching
• 25:55
  moments in his ministry, when Jesus had lifted up himself, And
• 26:01
  saw none. But the woman he said unto her
• 26:04
  woman. Where are those thine accusers,
• 26:07
  hath? No, man, condemned thee.
• 26:09
  She said, no man. Lord, and Jesus said unto her,
• 26:14
  neither do I condemn thee, go and sin?
• 26:18
  No more. There's a there is so much in
• 26:23
  these two verses that Jesus lifting up himself, he didn't
• 26:27
  see anyone, but the woman he's looking at her and her alone in
• 26:34
  a in a condition of incredible, vulnerability, and, and public,
• 26:39
  shame and embarrassment, and a moment where she didn't know, if
• 26:44
  she was actually going to be killed a few minutes before this
• 26:47
  point. And him looking at her saying
• 26:52
  where are those thine accusers? Hasn't anybody condemn thee and
• 26:56
  her statement No Man Lord the the Joseph Smith translation
• 27:02
  here that finishes verse 11 says and the woman glorified God from
• 27:08
  that hour and believed on his name, it's a beautiful
• 27:13
  conclusion to the story. Now, can you notice the tension?
• 27:18
  Between two things. The tension between the laws of
• 27:25
  God and the love of God. President Delanie chokes has
• 27:29
  spoken about the beautiful connection between these two.
• 27:34
  Not competition doctrines. Not competing attributes of God
• 27:40
  but perfectly complementary aspects of the Gospel of Jesus
• 27:43
  Christ. And can you see what happens if
• 27:46
  we swing the pendulum too far over to one side or the other?
• 27:50
  We can either become too legalistic and make it so that
• 27:54
  nobody feels any hope for being able to be forgiven if we focus
• 27:59
  too much on the law and you messed up and you're in trouble,
• 28:03
  and you can see that if you swing the pendulum too far to
• 28:06
  the other side. Oh, God loves you.
• 28:09
  He loves you so much. It doesn't matter what you do.
• 28:11
  He still going to love you. That's true.
• 28:14
  But it doesn't mean that he can, then trust you, you're going to
• 28:18
  be stopped in your progression along the Covenant path.
• 28:22
  If you believe that, hey I'm going to eat drink and be merry
• 28:26
  because tomorrow. God's still going to love me and
• 28:28
  he might beat me with a few Stripes but in the end I'll be
• 28:30
  saved. You can see how emphasizing one
• 28:34
  extreme over. The other is going to be a
• 28:37
  damaging effect on somebody's progression along the Covenant
• 28:40
  path. What's interesting here is that
• 28:43
  the way Jesus says This he gives a very strong invitation like he
• 28:48
  shows, Mercy like, go like I'm not going to condemn you at this
• 28:53
  point but sin no more. You see both of these wrapped up
• 28:58
  in that single phrase. Yeah, what a difference.
• 29:00
  It would be if this story ended with Jesus, looking at the woman
• 29:04
  saying, yeah, neither do. I condemn the go and since some
• 29:08
  more that wouldn't have been a very good story and it wouldn't
• 29:14
  have been very kind for Jesus because wickedness never was
• 29:18
  happiness and he's helping this woman not just fill of his love
• 29:23
  and feel of the hope that can come from forgiveness but he's
• 29:27
  helping her recognize the importance of loving God and
• 29:32
  putting his laws first and foremost.
• 29:35
  So in our family relationships, sometimes if we're not careful,
• 29:39
  we'll over I emphasize the love of God to the point where, maybe
• 29:43
  our children grew up in an environment where they they get
• 29:46
  this idea that hey, I can do anything I want and God still
• 29:50
  going to love me. Which isn't very kind to them to
• 29:53
  not teach them the laws of God, and the seriousness of breaking
• 29:58
  those laws and to keep it in balance with God's mercy and his
• 30:03
  grace and his love. And this story contains that
• 30:08
  that interplay as As well as any other story.
• 30:12
  I know, I love how the story then goes on, get this powerful
• 30:16
  verse then speak Jesus verse 12. Again unto them saying, I am the
• 30:22
  light of the world he that followeth me.
• 30:24
  Shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
• 30:29
  We ask a quick question, what time of day is it?
• 30:33
  It turns out, if you look back at verse too early in the
• 30:37
  morning, what happens early in the morning, the sun is rising.
• 30:42
  So Jesus says, I am the light of the world.
• 30:45
  Now, this is a true statement wherever you go.
• 30:48
  Whether it's daytime or nighttime, but he chooses to be
• 30:51
  in the temple. As the sun is rising, possibly
• 30:54
  bathing him in light and he says, I am the light of the
• 30:58
  world. That was the whole point.
• 31:00
  I think that was one of the main things.
• 31:02
  He was trying to teach that day and he got interrupted.
• 31:05
  So sometimes your teacher, you have a plan and you get in
• 31:08
  corrupted, but Jesus still goes back and teaches the lesson.
• 31:12
  Are you noticing that? There was actually a force
• 31:16
  classroom in all of this Temple experience that day.
• 31:23
  And that Force classroom is us today.
• 31:29
  Looking back through the quarter of time, thousands of miles
• 31:32
  away, learning lessons of how to recognize God's law and God's
• 31:40
  love and God's light because he's giving us access to his
• 31:47
  truth and his light today. Just as much as he gave
• 31:51
  everybody back in his own. And a, it's just in a different
• 31:54
  way today, with the help of the Holy Ghost to guide us in the
• 31:57
  study. I love, I love being in the
• 32:02
  classroom watching. Jesus, teach us how to become
• 32:07
  more like him and to walk this Covenant path with him it's such
• 32:12
  a delight to be his student. Now in the rest of chapter 8,
• 32:18
  remember things started to ramp up and heat up in the conflict
• 32:22
  with the Pharisees and scribes in chapter 7, and then they had
• 32:25
  that night in between. Now they're back in the temple.
• 32:28
  Now it's going to be ratcheted up to a whole new level.
• 32:32
  In the rest of chapter 8. This is, this is a difficult
• 32:38
  confrontation that's going to take place.
• 32:42
  So there are a lot of verses here, let's just hit and miss a
• 32:46
  couple of these critical points. Jump down to verse 19, then said
• 32:52
  they unto him where is thy? Father Jesus answered, you
• 32:57
  neither know me, nor my father if you had known me, ye should
• 33:01
  have known my father. Also, Beautiful, invitation to
• 33:05
  us that when we come to know the Savior, what coming to know,
• 33:09
  God, the Father, look at verse 28, then said Jesus unto them.
• 33:13
  When you have lifted up the son of man, then show, you know,
• 33:16
  that I am. He and that I do nothing of
• 33:20
  myself. But as my father has taught me.
• 33:22
  I speak these things. You'll see that phrase.
• 33:27
  I am he succeed in verse 24, we had it right there, in verse 28.
• 33:32
  Do you notice the word he he is in italics.
• 33:36
  That's the King James translators way of signaling to
• 33:39
  us. That that word didn't exist in
• 33:42
  the Greek manuscripts. They're adding it or they're,
• 33:46
  they're making an edit here to make it read more smoothly in
• 33:50
  English. The Greek text is a go Amy.
• 33:57
  I am which when you read the Greek Old Testament called the
• 34:02
  Septuagint, when Moses is talking to the Lord, in the
• 34:06
  burning bush, he asks him, when I go into Egypt to address the
• 34:10
  people, who should I tell them sent me?
• 34:14
  Who's Aaron DeMayo on? And God's answer is in the Greek
• 34:19
  Old Testament version. Septuagint is a go, a meat, I
• 34:23
  am. It's pretty profound here in
• 34:28
  this Temple setting. When he sang, a go Amy, not it,
• 34:32
  because he's not speaking Greek. He speaking Aramaic but it's
• 34:36
  very clear the connection that he's making with the god of the
• 34:40
  Old Testament, Jehovah being himself.
• 34:43
  Elf the word Yahweh in Hebrew, which we know is Jehovah, is in
• 34:49
  some ways is translated as I am the self existing one.
• 34:56
  So the Jews would have known exactly what he's talking about.
• 35:03
  And we don't always get that clearly through the translation
• 35:07
  of our English scriptures. Jesus is saying I am.
• 35:12
  And this is a super important verse Exodus. 3:14 Moses who's
• 35:17
  this, like Premier profit the Jews love, they always want to
• 35:21
  follow him, but have they stopped to ask who was Moses
• 35:25
  following, as when Moses who was sent out tires, already talked
• 35:30
  about the word sent. Moses was sent an apostle to go
• 35:34
  deliver the people. Who sent him, Moses asks, who
• 35:39
  are you under? What name and Authority?
• 35:41
  Will I go present myself? I am or in Hebrew Jehovah.
• 35:48
  Yahweh the self-existent one very, very powerful.
• 35:52
  The scriptures are so exciting. Is this, it's beautiful two
• 35:55
  layers and then you go to verse 29 and he that sent me is with
• 36:00
  me. The father has not left me
• 36:02
  alone. For I do always those things
• 36:04
  that please him, he throws that in there.
• 36:07
  Again I'm not on my own errand. I'm doing that which will please
• 36:14
  God, what a beautiful pattern for each of us to try to emulate
• 36:19
  verse 32. Ye shall know the truth and the
• 36:24
  truth shall make you free. The implication is these people
• 36:29
  are believing a lot of traditions and some lies and
• 36:33
  some half-truths some made-up theories And there's no value.
• 36:40
  There's no lasting benefit. In believing a lie or believing
• 36:44
  an untruth or believing a half truth.
• 36:47
  Truth is truth, our profits have told us and if we know the truth
• 36:53
  then we're made free free to what free to actually use our
• 36:58
  agency and our freedom of choice more fully.
• 37:01
  It's beautiful. So then he comes down to
• 37:05
  skipping down to verse 38. I speak that, which I have seen
• 37:08
  with my father and ye do that which you have seen with your
• 37:13
  father, your Traditions. Now he's going to turn the
• 37:17
  temperature up even more. They said, well, Abraham is Our
• 37:21
  Father and Jesus saith unto them.
• 37:24
  If you were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham
• 37:27
  but now, ye seek to kill me. Now drop down to 41, ye do the
• 37:32
  Deeds of your father. Then they said to him, we be not
• 37:35
  born of fornication so he's hinted at it a couple of times
• 37:38
  you're following your father, and I'm following my father, but
• 37:41
  he hasn't made it very clear. But Watch What Happens.
• 37:44
  Turn the Page over verse 44 ye are of your father the devil?
• 37:52
  Wow, he did this. This conversation just turned a
• 37:57
  corner here when he says it very clearly. plainly, you're
• 38:00
  following your father and your father is the devil You're
• 38:05
  following the lusts of your father.
• 38:07
  He was a murderer from the beginning.
• 38:09
  He didn't abide in the truth and become verse 45 because I tell
• 38:12
  you the truth, you won't believe me.
• 38:14
  You believe me, not, which of you convinced us me of sin and I
• 38:18
  say the truth, why? And if I say the truth, why do
• 38:22
  you not believe me? He, that is of God.
• 38:26
  Heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them.
• 38:29
  Not. Because you're not of God, I
• 38:32
  could keep talking to you forever and ever and you're not
• 38:34
  going. Believe them, because you're not
• 38:37
  of God, you've chosen to follow your father, the devil in this
• 38:42
  context, only sisters. This is an important point for
• 38:45
  us. Today to realize we have agency
• 38:50
  Book of Mormon makes this very clear.
• 38:51
  We are free to choose life and salvation through the atoning
• 38:56
  Redemption of Jesus Christ, or to choose captivity and death.
• 38:59
  According to the Captivity in the power of the devil, it's our
• 39:02
  choice and he's making it. Very clear what this group of
• 39:06
  leaders among the Jewish people have chosen.
• 39:09
  So he goes on, let's jump down to verse 56.
• 39:12
  Is this whole debate about the identity of Jesus and who his
• 39:16
  father is? Mmm.
• 39:17
  They really like the idea of Abraham.
• 39:19
  Jesus says your father Abraham, rejoiced to see my day and he
• 39:24
  saw it and was glad then said the Jews unto him, Thou Art, not
• 39:27
  yet fifty years old. And thou Hast and hast, thou
• 39:31
  seen Abraham, Jesus said unto them, Verily verily.
• 39:36
  I say unto you before Abraham was I am It's this.
• 39:46
  This is beautiful, highly significant.
• 39:48
  And as a side note here, sometimes people pay a lot of
• 39:54
  attention to the punctuation. So notice how you read it before
• 39:59
  Abraham was then there's a comma.
• 40:02
  I am Keep in mind that the commas, the punctuation, the
• 40:08
  capitalization, the versification that is all added
• 40:12
  by King James translators. Because if you look at all of
• 40:15
  the Greek texts, there's not a, there's not a punctuation mark,
• 40:19
  there's not a dividing element in the text.
• 40:24
  It's all capital letters. All one big long, run-on
• 40:28
  sentence in most of those earliest.
• 40:30
  Manuscripts of the Greek New Testament.
• 40:34
  So watch what happens if you move the comma back, one word,
• 40:37
  which 1611 the KJV translators, put it where they did.
• 40:42
  What if we move it back when we're listen before Abraham?
• 40:47
  was, I am that idea of you're putting all of your stock in
• 40:55
  being children of Abraham thinking, that's going to save
• 40:58
  you, but you're really growing up to become like the father
• 41:01
  that you've chosen the devil but before Abraham Was Jehovah and
• 41:07
  he's clearly indicating himself in some fashion.
• 41:11
  We know that because of their response, verse 59 then took
• 41:15
  they up stones to cast it him but Jesus, hid himself and went
• 41:20
  out of the temple, going through the midst of them.
• 41:22
  And so passed by, it's not his our to be slain and he will not
• 41:27
  be slain by stoning, it's prophesied, he will be lifted up
• 41:32
  and crucified. And so he Miraculously is able
• 41:36
  to escape out of the midst of his people.
• 41:39
  So, as we come to the close of this first episode for this
• 41:43
  week, let's re-emphasize this idea that we are part.
• 41:48
  We are given the privilege to be a part of this classroom, as
• 41:54
  students of the master teacher through our study of the New
• 41:59
  Testament this year. What a privilege to get to
• 42:01
  watch. Jesus, interacting with people
• 42:03
  and to learn from him and to plead, with God, to help us in
• 42:09
  our Search for knowledge because we believe him when he says, you
• 42:15
  shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
• 42:20
  That's our, that's our Hope to come to know Jesus ultimately
• 42:25
  because later on in John 14 he's going to tell them.
• 42:29
  I am the way the truth and the life.
• 42:33
  He is the truth and if you put it in that context we shall come
• 42:37
  to know not just true things. Things will come to know the
• 42:41
  embodiment of Truth which is Jesus Christ himself.
• 42:46
  And the truth. Jesus will make us free.
• 42:53
  Chapter 9 is one big, long story.
• 42:57
  That is, it's just beautiful on many levels.
• 43:00
  And the context is so interesting.
• 43:02
  We we left Jesus cutting out of the temple where the people have
• 43:06
  been trying to Stone him to death.
• 43:08
  Now, just give that context he's trying to avoid death in the
• 43:12
  temple. And then this next story
• 43:14
  happens. Yeah, that's a good point.
• 43:16
  If you look at the very last words of verse 59, in chapter 8,
• 43:20
  it says, and so passed by. So he's escaped that stoning up
• 43:24
  in the Temple. And so passed by now.
• 43:27
  Chapter 9 opens with. And, as Jesus passed by, he saw
• 43:32
  a man, which was blind from his birth, though.
• 43:36
  If you're trying to escape death, would you take the time
• 43:40
  to pause and observe somebody else who's suffering?
• 43:43
  And Jesus is like, wow, there's somebody here who might need my
• 43:47
  help. Yeah, and it's fascinating, how
• 43:50
  the disciples asked this initial question in verse 2, they said
• 43:55
  master, who did Sin this man or his parents that he was born
• 43:59
  blind. Are you seeing a subtle hint at
• 44:05
  their belief in Pre mortality, who sinned this man, or his
• 44:11
  parents? Because he was born blind and
• 44:14
  their tradition probably inherited from from Greek
• 44:17
  philosophy. Is that any disability?
• 44:21
  Any struggle, physically. Mentally emotionally is a sign
• 44:25
  of divine disfavor, you did something to offend one of the
• 44:28
  gods or goddesses in your Pantheon.
• 44:31
  Whomever you're worshiping and so now they're punishing you and
• 44:35
  they bring this up with Jesus and his response is neither
• 44:38
  hath. This man sinned nor his parents
• 44:42
  but that the works of God should be made manifest in him and then
• 44:48
  he goes over its verse 6. When he had thus spoken, he spat
• 44:52
  on the ground and made clay of the spittle and he Anointed The
• 44:57
  Eyes Of The Blind Men with the clay.
• 44:59
  If you can picture for a moment, being that that blind man
• 45:03
  sitting there, the Gate of the Temple, He may not be able to
• 45:07
  see physically but blind. People can sense.
• 45:12
  Things more acutely than seeing people can in many settings.
• 45:18
  And especially this man who has had to live by begging.
• 45:23
  You can picture he can sense when somebody's coming close and
• 45:28
  this idea of, oh, somebody's going to make an offering or
• 45:32
  give me either money or food. So you can picture this
• 45:34
  extension of His hands or a cup to get an offering.
• 45:40
  And then he hears I don't know about you, but if I'm the blind
• 45:47
  man, I'm thinking, wait a minute, what's going on here?
• 45:51
  And then Jesus makes spittle clay out of that dirt and his
• 45:57
  spit and then he takes it, shoves it into this man's ice.
• 46:04
  I, I don't know about you, but if I'm that, man, I'm probably
• 46:09
  going to shout out. Help somebody help.
• 46:12
  But you'll notice. There's nothing like that going
• 46:14
  on in the story. There's no resistance from the
• 46:17
  man. I wonder if this chapter 9 is
• 46:22
  about two kinds of sight, both physical and spiritual.
• 46:28
  And we're going to watch this man grow in both ways in seeing
• 46:35
  Jesus for whom he really is and he doesn't resist.
• 46:41
  I wonder if he can sense or feel the power that are in those
• 46:47
  hands that are now touching his eyes and he senses a calmness, a
• 46:53
  steadiness, even in the face of this, very what everybody else
• 46:57
  would see is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful,
• 47:02
  but this man's senses something. And so, Jesus gives him a
• 47:06
  command in verse 7, they said unto him.
• 47:08
  Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation
• 47:12
  scientist. Oh, Jesus sends him to the pool
• 47:15
  called sent in the blind man, went his way there of and
• 47:18
  washed, and came seen. Now, if you understand the
• 47:24
  geography of Jerusalem, I remember as a kid reading this
• 47:26
  story, and I'm always excited to hear the Blind Man's been
• 47:29
  healed. But now, having been in
• 47:30
  Jerusalem where the temple is and where the pool of Siloam is,
• 47:34
  is Lie, quite a hike down. We think about Jesus is always
• 47:38
  so good and loving and kind, which is true.
• 47:41
  But would you send a blind person down?
• 47:43
  A very long steep path without any guidance.
• 47:48
  And so there's a lot of things going on here.
• 47:50
  One thing I take from, this is the faith that Jesus expects the
• 47:55
  man to to display. And, and another Factor here
• 48:00
  that doesn't come in until a little bit later is, it's the
• 48:03
  Sabbath day. Jesus has performed.
• 48:08
  This murder is performing this miracle on Sabbath day.
• 48:10
  So this man now is walking a long way away.
• 48:14
  In fact, if you look at an overview of the city of
• 48:16
  Jerusalem, this is about as far away from the temple as you can
• 48:20
  get inside of the city of Jerusalem to get to a body of
• 48:23
  water and right there on the southern Courtyard of the Temple
• 48:27
  Mount is a huge Mikvah ritual bath, lots of water right there
• 48:34
  and up. The, The Market Street, the the
• 48:36
  Western Wall Street, there are dozens of mikvaot to these
• 48:42
  ritual baths, he could have sent, he could have made this so
• 48:46
  easy for the man, actually, he could have just healed him
• 48:50
  without making him go and wash at all.
• 48:54
  But for that man on that day, part of his journey of seeing
• 49:01
  involved following some pretty difficult.
• 49:05
  Commands. He was sent as far away as he
• 49:08
  could down a very steep path. Is Taylor's described.
• 49:12
  And instead of the man sitting there going, this is ridiculous.
• 49:14
  I'm not going to do it. He went, he followed what Jesus
• 49:19
  told him to do, and he came seeing and now Begins the rest
• 49:25
  of this story. The rest of this chapter, you're
• 49:28
  going to get interactions with various groups.
• 49:31
  So, look in verse 8, it's with the neighbors verse 13.
• 49:35
  Mean the Pharisees Verse 18, his parents and then we get the rest
• 49:39
  of the chapter with ongoing discussions with the Sanhedrin.
• 49:43
  So let's pick it up with the neighbors.
• 49:44
  He comes back, he's seeing he's so excited but his neighbor's
• 49:51
  those who are also begging for their, for their sustenance.
• 49:56
  They say, wow, this can't be him.
• 49:59
  But he says verse 9. Some said this is he another
• 50:03
  said he is like him but he said, I am he it's me, I'm your, I'm
• 50:09
  your buddy and he answered and said a man that is called Jesus
• 50:16
  made clay and anointed mine eyes and sent me to the pool of
• 50:20
  Siloam watch as we see this meant.
• 50:24
  So he's already. He's already physically healed.
• 50:26
  The physical Miracle is done. It's finished.
• 50:29
  Can see. But now watch the spiritual
• 50:32
  Miracle unfold as this blind man becomes a seeing man
• 50:37
  spiritually. He just simply starts with it
• 50:41
  was a man named Jesus. Who did this to me?
• 50:45
  So they said, well, where is he? He's, I don't know.
• 50:48
  So verse 13, they brought him to the Pharisees and it was the
• 50:52
  Sabbath day when Jesus had made the clay and anointed his eyes.
• 50:57
  So, the Pharisees asked him to tell the story.
• 50:59
  Three. And so, he simply tells the
• 51:01
  story of what happened. And so verse 16, you get this
• 51:04
  division among them and John keeps pointing out that there's
• 51:08
  this division among the leadership of the Jews.
• 51:12
  And so, verse 17, they say unto the blind, man.
• 51:15
  Again, what sayest thou of him that he hath opened thine eyes,
• 51:19
  and he said, he's a prophet, they're questioning him on this.
• 51:27
  They're pushing him. How could this have happened?
• 51:30
  Is the Sabbath day? Who is this again?
• 51:33
  And instead of just saying, well, it's a man named Jesus.
• 51:35
  This external pressure has turned into an increased
• 51:40
  internal sight of who he really is.
• 51:44
  And he says oh it was a prophet who did this to me but they're
• 51:49
  so blind in their Traditions. Like No, the world has to be
• 51:52
  this way. Certain things happen on the
• 51:55
  Sabbath. We have certain cultural
• 51:56
  Traditions that nobody should transgress.
• 51:59
  All right, let's go get the parents involved.
• 52:02
  It's almost as if to say, we think this is a setup.
• 52:05
  We're not we're not believing that you were actually born
• 52:08
  blind. So let's get Witnesses.
• 52:09
  So they go and get his parents. The before jump into that these
• 52:12
  Pharisees lived in Jerusalem. What's the likelihood?
• 52:16
  Any one of them could have observed?
• 52:19
  This man at some point. The fact that none of them seem
• 52:23
  to recognize this guy. And here's Jesus who had fled
• 52:26
  from the temple for his life stops observes a man sees a need
• 52:30
  observes to serve and none of these Pharisees who grew up in
• 52:34
  Jerusalem, apparently, even know who this guy is, they had been
• 52:38
  that unobservant of the needy people in their Community.
• 52:43
  That's, that's amazing that point, right there, and it comes
• 52:46
  out in verse 18. But the Jews did not believe
• 52:49
  concerning him that he had been Blind and received his sight,
• 52:52
  which is exactly what. Taylor's pointing out here,
• 52:54
  they've walked in, and out of the temple all the time because
• 52:58
  they're, they're so set on their self-righteousness, that they
• 53:03
  haven't even noticed. This guy to the point where they
• 53:05
  could recognize him and say, oh yeah, I this is him.
• 53:08
  He's been there every day. So here come the parents and you
• 53:11
  can picture these poor, his mother and father are scared to
• 53:14
  death of this. This group of leaders, this
• 53:19
  probably portion of the Sanhedrin.
• 53:21
  And so they ask him, is this your son?
• 53:23
  Yes. Was he born blind?
• 53:25
  Yes. Then.
• 53:26
  Why can he see now? And you can pictures parents
• 53:30
  saying I love their answer. His parents answered them and
• 53:34
  said we know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
• 53:37
  But by what means he now see if we know not her who has opened
• 53:40
  his eyes we know not he is of age, ask him he shall speak of
• 53:44
  himself and then John tells you these words spake, his parents
• 53:49
  because they feared the Jews. What an amazing lesson that in
• 53:55
  our parenting, in our leadership, let us not get to
• 53:59
  the point where people are afraid of us.
• 54:02
  Where if they're obedient to things we say, or do, they
• 54:05
  simply are obedient because they're afraid, they're filled
• 54:09
  with fear. That's a, that's a terrible way
• 54:13
  to motivate people and to, you can't Try to do the Lord's work
• 54:20
  and lead people or parent using the devil's techniques of
• 54:26
  instilling fear and that's what's going on here.
• 54:31
  So they the parents left. So again, they call the man in
• 54:35
  verse 24 and I love this, the irony, a verse 24, then again
• 54:42
  called they the man that was blind and said unto him, give
• 54:45
  God the praise. We know that this Man is a
• 54:48
  sinner. So, the man that you're saying,
• 54:50
  did this, we know he's a sinner. So give God, the praise.
• 54:54
  Oh, the irony of if only thing they knew what they were saying,
• 55:00
  give God the praise, then you should be praising God right
• 55:05
  now, like we praise God, for showing physically what we all
• 55:10
  need spiritually. And we should have pointed out
• 55:13
  earlier part of the theme of this.
• 55:17
  Chapter is light and seen who sees and who doesn't who's
• 55:23
  coming to the light and knowing the true.
• 55:26
  So the truth can set them free and who's choosing to live in
• 55:29
  darkness because my sins and iniquities are easier to hide.
• 55:34
  If I stay out in the darkness, I love our Blind Man's response to
• 55:40
  them. Here are these people who are
• 55:42
  the leaders of the people, the learned', the people with power
• 55:46
  and authority. A and means, and here's this man
• 55:49
  who's been a beggar, his whole life.
• 55:51
  Since the day he was born, he was blind.
• 55:53
  And now, he can see most amazing day ever for him and he's
• 55:59
  scratching his head and probably squinting of this group of men.
• 56:02
  And he says, verse 25, he answered and said, whether he be
• 56:06
  a sinner or no, I know not one thing I know that whereas I was
• 56:11
  blind Now, I see I can't judge the level of sin, but I know
• 56:18
  that that man made it so that I can now see.
• 56:22
  And then their response to him. Is, what did he do?
• 56:25
  The how, how, how opened he thine eyes?
• 56:27
  All right, tell the story again. And this, this blind man who is
• 56:33
  not blind. Speaking to a bunch of men who
• 56:37
  were showing that they're extremely blind spiritually.
• 56:40
  He answered them and said, I have told you already and you
• 56:44
  did not believe you didn't hear it, Joe Smith changed the word,
• 56:47
  hear it to believe we're four and then here's Joseph sedition.
• 56:53
  Where for would you believe if I should tell you it again?
• 56:58
  Would you really believe? And so they now reviled him,
• 57:01
  you're his disciple but we're Moses is disciple.
• 57:05
  So the irony continues, look at verse 29, we know that God spake
• 57:09
  unto Moses as for this fellow, we know not from whence, he is
• 57:15
  which God wasn't the spoke to Moses.
• 57:18
  It happens to be this fellow that they're calling a sinner.
• 57:23
  And so the man answered why here in is a marvelous thing that,
• 57:27
  you know, not from whence he is and yet, Has opened mine eyes.
• 57:32
  You didn't even see me in my blind state but he saw me and he
• 57:37
  healed me, none of you could do that.
• 57:39
  And there are a whole bunch of sick people out there.
• 57:41
  Who if you had that power, go ahead and heal them and none of
• 57:45
  you are doing anything to help them.
• 57:47
  So, why is this such a marvelous thing to you that you're trying
• 57:50
  to figure out who he is whether he's a sinner or not.
• 57:54
  Now, their response down in verse 34 is that was to
• 57:58
  altogether, born in sins. You see how they're bringing up
• 58:03
  this. This cultural belief that
• 58:05
  disability is a sign of divine, disfavor because of sin, you
• 58:10
  were born in sins and Dost thou teach us and they cast him out.
• 58:16
  Implication is there kicking him out of their presence?
• 58:21
  Almost as if this you have no Fellowship.
• 58:24
  With us, you're following this sinner and so you are not
• 58:29
  welcome with us. This happens today when you gain
• 58:33
  more truth than light, there will be other people who don't
• 58:37
  have what you have, and they don't think you're part of their
• 58:41
  tribe anymore and they will kick you out and not want to
• 58:44
  associate with you. It's a hard thing that the more
• 58:47
  truth you require the people who want to live in darkness and
• 58:51
  ignorance are far less likely to be welcome.
• 58:54
  To you and to feel like you're one of them, which is probably
• 58:57
  in the long run, a good thing, but unfortunately, it happens
• 59:00
  is. Sometimes people wanting to have
• 59:03
  the safety and comfort of a group or tribe will be willing
• 59:07
  to reject truth and light and stay living in ignorance or even
• 59:11
  lies. So they don't lose the comfort
• 59:14
  and safety of a group that they are familiar with.
• 59:18
  So here's this man. Can you picture this moment when
• 59:22
  he got cast out of his group? Can you picture him walking away
• 59:28
  in my mind's eye? I can picture him, weeping
• 59:32
  weeping, tears of joy, mixed and mingled with tears of Sorrow
• 59:38
  being so elated that he's looking around saying that's
• 59:42
  what the color blue is that? Everybody's been talking about
• 59:45
  in the sky. That's what a cloud looks like.
• 59:46
  That's what a tree looks like. This is what my hand looks like
• 59:50
  this is what people look like that's a tree.
• 59:53
  That's that's a flower. I can picture him.
• 59:56
  Just absorbing this newfound world of discovery that he's
• 1:00:01
  that he's enjoying and at the same time, wondering what in the
• 1:00:06
  world just happened? How could, how could I be
• 1:00:11
  rejected and kicked out so quickly for simply telling the
• 1:00:16
  truth? And here's this sheep that is
• 1:00:19
  now filling probably a little lost a little displaced.
• 1:00:24
  He no longer has anywhere where he's going to fit in.
• 1:00:27
  Well, and verse 35 says, Jesus heard that they had cast him
• 1:00:31
  out. and when he had found him, this idea of leaving the ninety
• 1:00:38
  and nine, I'm going after the one, Looking for him until he
• 1:00:44
  finds him. And when he had found him, he
• 1:00:46
  said Dost thou believe on the Son of God and he answered and
• 1:00:51
  said, who is he? Lord, that I might believe on
• 1:00:55
  him. I love this man's meekness.
• 1:00:58
  I want to be more like this guy. I want to be more humble like
• 1:01:01
  that. Just just teach me.
• 1:01:04
  Who is he? Lord, that I might believe on
• 1:01:06
  him. You'll notice he's using this
• 1:01:09
  High term of respect for Jesus. Who is he to Da?
• 1:01:15
  Lord, I want to know. The Christ and Jesus is response
• 1:01:20
  in verse 37 is thou Hast both seen him and it is he that
• 1:01:25
  talketh with thee and he said, Lord, I believe and he worshiped
• 1:01:32
  him. So are you noticing this
• 1:01:37
  progression of spiritual sight? Being restored to this?
• 1:01:41
  Previously physically blind man, a man healed me.
• 1:01:48
  He's a prophet Lord, the Christ And there was incredible
• 1:01:55
  external pressure on this man to reject Jesus to turn away from
• 1:02:01
  Jesus, to deny the Lord. But the external pressure didn't
• 1:02:06
  work the way that it had intended.
• 1:02:09
  It actually strengthened the resolve of this man and he grew
• 1:02:14
  in his conversion brothers and sisters today.
• 1:02:17
  The pressures you don't need to be afraid of people.
• 1:02:20
  Questioning your testimony or questioning your conversion.
• 1:02:23
  Or your your connection with God that can actually serve to
• 1:02:27
  strengthen your your tie to the Lord.
• 1:02:33
  The thing we need to be worried about is when those those
• 1:02:37
  questions and those pressures are allowed to become internal
• 1:02:42
  doubts, where we then start to separate and start to say, woo,
• 1:02:47
  I don't know if I can trust. I don't know if I can believe.
• 1:02:49
  I don't know if it's worth putting this effort.
• 1:02:53
  Following the Savior anymore it's when they become internal
• 1:02:58
  that they're more likely to then separate us.
• 1:03:00
  But these external pressures are only serving to help speed up
• 1:03:06
  the process of spiritual healing for this man in John chapter 9.
• 1:03:11
  So John chapter 9 is about how to see God.
• 1:03:16
  John chapter 10 is about how to your God.
• 1:03:20
  That's a beautiful perspective of this shepherding chapter.
• 1:03:25
  So you just saw an example in John chapter 9 of how the Good
• 1:03:28
  Shepherd treats a lost sheep, a sheep who has been struggling
• 1:03:34
  for decades and now in 11 afternoon or one day he gets
• 1:03:41
  this incredible experience. So you open up chapter 10 with
• 1:03:46
  Jesus saying, verily verily, I say unto you.
• 1:03:48
  He that entereth not by the door into the Sheepfold, but by the
• 1:03:52
  climb us up some other way. The same is a thief and a
• 1:03:55
  robber. Because in Antiquity, what they
• 1:04:00
  would do with these sheep herds is, they would build the
• 1:04:05
  Sheepfold with rocks and brambles and big Hedges.
• 1:04:10
  And then there would be only one entrance.
• 1:04:12
  So all these various Shepherds at night, could bring their
• 1:04:16
  sheep into the safety of the fold and then go home and sleep.
• 1:04:20
  And leave one Shepherd in charge of protecting all of the sheep.
• 1:04:24
  And then in the morning, when the various chef Words would
• 1:04:27
  come to the fold, they know their sheep, they know them by
• 1:04:32
  name, they call them by name and their sheep know their voice and
• 1:04:35
  they follow. And so they gather their sheep
• 1:04:38
  out of this fold and they take them off to the pastures for
• 1:04:42
  feeding for that day. So he's using this.
• 1:04:46
  This pastoral example to teach a really powerful example of what
• 1:04:53
  he's doing with us. So you pick it up in verse 7.
• 1:05:00
  Then said, Jesus unto them again.
• 1:05:01
  Verily verily. I say unto you, I am the door of
• 1:05:06
  the sheep. You'll notice in John's gospel,
• 1:05:07
  he uses this phrase. I am blank, seven times
• 1:05:12
  different things that he's for proclaiming himself to be.
• 1:05:16
  And in this one, it's I am the door of the sheep.
• 1:05:18
  You'll notice other times, he doesn't fill in the blank.
• 1:05:21
  It's just I am which is the name of Jehovah.
• 1:05:24
  A go Amy. In the Greek context.
• 1:05:27
  But here he tells you, I am the door of the sheep and the way
• 1:05:30
  you've laid this out. Tyler, it makes it makes it
• 1:05:33
  unmistakable. That Jesus is the entry point.
• 1:05:37
  It's through him that we get into the Sheepfold of God's
• 1:05:42
  kingdom honest. A couple first 9, I am the door
• 1:05:46
  by me. If any man enter in, he shall be
• 1:05:49
  saved and shall go in and out and find pasture now.
• 1:05:55
  Look At the next, I am statement verse 11.
• 1:05:57
  I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd.
• 1:06:01
  Give us his life for the Sheep, but he that is in hireling and
• 1:06:06
  not the shepherd, whose own the Sheep are not seeth.
• 1:06:09
  The wolf coming and leave us the sheep and fliest and the Wolf
• 1:06:12
  catcheth them and Scatter, the Sheep, the hiring fliest because
• 1:06:18
  he's a hireling and careth, not for the Sheep.
• 1:06:21
  There's this beautiful example of Jesus saying.
• 1:06:26
  I am not just a a day worker looking over sheep.
• 1:06:32
  I'm a Good Shepherd which Harkens back to Ezekiel in the
• 1:06:37
  Old Testament. Ezekiel was talking about the
• 1:06:40
  problem of the leaders of the Jews is they were not good
• 1:06:44
  Shepherds. They were letting the flock be
• 1:06:47
  destroyed, they were taking the flock into the wrong.
• 1:06:51
  Places here, Jesus is giving this contrast of I won't just
• 1:06:56
  watch over you. I will actually lay down my life
• 1:07:00
  for the sheep and as a side note, if you've ever worked with
• 1:07:04
  sheep, I'm not a Rancher. But I've talked to people who
• 1:07:07
  have had lots of experience, working with different kinds of
• 1:07:09
  animals. Apparently sheep are some of
• 1:07:12
  the, the at times, most difficult animals to take care
• 1:07:17
  of, have a mind of their own, they get themselves into
• 1:07:20
  trouble, they get in, To trouble.
• 1:07:22
  And here's the Lord, saying, verse 14.
• 1:07:25
  I am the Good Shepherd and I know my sheep and of know and am
• 1:07:30
  known of mine. As the father knows me even.
• 1:07:34
  So I know the father and I lay down my life for the Sheep.
• 1:07:41
  This is such a powerful analogy because he's saying, look, I'm
• 1:07:44
  laying down my life for these animals that can do nothing
• 1:07:51
  directly to think me or to repay me.
• 1:07:56
  And that's the way it is with the infinite atonement.
• 1:07:59
  He's not asking you to repay him for what he's done for you, he
• 1:08:04
  simply asking us to trust him to love him, to follow him, to come
• 1:08:11
  to him when he calls us by name because he knows us.
• 1:08:16
  And to come to know him through that process in the thrust of
• 1:08:20
  what he's teaching is, love that he loves the Father, the father
• 1:08:24
  loves him. Look at verse 17, therefore,
• 1:08:27
  doth my father. Love me.
• 1:08:29
  Why? Because I lay down my life, that
• 1:08:33
  I might take it again. So the thrust of these verses is
• 1:08:36
  about this interlocking. Love between God, the father and
• 1:08:40
  his son and then we get this interesting verse and verse 16.
• 1:08:43
  That is so powerful and useful and it doesn't particularly fit
• 1:08:48
  the theme of God's love. He just simply says, And other
• 1:08:52
  sheep I have, which are not of this fold them.
• 1:08:55
  Also, I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there
• 1:08:59
  shall be one fold and one Shepherd.
• 1:09:02
  So in the midst of talking about this love between the Father and
• 1:09:05
  Son, cheers us Insight, that didn't make sense to the people
• 1:09:09
  in the old world. But when we get the Book of
• 1:09:11
  Mormon, Jesus explains this, that the people, The Book of
• 1:09:15
  Mormon are yet one other Sheepfold that he has.
• 1:09:20
  And there are others that in future days, will be revealed to
• 1:09:23
  us. Yeah.
• 1:09:24
  See, the Jews in his day were told in the Book of Mormon
• 1:09:29
  account, if you cross-reference this with And if I chapter 15 11
• 1:09:34
  through 24, he gives an extension of this talk and he
• 1:09:38
  tells them that the Jews in this setting in the Bible.
• 1:09:42
  They assumed that he was talking about Gentiles, but he said I
• 1:09:46
  was talking about you over here in the Americas and he then
• 1:09:50
  tells the people in the Americas, I have other sheep as
• 1:09:53
  well. I'm going to visit them as well
• 1:09:55
  that aren't in the Biblical context or in the Book of Mormon
• 1:09:58
  context there are other sheep. And the Beautiful aspect to me
• 1:10:03
  is that there's going to be one fold.
• 1:10:06
  And only one Shepherd, not a bunch of hirelings.
• 1:10:10
  He brings everybody to be at one with him and with the father and
• 1:10:15
  then he reminds us of his power over death, Verse 18.
• 1:10:20
  No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of myself.
• 1:10:25
  I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.
• 1:10:29
  This commandment have I received My father, and then you'll
• 1:10:33
  notice in verse 19, John brings it up yet.
• 1:10:36
  Again, there was a division. Therefore again, among the Jews
• 1:10:42
  for these sayings, she get people and the dividing line is
• 1:10:46
  getting more and more Stark and contrasted where people are
• 1:10:51
  taking sides, trying to figure out who is Jesus to me.
• 1:10:56
  Is he is he Christ? Or is he a devil or something in
• 1:11:00
  between? So now we jump down to verse 22
• 1:11:03
  at the Feast of the dedication, or this is in the wintertime
• 1:11:10
  Hanukkah time period and Jesus walked in the temple, in
• 1:11:13
  Solomon's, porch. And then came the Jews round
• 1:11:16
  about him and said unto him. How long does they'll make us to
• 1:11:19
  doubt if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
• 1:11:23
  So there's this Division and all of these debates going on in
• 1:11:26
  people, arguing and conversing back and forth and Jesus is
• 1:11:31
  Answer is I told you and you believe not the works that I do
• 1:11:37
  in my father's name. They bear witness of me.
• 1:11:41
  But you believe not because you're not of my sheep.
• 1:11:45
  As I said unto you my sheep, hear my voice and I know them
• 1:11:50
  and they follow me, I don't know very many places in Scripture
• 1:11:53
  that are more clear in showing us the power of our agency and
• 1:11:58
  our freedom to choose. The voice of the Good Shepherd
• 1:12:03
  calls after us even by name, and it's our choice.
• 1:12:09
  Whether we hearken to that voice and turn and come unto him, and
• 1:12:14
  follow him, or as he sends us out on certain missions.
• 1:12:18
  Whether we take those or whether we reject that voice and say,
• 1:12:23
  no, I don't want to, I don't want to listen to that.
• 1:12:27
  So, it goes on to verse. So 27, my sheep hear my voice
• 1:12:33
  and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
• 1:12:37
  life and they shall never perish.
• 1:12:40
  Neither shall any man, pluck them out of my hand.
• 1:12:43
  That is such a beautiful promise.
• 1:12:46
  If I get on the Covenant path, I enter into that relationship
• 1:12:48
  with Christ. There, there can be all kinds of
• 1:12:50
  bad things that happen to us in this life, but none of that,
• 1:12:54
  ultimately, or eternally matters, because we're with him
• 1:12:59
  in his fold. He will give us eternal life, my
• 1:13:04
  Father, which gave them me is greater than all.
• 1:13:06
  And no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand, and
• 1:13:10
  then he makes this statement. I and my father are one, but
• 1:13:15
  notice the italics that my is included by the translators from
• 1:13:20
  400 years ago, and it really would be reading.
• 1:13:23
  I and father are one beautiful. Did you did you notice that in
• 1:13:32
  scripture? He never uses the word same,
• 1:13:39
  when referring to his relationship with the father.
• 1:13:44
  He never. Once says, I and my father are
• 1:13:46
  the same. He always uses the word one and
• 1:13:50
  we'll talk more extensively about this concept in John
• 1:13:54
  chapter 17, but isn't it fascinating that everything
• 1:13:59
  Jesus? Is trying to show us is this
• 1:14:02
  Unity Oneness, it's not just between him and his father is
• 1:14:06
  between him and his sheep and is between the different flocks of
• 1:14:09
  sheep that he brings them together into one fold with one
• 1:14:13
  Shepherd. He uses this word repeatedly and
• 1:14:17
  a gospel context. Telling us that.
• 1:14:19
  If you're not one, you're not mine.
• 1:14:20
  We have to become one. He never says, you have to be
• 1:14:24
  the same. You have to do everything.
• 1:14:26
  Exactly the same, he wants us to be uniquely us.
• 1:14:30
  But Find Unity within that diversity, is such a beautiful
• 1:14:35
  concept here. So as he makes that statement, I
• 1:14:39
  and father are one the response from the Jews.
• 1:14:42
  Is they took up stones again to Stone him?
• 1:14:47
  I love is text verse. Jesus answered them, many.
• 1:14:49
  Good works, have I showed you from my father for which of
• 1:14:54
  those Works. Do you Stone me the Jews?
• 1:14:56
  Answered him saying for a good work?
• 1:14:58
  We Stone thee not but for blasphemy It's of me and because
• 1:15:01
  that thou being a man makest thyself.
• 1:15:04
  God, Jesus answered them. Is it not written in your law?
• 1:15:09
  I said, ye are Gods, he's quoting, he's calling their
• 1:15:13
  handbook. The psalm 82, which is often,
• 1:15:17
  sung in the temple, where are they?
• 1:15:19
  They're in the temple, they have probably, maybe even sung those
• 1:15:21
  very words that morning, who knows.
• 1:15:24
  Yeah. So he's, he concludes with verse
• 1:15:27
  36 say, ye of him whom the father Has Sanctified and sent
• 1:15:31
  into the world thou blaspheme must because I said, I am the
• 1:15:35
  Son of God. If I do not the works of my
• 1:15:38
  father, believe me not. But if I do though, ye believe
• 1:15:41
  not me believe the works. That you may know, and believe
• 1:15:44
  that the father is in me. And I in him therefore they
• 1:15:48
  sought again to take him but he escaped out of their hand and he
• 1:15:54
  goes to this place and verse 42 ends and many believed on him
• 1:15:59
  there. So as we close this episode
• 1:16:02
  today, what a beautiful reminder, from John 9 and 10,
• 1:16:08
  that the Lord is able to bring sight to the Blind and we're not
• 1:16:12
  talking, just the physically blind, we're talking the
• 1:16:15
  spiritually blind and he is the Good Shepherd, who gave his life
• 1:16:22
  for you as one of his little lambs.
• 1:16:25
  And now he calls you by name to come and be a part of his fold.
• 1:16:30
  And to trust him and to listen to his voice and to love him and
• 1:16:35
  to become one with in this, this fold of God.
• 1:16:40
  What a beautiful promise for all of us and we leave that with you
• 1:16:43
  in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
• 1:16:46
  Know that you're loved.