Latest / Bayside Davis Podcast / The Gospel of John | John 8

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The Gospel of John | John 8 · Bayside Davis Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Bayside Davis podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: You are now listening to our current teaching series in the Gospel of John.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Every story in John's Gospel gives us a profound portrait or picture of who Jesus is.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And when we learn about Jesus, we learn more about God.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, as you begin to study the Gospel of John, you learn from the very first verse: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: That Jesus is God.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Incredible.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, as you travel later into the Gospel of John, in chapter 14, which we're going to get to, we're going to take a little break.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: In August, we're going to start a new series and going to take a break.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: We always do this with long books, or we'll be in a book for forever and ever and ever.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: In John chapter 14, verse 9, Jesus declared, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: To know Jesus, and this is a really important statement, to know Jesus is to know God Himself.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the Gospel of John is declaring, elucidating from the text, enlightening our eyes to see that Jesus was God in the flesh.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And every chapter gives us different pictures and portraits of who Jesus is, which essentially is who God is.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And in our story of this entire chapter, John chapter 8 today, we're gonna see four pictures of Jesus helping us to understand who he is and his character and how he interacts with people and how he interacts with us today, as we learn from these portraits 2,000 years ago in the life of Jesus in the Gospel of John.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pick up the first portrait of Jesus, the first picture of Jesus, John chapter 1, I mean, pardon me, not one, chapter 8, verses 1 through 12, Jesus full of grace and truth.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get into this story, that is one of the more well-known stories in the life of Jesus, I want you to notice in every one of your Bibles there's a textual note.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: It might say something like this the earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not contain John 7.53 through 8.11.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now you might read that and you might say, Well, what's up with that?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's only three sections of the New Testament that contain these important textual notes.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And these textual notes, as many of you know, I studied six years of biblical languages, textual criticism, the history of the text of the Bible and the transmission of the text of the Bible.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Nerd stuff, but I am a nerd.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And this is one of three major textual notes in the New Testament.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: None of these are a big deal, none of them take away from the theology of God or the theology of Jesus.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: None of them contradict anything or or uh contain anything that we would miss out on if we didn't have these sections of scripture, but they're honest textual notes.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And here's, let me just give you a quick summary.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: You guys down for that?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Quick summary of why we have these three important textual notes, including this one.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: One is in the latter part of the Gospel of Mark, the ending of Mark, one is here, and then one is in 1 John.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, the reason why we have this textual note is because this is this section of scripture is absent from many early ancient manuscripts.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but this also is here because it is displaced.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the location of this story is displaced.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Some believe that it doesn't belong here, it belongs somewhere else, because in other manuscripts it's contained in John 7.36 after that story, John 7.44, John 21.25 at the end of the Gospel of John, and even in Luke chapter 21, verse 38.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: So this story that we're about to read is found in other sections of John and the Gospels.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: But while it is missing in many of the earliest ancient texts, it is widely supported in many, many of the Greek manuscripts over 1400.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Jerome included it in his Latin Vulgate.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Jerome, a great scholar of the early period of Christianity.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Augustine defended the passage.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And scholars generally agree that this is an authentic oral tradition reflecting a real incident in the life of Jesus.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I love what the great scholar F.F.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Bruce says.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: He says this is a fragment of authentic gospel material.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, it doesn't matter if you put it in John 7 or John 21 or here or Luke.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is a real story that happened in the life of Jesus.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's why its inclusion in your Bible with the textual note is important because it carries on this tradition that this was a legitimate gospel text and moment.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna read it and we're gonna take it in as a biblical text.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Then they all went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him and he sat down to teach them.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let me pause there.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: There's a problem with this.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Can you see this?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the religious leaders, and somehow they catch a woman in the act of adultery.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: The problem with this scenario is manifold.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, did the religious leaders deliberately plan to catch her?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: That would be a problem.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine if the pastors went around trying to catch everybody in their sin?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: That would be a problem, wouldn't it?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: That is not our job.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, did someone set her up so that she would be punished?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: That would be a problem too.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, why was the guilty man not seized at all?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Only the woman.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's a problem too.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of problems with this scenario.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Here, the religious leaders catch a woman caught in adultery.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: What were they doing there?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's problematic.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Notice verse 5.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now what do you say?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 6, they were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusation against him.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: They were trying to trap Jesus in an impossible situation.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Here Jesus is, they bring a woman caught in adultery, there's all kinds of rules and regulations that would make this a very hard decision to make.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they catch Jesus and they think we're gonna trap him in an impossible situation.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this was a difficult situation to navigate for Jesus, because if Jesus called for stoning of this woman, he would have violated the Roman law.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because the Romans withheld jurisdiction from the Jews.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then if Jesus did not call for the stoning of this woman, they would have said, you're violating the Levitical law against something like this.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: So they thought, we've got him in an impossible situation.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is they had God in front of them.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: What might be impossible?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: What might be a predicament for us?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: What might seem like there's no answer that would be right for us?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Notice what he does in such a brilliant way.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, Let any of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Again, he stooped down and he wrote on the ground.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody knows what he wrote.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: If any Bible teacher or commentator begins to tell you what he wrote, they don't know.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because it doesn't say here, verse 9, at this, those who heard begin to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left with the woman standing there.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus straightened up and asked her.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pause there.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: This was a brilliant answer.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Here these religious leaders bring a woman caught in adultery, problematic, to Jesus.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: They thought they trapped him because of the Roman law and his reputation and the Jewish law and all of these laws.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was an impossible situation.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus simply said nothing, started writing on the ground, and said, He who is without sin cast the first stone.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Many scholars believe that what Jesus was saying in that language in that day is he or she or anyone who is without this type of sin, cast the first stone.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: If any of you have never sinned sexually, the great, there's a great preacher in Texas, Chuck Swindall.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Chuck Swindall is probably one of the most listened to preachers in American history, and he's still preaching in his 90s, I believe.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh he might have lost his fastball, but he's still great.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: And he always says, teaching a text like this, he always says, 98% of people that I've met with as a pastor have said, I have sinned sexually.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the rest, the 2% who haven't, they're all a bunch of liars.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus says, He who is without this type of sin, cast the first stone.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: What an interesting response.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And notice from the oldest to the youngest, they all walked away.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: The oldest first.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's a beautiful thing that happens with age.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: It humbles you.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: You're young, you think you have it all, you're gonna be perfect.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: You got it all together, you're flawless, and the older you get, the longer you've lived, the more you realize you're just not perfect.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: You failed, you have regrets, you've you you reflect on things you wish you would have known, and and all of a sudden you realize, oh my goodness, I've sinned in pretty much every way.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe not externally, but definitely internally.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And when it comes to sexual sin, both are sin.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Whether I'm sinning externally or internally, it's still the same thing.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's a sin.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's contrary to how God has wired and created us to flourish.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And in the audience, starting with the oldest, because they've had a longer life and more sin, they walked away first because they've been humbled.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And they've rec, age should humble us before God.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: They've recognized that they're incomplete, that they're broken, that they're they're flawed, that they have messed up sexually in their life at different times, that they've fallen into sin and they walked away first, and then the youngest, because the youngest are still proud and they think they've got it all together, and you know, maybe they're not as humble.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Not you guys, but these people.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so they all walked away.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: This was a brilliant response to their trap, but it was also a really normalization situation because every single one of us has fallen into this sin at some point in our life.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we shouldn't be casting stones at one another.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Just as Jesus did not cast a stone at this woman.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: We should be praying for victory.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: We should be doing whatever we can to gain victory over this type of sin, but we shouldn't be casting stones.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Notice how Jesus responds to this woman personally.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, verse 11 or verse 10, Jesus straightened up and asked her, Woman, where are they?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Has no one condemned you?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: No one, sir, she said.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Then he says, Neither do I condemn you.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus declared, Go now and leave your life of sin.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: This gets better and better.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: At the very beginning of John's gospel, part of me, in John chapter 1, verse 14, John writes, The Word became flesh, Jesus, and made his dwelling among us.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, he's heavenly.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Notice, full of grace and truth.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Both of those realities are shown up in this story.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: First, when he says, Neither do I condemn you.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: This was a moment of grace.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not condemn her.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Some people look at Christianity or Christians and they're like, they're the most judgmental, condemning people.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: No, that is not Christianity, and that's not Jesus.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is a perfect illustration.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: What a shameful event to be in front of Jesus, exposed publicly in such a way, and he did not condemn her.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: He took, listen close, he took the public shame imposed on her by the religious leaders, and he humbled the religious leaders with self-reflection.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's incredible.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Who wouldn't be drawn to this Jesus?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus offered this woman unearned favor and forgiveness.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: She was trapped in an impossible situation.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: They thought they trapped Jesus in an impossible situation.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: However, what was going to come out of this was the most beautiful situation.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: A moment that stands out in the stories of the gospel, a moment of grace.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: But also notice, he said, go now, go now and leave your life of sin.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: This was a moment of truth.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus directed her to stop her lifestyle of sin.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was hurting her.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: I do want you to notice this is not truth with harshness.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is truth with love.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew that this sin that was a part of her life was hurting her, it was hurting her relationship with God.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: It was hurting her personally.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus offered truth that would cause her to flourish in the future.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not condemning you, but don't live this life anymore.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's not good for you.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Truth is not a means of condemnation.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Truth is a means of flourishing.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to understand that.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: God doesn't speak truth into our lives to condemn us.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: God speaks truth into our life to save us from being robbed of a life that can flourish with Him.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: God wants you to flourish.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's why being in the scriptures is so important as a follower of Jesus.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because God speaks truth into the different webs of our life.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he gets through the cobwebs.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And he gets through the blockades and he gets through the walls and he gets through all the things in our life.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: And he speaks truth, not to condemn you, but to deliver you and to lead you down a path of life and flourishing with him.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's a beautiful thing.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to think about that.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: This should be your perspective as the scriptures are being taught, as you're reading your Bible every day.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Just start reading your Bible every day.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Start in the Gospel of Matthew, read through the New Testament, do it again, and then do the Old Testament.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Read your Bible every day.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the truths that God speaks, even when you feel convicted, it's to direct you to a life of flourishing.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: And do you want to know something encouraging?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can be reading your Bible for 10 years or 20 years or 30 or 40 or 50.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you're still gonna feel conviction because you're still a work in progress, and that is God loving you and loving me.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: I read a proverb this morning that convicted me.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I talked to the Lord about it, and that was so healthy for my soul.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: It will be for your soul as well.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Trust me, I guarantee you.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's the first portrait of Jesus.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: The second portrait of Jesus is, pardon me, I said verses 1 through 12.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I meant verses 1 through 11.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now the second portrait of Jesus is in verses 12 through 30.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: We got to pick up the pace, friends.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the light of the world.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have anything to do on a Sunday, anyways.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just roll.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the light of the world.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Your kids are loving being in class, and your youth are loving being in class.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just roll.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Verses 12 through 30.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the light of the world.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I am the light of the world.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees challenged him.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Here you are, appearing as your own witness.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Your testimony is not valid.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you can't just be up here and say, I'm the light of the world, and you're the only witness you have.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: For I know where I came from and where I'm going.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm from heaven.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: But you have no idea where I come from or where I'm going.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: You judge by human standards.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: I pass judgment on no one.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: But if I do judge, my decisions are true because I'm not alone.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: I stand with the Father who sent me.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: They're like in the Mosaic Law, you have to have two or three witnesses.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is like, Yep, I'm from heaven, I'm my own witness.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then the Father in heaven, he is a witness as well.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty good backing.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 17.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: In your own law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: I am the one who testifies for myself, my other witness is the Father who sent me.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then they asked him, Where is your father?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: You do not know me or my father, Jesus replied.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Once more Jesus said to them, I am going away, and you will look for me and you will die in your sin.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Where I go, you cannot come.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to heaven.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're rejecting me.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: This made the Jews ask, Will he kill himself?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what Jesus was saying.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Is that why he says, Where I go, you cannot come?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: But he continued, You are from below, I am from above.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: You are of this world, I am not of this world.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: I told you that you will die in your sins if you do not believe that I am He, I am the Savior and Messiah.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: You will indeed die in your sins.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Who are you?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: They asked.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Just what I've been telling you from the beginning, Jesus replied, I have much to say in judgment of you, but he who said me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him, I tell the world.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: I've come from heaven, I've heard from the Father, and I'm just telling that to the world.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: They did not understand what he was telling them about the Father.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus said, When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: The one who sent me is with me.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him, even as he spoke, many believed in him.
• 21:59
  unknown: So
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus speaks this declarative statement about his identity, and then there's all kinds of controversy.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, well, how can you say you're the light of the world?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Which has a lot of meaning to God's people in the ancient times, in the first century here in the Old Testament.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: When he says, I am the light of the world, this is his second I am statement.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: You remember the Gospel of John is built around seven miracles or signs and seven I am statements, which are declarative statements about the identity of Jesus.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: I am in Greek, the original language of the New Testament is ego, I mean.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: It means I I am.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's the most, it's the way that you would emphasize most something about yourself.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't need to say ego.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: He could have just said I me, I am, but he said, I I am.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: And this harkens back, this echoes back to Exodus chapter 3, verse 14, where God gave a name, a self-declarative name to Moses when he said, I am who I am.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Tell them that YHWH, Yahweh, has sent you.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is the Greek equivalent to what God said in that statement in Exodus 3, verse 14.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And this was the most sacred name of God to God's people.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: So they know that he's saying something important.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: They wouldn't even say this name.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: They would say Adonai, the Lord, or they would say Hashem, the name.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: They wouldn't say Yahweh.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: They wouldn't say Ago I me.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is claiming some really significant things here when he says, I am the light of the world, which then leads to a bunch of controversy.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, Wesley, what is Jesus claiming?
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad you asked.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you something that Jesus is claiming.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, Jesus is claiming that he was the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles here.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: There were two major rituals in the Feast of Tabernacles.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: One that I talked about last week, which was the water ritual.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus was saying in John chapter 7, I am the fulfillment of this ritual.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: The other ritual was the lighting ritual.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: At night, they would light all of these giant lamps around the temple.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the wicks of the lamps were made from the priest's worn-out garments.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: They were spiritual.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason that they did this around the Feast of Tabernacles, the tents, was because as they were wandering into the wilderness, God led them, went before them a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: So the lamps were representative of the presence of God.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: I am your light guiding you.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Listen close.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus comes on the scene here at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, as the lamps were being lit, Jesus was saying, I am the light of the world.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: I am the same presence of God, I'm the same light as the light in the Old Testament stories.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: I am the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacle.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: He fulfilled the water ritual in John 7, 37 through 39, and he fulfills the lighting ritual in John chapter 8, verse 12.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that amazing?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Second, Jesus was claiming to be God.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Same name that God the Father used in Exodus 3, 14 and 15 is the same name that Jesus uses here.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Third, Jesus was claiming to be the light of the world, but let's just not say that term without understanding what he's saying.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Light was a metaphor for God's presence and holiness in the Old Testament.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, Jesus is saying, I am the presence of God in the world, literally in this moment.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: The same presence of God that you're seeking in the temple, the same presence of God that led you through the wilderness, I am the very presence of God on earth.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then fourth, Jesus was offering to change people's lives for their good.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Look what he says here.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 12, John chapter 8, he says, I'm the light of the world.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you follow Jesus, you will walk in the light, not walk in darkness.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Think of light in your life as everything good for your life that God designed.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: And think of darkness as the robbing, everything that robs you of the good things that God designed for your life.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: God's like, I am the light, and you will walk in everything that is good for your life that was designed by God.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: When you believe in me as the light of the world.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9 says this.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Who is he talking to?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: The church, you.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: God's called you out of darkness.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Out of everything that robs you of God's intended life for you.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: And he's called you into his light.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Everything that is good and right for your life.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you you're here this morning, and God is calling you out of darkness, into his light.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: He wants you to experience all the good things that he has for your life.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's why he declares to you this morning, not just 2,000 years ago, but these words echo across every generation.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: I am the light of the world.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Verses 31 through 47.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing pretty good, friends.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: 31 through 47.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: The third picture of Jesus is that he's the truth that sets us free.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: 31 through 47.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: The truth that sets us free.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Genuine disciples of Jesus abide in Jesus' truth.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Then, as you're abiding in my truth, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just pause there.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to read another 30 verses and not really lean into this.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Notice what Jesus says about truth.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: First, he says you will know the truth.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's important that I comment on this, especially in a city like Davis, where you have more degrees than Fahrenheit.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's got a degree, a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, a double master's degree, a PhD, a surgical residency, everything possible.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: So many degrees we can't even explain what they are.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Truth is meant to be known.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: I do not mean mere intellectual comprehension of facts.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what he's saying here.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because we are immersed in an academic setting, we're used to thinking about truth as the immersion into comprehension of facts and truths and academia.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what he's saying here.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: When he uses this term known, he is saying you will experience the truth in a personal relationship with it.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: God wants you to have an experience, a personal relationship with truth.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: What is truth?
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's scripture.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just a in it's not for you to be the best theologian scientist, the best theologian, doctor, the best theologian, lawyer, the best theologian, teacher.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's so that you can have a personal relationship with Jesus, the truth, and the scriptures.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: They're alive, they speak to us, they transform us.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Truth in the Bible is relational.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: You cultivate a relationship with truth over time.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second thing that he says about truth here is that truth will set you free.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: When you have a personal relationship with Jesus, and when you begin to follow his teachings in the scriptures, you will be set free.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: Truth has a liberating effect on our life.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you find that to be true?
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: It liberates you.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are here this morning and you're in bondage, and God wants to liberate you.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: The opposite of truth is lies, and lies put us in bondage.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Lies rob us of all the good that God wants to do in our life.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus is saying the truth will set you free.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: The truth will set you free.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: On Tuesday, we had a staff hang.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Our team, our amazing team, our growing team.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: For a growing church, you need a growing team.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we had a staff hang.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: We watched the World Cup, Egypt versus Argentina.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: What a game.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: See, because I'm the boss, I can do these things.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Your boss might not bless you and say, hey, in the middle of the day, let's watch a World Cup game.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: But since I'm the boss, I can do these things.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you gotta have fun with your team.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Don't have a boring boss.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be a boring boss.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you gotta have fun.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'm a boring boss.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm reminded I need to have fun with my team.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: So we had a hang and we're watching the World Cup, and some of them are rooting for Egypt, and I was deeply offended by that.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm an Argentina fan, messy all the way.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: And they won.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: They were down 2-0 and they came back 3-2 and they won.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I told them he's the best.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it set them free.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: And as we were watching this game, we were playing Yahtzee, you know, the dice game.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's throwing the dice and it comes around to me.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I just start praying every time I roll the dice.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: Lord bless me.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because I knew I got to be connected with the truth.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I start rolling.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: I get a Yahtzee.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the dice comes back to me and I start, I just pray, Lord bless me.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I roll again and I get a Yahtzee, and I just it kept going around to me and I kept rolling and I kept getting Yahtis.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think my score was almost 500.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: I've never seen a score like that.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: See, when you're connected to the truth, it sets you free.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: It liberates you, it blesses you.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just forced that in because I thought it was a fun story.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, Jesus says the truth will set you free.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's controversy after this, as is the case when the truth sets people free.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 33, Jesus answered him.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: How can you say we shall be set free?
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus replied, Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're in power it's a power over your life.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now a slave has no permanent place in a family, but a son belongs to it forever.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: I know that you are Abraham's descendants.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, we're not enslaved.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is like, well, let's talk about this.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yet you are looking for a way to kill me because you have no room for my word.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: I am telling you, listen, I am telling you what I have seen in my father's presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham is our father, they answered.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: We come from Abraham's lineage.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you were Abraham's children, Jesus said, then you would do what Abraham did.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's convicting.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: A man who has told you the truth that I heard from God, Abraham did not do such things.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: You are doing the works of your own father.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: They said, We are not illegitimate children, they protested.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: For I have come here from God.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have not come on my own.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: God sent me.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: Why is my language not clear to you?
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because you are unable to hear what I say?
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: You belong to your father, the devil.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that is a statement.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you want to carry out your father's desires.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the juctas juctas here's the juxtaposition.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Pardon me, I can't say that word obviously.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the contrast.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: I am the truth that will set you free, and the devil is a liar who will rob you of the freedom that God wants for your life.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: When he lies, he speaks in his own native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: All lies originate from him.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me?
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: Question mark.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever belongs to God hears what God says.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: The reason you do not hear it is that you do not belong to God.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: Contrast.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: The truth that will set you free and the lies that will keep you in bondage.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus brings truth.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Satan brings lies.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus set you free.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: Satan puts you in bondage to a life that will rob you of all the good things that God has for you.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus doesn't end there.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Verses 48 through 58, he says something again that is so declarative.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Notice the fourth picture of Jesus, Jesus, the eternal God.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: The confrontation intensifies here.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: The religious leaders accuse Jesus of being a Samaritan, which was a very racial comment in their day, which is not good.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then they claim that he's demon-possessed.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: And he denies this obviously.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then notice what he says in verse 58.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: Very truly I tell you, Jesus answered, before Abraham was born, I am.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: The Jews said in verse 48, this is what they said about Jesus.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: You're a Samaritan and demon-possessed.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus says, I'm not demon-possessed, but I honor my father, and you dishonor me.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, Christians, we will never experience death.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning, the minute we die is the minute we are face to face with God in heaven.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus defeated death so that we wouldn't fear death.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: At this they exclaim, now we know that you are demon-possessed.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: Again, saying the same thing.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham died, so did the prophets.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: You say, whoever obeys your word will never taste death.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham's dead, and the prophets died, and you're talking about life.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: Are you greater than our father Abraham?
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: He died, and so did the prophets.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: Who do you think you are?
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus replied, If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: My father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Though you do not know him, I know him.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I know him and obey his word.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Your father, Abraham, rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day when the Savior would come.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: He saw it and was glad.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: You are not yet 50 years old, they said to Jesus, yet you say you have seen Abraham.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: Very truly I tell you, Jesus answered, Before Abraham was born, I am.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: They knew what he was saying.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: He was saying, I am God.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: Before Abraham was born, ego I mean.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Third, I am statement in the Gospel of John.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: Before Abraham was born, I am.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: What is Jesus claiming in this I am statement?
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: First, he's claiming to be God, which was a very shocking statement to the people on that day.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Second, Jesus was claiming to be eternal.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: The language here, if you get into it, which I do because I'm a Bible nerd, the language here means that Jesus was claiming to have always existed.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: He never came into existence, he always existed.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: Only God is eternal, and Jesus is claiming to be the eternal God.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: And third, which was also an affront to the people listening, especially his opposition, Jesus was claiming superiority over Abraham.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: He was superior to Abraham.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham, the fourth father of the faith, who received the greatest promise in biblical history in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 through 3.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus was greater than Abraham.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: He is the eternal God.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: And they knew what he was saying because notice their reaction, verse 59.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: At this they picked up stones to stone him.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: These are rocks, by the way, not like F Street stoning.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like rocks.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: We don't stone people, but people get stoned in our day.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: These are two different things.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: Don't do that either.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: Both of these are bad for you.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple guards.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: Claiming to be God was deserving of capital punishment according to them.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the problem: Jesus was God.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: Leviticus 24, 16 says, anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: The Mishnah, which is a famous Jewish writing, also places blasphemers in a list of actions that should be punished by stoning.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a part of their legal system.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus slips away.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because God had appointed an hour for his death, and it was not yet this time.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: There was a divine plan, and no action of a mob would take away from God's divine plan.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is amazing.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: I just want you to sit in this for a minute.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: I know you have a lot of things on your mind.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: I know that you want to get out of here.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you want to be here for a long time today.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to just sit in this minute.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: All four of these portraits of Jesus are portraits of Jesus for your life.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: They speak into your life.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: Full of grace and truth.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: Light.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: Set you free with his truth.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: That truth is not something that is condemning, it's flourishing, it's freeing, it's liberating.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that he is the eternal God.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you simply have to believe in him and you will be with him forever and ever.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: And death will never reign over you because of the life of Jesus Christ.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: These are portraits for you, these are portraits for me.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: God is not just telling us these stories 2,000 years later so that we can read a great Jesus story and tell it to somebody.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: That you would believe in the real Jesus.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: Not the secularized Jesus, not the made up version Jesus, not the Jesus that might be off in how people explain him, even in churches, but the real Jesus.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's why you have to be in your Bible to experience the real Jesus.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: God wants you to know and believe in the real Jesus.