Gospel of John Chapter 8 Adultery, Light, Truth, and Devil [Full Chapter Bible Study]

Well, good morning everybody. It is Friday, January 23rd. It's a little overcast today in, in here in sunny Atlanta. And yeah, we're just waiting for the big snowstorm to come, the ice storm or the cold front to come in the next few days. So I hope where you're at You stay warm, got your supplies and so forth. All right, so as we've been doing, we're going through the study of the book of John, Gospel of John, and we're going chapter by chapter, verse by verse. So these sessions will last about an hour to an hour and a half depending on how deep we go. And the big idea in the book of John here is that the Apostle John who wrote this book is trying to make a case to the reader that Jesus is the Son of God. So with that context, that's how we approach it. And we want to see through the lens of John is, okay, John, he recorded it. This is recorded history. There's other synoptic gospels to support this as well. Fill in the blanks. But the end goal for John is that he wants us to kind of note, note the divinity of Christ. Okay, so each gospel has its own um, flavor. And the Book of John is written so that we would believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, um, as I've done in the last few days, as we go through all the chapters, just kind of I do a beginning summary of a recap of where we came from. We're now in going into chapter 8. And there's going to be another hard-hitting chapter, right? So Jesus now is at a point in his ministry where the religious leaders are very angry towards him. They're seeking to kill him. He's healing on the Sabbath. His own brothers, his half-brothers, are against him. Inciting him to go into Judea to preach if he wants to be known and be famous, because, you know, they don't believe in him. And these are his actual half-brothers that he grew up with. And we see that in chapter 7, where we came out of, that Jesus went to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, and he went there privately, and everyone was talking about him. Everyone was muttering about him. Where is he? And so forth. And the Pharisees and the religious leaders sent out officers to arrest him, and it says that 3 times they didn't. And the religious leaders, the Pharisees, ask the officers, you know, why didn't you arrest him? And they said, there's no man that has spoke like this man, right? Verse 46, 45, 46 of chapter 7, it says, the officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, why did you not bring him? And the officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man." And then the response to that in verse 47 was, "The Pharisees answered them, 'Have you been deceived?'" So the Pharisees are not believing in Jesus. Matter of fact, they're believing that He is of the devil and His message isn't true. So we ended in verse 52 before we get into 8. Chapter 8, verse 52. It says, in that last actual passage of chapter 7, at the end there, we see Nicodemus come back to the story. Remember Nicodemus? He was in chapter 3, and he went at nighttime to go see Jesus by night. He's, he's one of the main guys, and that's the message where Jesus talks about how you have to be born again. And Nicodemus and him have this diatribe. And we see Nicodemus again here in chapter 7, in verse 56. It says, "Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and who was one of them, said to them," in verse 51, "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" So Nicodemus is trying to defend Jesus. But their reply to him in verse 52 was, quote, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee." And that's the end of the scene. And now we're gonna go into chapter 8. A lot of good stuff here in chapter 8. We're gonna see in this first section here, we'll break it verse by verse, but we'll also tackle it by sections. So let's start off with what the sections are that we're gonna review. Well, chapter 8:1 through 7, 11, that first section there is where we get to see this woman who's caught in adultery. So we'll examine that. Then chapter 12, let's say through 30, we're going to talk about how Jesus says he is the I Am, the I Am the light of the world. And we talked about before, there was some I Am statements that are important. Basically, he's saying in the context of God, how God said it at the burning bush with Moses, say to the Israel people, I am sent you. Say to Pharaoh, say to Caesar, not Caesar, say to Pharaoh, I am sent you, right? Then we see in verse 31 through 38, that section is how Jesus starts to talk about the truth will set you free. Okay, so that's an important section where, um, and we hear it all the time, how the truth will set you free. And we'll analyze, well, what does that mean? How does that look? Then we'll skip over to verse 39 to 47, and in that section Jesus makes an accusation to the Jews that they are in fact children of the devil, which is apropos because that is for the most part what most people here are right now, but they just don't know it yet. And so we'll unpack that a little bit. Verse 48 through 59 is Jesus makes this incredible statement that really amps up everything. The hatred towards him, the animosity towards him. And that's where he says, before Abraham was, I am. So let's pick it up, uh, the first section here, John chapter 8, verse 1. It says— and I, and I'll, I'll start with 53. Um, and just, just as a notation, since we're doing study Bible here The earliest manuscripts of the Bible do not include chapters 7:53 through 8:11. So we're going to be doing, you know, 8:1 through 11 today. But as a historical observation that 7:53 and 8:11 were not in the original manuscripts. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's not true. But I will, um, I will read you just my study note on that because I think it's important and good to know. So for 7:53 through 8:11, this section dealing with the adulteress most likely was not a part of the original contents of John. It has been incorporated into various manuscripts at different places in the gospel example, after, uh, verse 36, 44, 52, or in chapter 21:25. While one manuscript places it after Luke chapter 21:38, external manuscript evidence representing a great variety of textual traditions is decisively against its inclusion, for the earliest and best manuscripts exclude it. Many manuscripts mark the passage to indicate doubt as to its inclusion. Significant early versions exclude it. No Greek church father comments on the passage until the 12th century. The vocabulary and style of the section also are different from the rest of the Gospel, and the section interrupts the sequence of John 7:52 with 8:12. Many, however, do think that it has all the earmarks of historical veracity, perhaps being a piece of oral tradition that circulated in parts of the Western Church, so that a few comments are in order. In spite of all these considerations, of the likely unreliability of this section, it is possible to be wrong on this issue, and thus it is good to consider the meaning of this passage and leave it in the text, just as with Mark chapter 16, verse 9 through 20. All right, so that's just a little historical, um, explanation about what we're about to read here in the beginning of Mark chapter 8. So let's go on. Um, I'm going to pick it up from the very last two verses of chapter 7, and we'll segue into chapter 8. Um, 7:52, they replied, are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Okay. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst, they said to him, 'Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.' Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say? Verse 6. This they said to test him and that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." Verse 8: And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on sin no more.' All right, so we're going to pin that there for a second. That's the section. So let's unpack it a little bit, verse by verse, right? So they're at the feast, the booze, in that chapter 7. We see the segue. They each went to his own house at the end of that, after Jesus, um, you know, is talking to them and there's division amongst the people. In the end of chapter 7, they each went to their own house, but Jesus didn't go to his own house, didn't have a house to go to. It says here in verse 8:1, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. So now he traveled to the Mount of Olives. And it says in verse 2 that early in the morning he came again to the temple. So where they were just at, he comes back, he's at the temple. And it says all the people came to him and he sat down and taught them, which is what he always did. Now in verse 3, it says the scribes and the Pharisees, right, these are the most religious people at that time, They brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst, they said to him, 'Teacher, this woman had been caught in the act of adultery.' And so now they're doing this because they want to test him. What's notable here is these very religious people are calling him teacher, right? Before, we remember that people were saying, 'How has this man learned such knowledge? He hasn't been taught.' But now he is being referenced as teacher. He is being referenced as rabbi. They respect him for sure. So now they're saying, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery." Now they say in verse 5, "Now in the law, Moses—" Again, remember, they're always citing Moses because that's where their hope is set on in general. They're saying, "Now in the law," Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say? So they're trying to really trap Jesus to see, okay, is he going to be agreeable with the law of Moses, or is his teaching from somewhere else? That's really the game. They're always trying to trap him in words. So they— it says here why they did this in verse 6. It says This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him, right? They want him to say, they want to, they want him to say that, hey, no, that's, that's, I don't agree with that. I don't agree with Moses. Because they want to, they're looking for something to, to, to bring a charge against them. So what's interesting here, and so many movies describe this for no I don't know why the fascination is, but the scene is set here where Jesus bends down and he wrote with his finger on the ground. And it's very interesting is that there's many commentaries about what he wrote on the ground, what could have been. But the fact is no one knows what he wrote in the ground. So specu— so right now it's just straight-up speculation as to what he actually wrote on the ground. So, but he wrote something on the ground. That's what we do know. He wrote with his finger on the ground. As far as we know, he's just doodling. Verse 7: And as they continue to ask him— so he's staying quiet, he's just doodling in the ground, writing something in the ground. They're continuing the questioning, right? They're putting on the pressure. Just like how people sometimes in your real life are trying to hit you up with multiple questions to trap you in your words, they're trying to do the same thing here. Verse 7: And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, quote, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. So he didn't answer the question directly. He reframed it by saying, "Let him who is without sin be the first among you to throw a stone at her." And then it says, verse 8, "And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground," as if to say, "Okay, that's my message." go ahead and do it if you don't have any sin. So he's really going after the real issue here, and the real issue here, same issue with us, is he's saying this for us to look inside ourselves and say, hey, am I without sin? Am I righteous? Because if I'm true to myself and know that there's no righteousness in me, that I'm fallen, that I am a sinner, that I'm not good, then who am I to accuse this person of this or that? Because that's what they were doing. They were deflecting, if you will, their own unrighteousness onto this woman who in fact was caught in adultery. But they're putting all of— they're all about taking her out without examining their own nature, their own sin. So Jesus is reframing the conversation away from the woman, back onto each person there that has a stone in their hand that wants to kill her. And he says, "If you don't have any sin yourselves, have at it. You want to do a righteous deed? Go ahead and have at it, if you are righteous, if your judgment is true and righteous." So he stoops back down again to, to write something in the ground. And verse 9, it says, but when they heard it, when they heard what he just said, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones. And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Of course The older ones should be the ones that have the most wisdom and knowledge, and they made a good conclusion that they were sinful people and they were not righteous. So they said, what he says is true. They were in agreement with him, so they dropped their stones and they left. And naturally, the younger ones are watching the older ones do it, and it was just a chain reaction. So everyone drops their stone, everyone leaves. Now it's just Jesus and this woman alone here. And Jesus stood up now, verse 10, and said to her, quote, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, quote, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you.' 'Go, and from now on sin no more.' So let's think about that for a second. What did Jesus do here? He didn't even talk about the one— the woman's dropped in front of him, all this crowd is accusing her, they want to kill her, they want to— they throw her there. As to test Jesus. Jesus doesn't even talk to the woman. He talks to them with a question. All he did was he asked them a question: "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." It wasn't even a question. It was a statement. That's all he did. And now everyone's gone, and now he addresses the the subject matter, the subject, which is the woman. He didn't ask her about what happened. He didn't condemn her, as we see here. He didn't go into the details. He didn't even really use her name or know her name, maybe. He simply says to her— he didn't ignore her. He looks at her and he says, "Woman, where are they?" 'Where are your accusers?' He did that because he wants the woman to start thinking about what just happened and why it happened. She knows what she did. That's not going to change. What she did was bad. What she did was she broke the law over there, right? They don't get into any of that. This is all about condemnation. This is all about forgiveness. And that's what Jesus wants her to understand. So he asked her, "Where are they?" She says, "No." He asked her two questions: "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on sin no more.' And end of scene. Similarly, he said the same thing as he said to the man, that paralytic, the invalid at the pool. Remember, he says after returning, after telling that man to pick up your mat and go, stand up, pick up your mat and walk, Remember, Jesus circles back to that man and he says, "Hey, I see you're well. Now don't sin anymore so nothing worse can happen to you." Similarly, he says, "Go," this woman, verse 11, "Go and from now on sin no more," which is a good lesson for all of us. Remember, no one's perfect. We will sin, unfortunately, because we're fallen. And the lesson here is that Jesus doesn't condemn you. And the devilish angle on us as people— and it's going to come in many forms through many people because it's the world we live in— is there's always an accuser. There's always going to be someone who's going to accuse you of not being good. But we learn here, we learn in scripture that no one is good, even your accuser. And Jesus basically says here, and I said this before, is worry about yourself. Jesus didn't say, you know, lady, you should countersue those people, per se, go after them. He's just simply saying— and he didn't say that what she did was right either. He didn't affirm adultery in this passage because he called it sin. He just simply said, I don't condemn you, and then he gave her a command to go and from now on sin no more. This is repentance. Okay, you made a mistake, sin no more. He's not saying to her, or us reading this, that adultery is good and it's okay. He just simply says he doesn't condemn you for it, but now that you know that, the command is move on and don't sin no more, right? That's what we call repentance. So now we go into verse 12 here, and scene changes. And it says, um, verse 12, again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have eternal life. Okay, now I'm going to go ahead and borrow from my notes a little bit here about this section we're about to hit. Excluding the story of the adulterous woman in 7:53 and chapter 8:11, which we just read. This verse attached— attached— attaches itself well to chapter 7, verse 52. The word quote-unquote 'again' indicates that Jesus spoke once more to the people at this same Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, which we saw in chapter 7, verse 2, and 7, verse 10. While Jesus first used the water drawing rite, which was in chapter 7:37-39, as a metaphor to portray the ultimate spiritual truth of himself as Messiah who fulfills all that the feast anticipated, he then turned to another rite that traditionally occurred at the feast: the lighting ceremony. During Tabernacles, four large lamps in the temple's Court of Women illuminated a joyous celebration that took place there, with people dancing, holding burning torches, and singing songs of praise. Levitical musicians also played. Jesus took this opportunity of the lighting celebration to portray another spiritual analogy for the people: "I am the light of the world." And as we mentioned before, he made multiple "I am" statements, and this is the second quote-unquote "I am" statement. The first one was in John chapter 6, verse 35. Okay, now, so when we say again Jesus spoke to them, we're in the same area. Of the temple, Feast of Booths, same area. Verse 12, again Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. So that's a promise. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Verse 13, so the Pharisees said to him, You are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. Jesus answered, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I'm going. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him, therefore, 'Where is your Father?' Jesus answered, 'You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.' These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come. Okay, so let's go back and unpack that a little bit. So we already learned before that there's this lighting ceremony. Jesus takes the opportunity to say that he is the light of the world, and the promise is that if you— whoever, whoever— again, another whoever— whoever follows me, him, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. And so now the Pharisees are there, they're going to challenge him. And their problem is, in verse 13, is that they feel that he's bearing witness about himself. And they're saying that his testimony is not true because he's saying, I am, I am this or that, I am the light, I'm light. And they want— what they want people to always say is, you know, God, Yahweh, you know, but now you're this man speaking about yourself. So they're upset about that. So Jesus then says that there's the witnesses, that his testimony is not just him talking. Now he's going to say he has other witnesses, but they are still not going to track on that because his witnesses are the Godhead, the Father and the Spirit. So we see these other witnesses that Jesus brings into the court. So imagine this kind of like a courtroom of sorts, a court of public opinion, let's call it that. So here we have, um, Jesus there. He, he submits his evidence that I am the light of the world. He's being countered by the Pharisees that that's not true. You're bearing witness about yourself. And so Jesus goes on to say in verse 14, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. So he's saying that, okay, to your human standards, um, um, I get it. I know the law where two or three are gathered, or two— you need two or three witnesses to, to call something true. But he's saying that 'Even so, that even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true.' It's like, I know what I know, I know what is true, I am the truth. So I'm going to just state that for the record, is what he's saying. Because he says, 'Why? For I know where I came from and where I am going.' So he knows who he is, he knows where he came from, which was within the Godhead, within heaven, with the Father forever. He knows who He is. He knows He's going back to that place, that location. Okay? He came from heaven to be born a man to walk amongst us. He knows this now. Because remember, He had to grow up, baby Jesus. He had to grow up these 30 years to learn and to understand, and wisdom from the Spirit and God. You know, so there was a process of growing that he had to, he had to go through as a human. But now here he is at the beginning of his ministry. He fully understands who he is. And so just like if you, you know who you are, you know your name and you know where you were born probably, and you know your identity. On a basic level. And if someone says to me, for example, "Hey John," and my name is Paul, I'd be like, "My name is not John, it's Paul." "Well, no, I think it's John." "No, I know it's Paul because I've seen my own birth record and I know where I'm from. I know where I was born." So when someone comes around and tries to say that you're something you're not, but you know in fact who you are, well, It's a lie, obviously, because you know the truth. You don't have to entertain that, per se. So Jesus is basically saying, listen, I know who I am. I know where I come from. I know where I'm going. And he goes on to say in verse 14, he says, I know where I came from and where I'm going, but you Pharisees, you do not know where I come from or where I'm going. You, 15, you judge according to the flesh. I judge no one, right? So we're seeing here that he's saying that he's not here, he's not here to judge anybody. He didn't judge that lady. Goes on, 16, yet even if I do judge, right? So he's saying, okay, well, even if I did judge— I'm not here to judge, but even if I did judge, He says, my judgment is true. 16, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father. So I and God. If I did judge, just know that my judgment is righteous. It's me and the Father, the Father who sent me, he says. Verse 17, Jesus says, in your law it is written. So Jesus knows, he knows the, the Law of Moses, you know. He too grew up and he went to synagogue as every young man did. So he knows what was taught under rabbinical teachings. He knows, knows that, but he also knows directly from God. So that's why he, he's not— he knows his, his Scripture, of course. He is the fulfillment of Scripture. So he says, "In your law." It's funny he says that because he doesn't say "in our law," per se. He's making a distinction that the law is apart from him, if you will. He's making a distinction. So he's not saying "in our law." Remember, he's Jewish too. He's saying 'in your law.' You're putting your hope in this thing, the Law of Moses. He says, 'In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.' And then he goes on to say, 'I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.' So he's saying that— there you go, Me and the Father are two, and we bear witness about me. Verse 19. So now since he mentioned the Father, they're upset about that. And they said to him, where is your Father? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also. Verse 19. That is an incredible statement. It's what I said, I think, last chapter, is you can't, you can't love God without loving Jesus. So the importance of understanding the Beloved Son is important. The reason why the whole Bible basically points to Jesus is for this reason: is that the Father wants us to understand how to have access to him and how to have an abundant life. He wants us to know that there is salvation in his Son. That's the point. And now Jesus is talking about God, the God that they worship, Yahweh. He's saying to them that— and he's not even using Yahweh's name, right? And back then, many of them wouldn't even say the name because it was so holy to them. They may say Elohim or just general God, but he keeps talking about Father, the word Father, which is a relationship word, as we know. And we see he says, you know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also. These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come. So we talked about that before. He's on a divine timeline to hit that cross on the hour that he, he hit that cross to fulfill prophecy. And what's interesting about John, and what's interesting about the Gospels in general, is that they're pretty, um, historically accurate. Like, it's noteworthy to say that this happened in the treasury. Like, the way these things are written is so that we can say, oh, okay, you know, that this is a real event. In a real place that we can use archaeology maybe, or contextual criticism, or whatever to find out the veracity of Scripture. So he's talking about that this happened in the treasury in the temple, and it goes on to say that no one arrested him. Remember, there's these— he's been— they've been told— the officers have been told, go out and bring him back, we want him arrested. Verse 21: So he said to them again— it's interesting about Jesus, he doesn't let up. He's not a pacifist. He can get aggressive in his tone and in his words. He's making a point, you know. He says, first off, he says, you don't know me nor my Father, right? Now at this point in time, I don't think they're really tracking that he's talking about God himself. They're just thinking about, okay, well, who is your Father? Is he some ruler? Is he one of us that we don't know about? Who is your Father? They want to hear him say it. God is my Father, right? Because they're looking for something to accuse him on so that they can crucify him, right? Which is the reason why they ended up crucifying him. 21, he doesn't quit. He doesn't let up. He could just say, hey, this is getting too hot here. I'm going to just bounce. And pick it up another time. But he says, so he said to them again, I am going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin. So where I am going, you cannot come. That was verse 21, John chapter 8, 21. Let's read it slowly and think about it. He's saying to these Pharisees, these religious people, Again, he says, "I am going away." Now, at first blush, they might be like, "Well, so what? Go away." But Jesus is trying to make them understand that where I'm going, you would want to know about. So he says, "I'm going away." It means he's going somewhere. And then it says that when that happens, you will seek me, okay, which is— we can track— you will seek me when I go away, you will seek me. And then he says, and you will die in your sin. I said this a few days ago, I think. I was talking about hell and who is in hell? And I mentioned that God doesn't send people to hell. The people that are in hell are the people whose sins are not forgiven. That, by definition, is why they're in hell. God doesn't send them to hell. They're in hell because their sins are not forgiven, which is why the gospel is so important. Jesus says here that you will seek me and you will die in your sin. So he's making the religious people here understand this concept, or at least he's making a point that, you know what, you're going to seek me but you're going to die in your sin. So why is it bad to die in your sin? That is really one thing I want us to impress upon all of us here is that We don't want to die in our sin. We will die in our sin. Every man is conditioned to die in their sin unless our sin gets forgiven. Follow? So Jesus says to them, "You will die in your sin." He goes on, "Where I am going, you cannot come." Okay, because where he's going, they can't come. Why? Because they died in their sin. That's why they can't come to where he's going, because they died in their sin over here. So the only way we can go to where he went is we have to not die in our sin, which means we have to ask the question, how do I not die in my sin? That is the question. That is what he's trying to tell those who would listen, that you have to believe in me, that I have the authority and power to forgive your sin. Only me. Otherwise, without me, you can do nothing. Without me, you will die in your sin. So this concept of sin is important to humanity. We don't, we don't hear on the news, we hear about ICE and we hear about politics. It'd be interesting if the news channel was like, "Well, today, so-and-so got their sins forgiven. Amen," and whatever, right? So, we don't talk about the root cause of all the problems of the world, which is this thing called sin, which means miss the mark, the holy mark. This supernatural cancerous thing called sin is why we die, get sick, and are evil. And the only remedy for this thing called the sin— in Greek it's called the sin, definite article— that lives inside of each of us, almost like a mutated gene of supernatural sort, this The sin is what is affecting all of us. It's the hidden cancer in all of us. Supernatural. And the only way you can get rid of this supernatural cancer, per se, is you need a supernatural remedy, which we see here in Scripture is the faith in Jesus Christ. So Jesus says he's going away, you will seek me but you can't find me, because according to this, the reason why you can't find me is because you died in your sin. So it should be our purpose in life to get that taken care of so that we don't die in our sin. So the Jews say in verse 22, will he kill himself? Since he says, 'Where I am going you cannot come'? He said to them— this is Jesus, verse 23, we're in John chapter 8— 'You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.' 24, 'I told you that you would die in your sins, For unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. So it doesn't get any more clearer to them, at least to me reading this, of what he is saying here. He breaks it down and they, they, and they, and they just can't track with that. They can't believe that he straight up says You, verse 23, you are from below. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Okay, right there we already know he's saying he's not from earth. He's not from this world. He is above. Verse 24, he gives a reason, he gives an explanation. He says, I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless— that's important— for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. Remember I told you before about Jesus in the boat? And he calmed the storm. I think it's in Mark 8, I want to say 39. Let me go to that. And I said the one question that every human being needs to ask is, um, who do you say that I am? I might have the wrong passage here. This is the calming of the storm, right? Yeah, not 8, um, it is 4. So 4:39, Mark 4:39. Let's pick it up in in Mark 4:38. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he woke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? All right, that was the scene. Now I just want to see the other account. I think it's in Luke 8. Matthew, Mark, Luke. Luke 8. So that was what Mark said. Luke 8, uh, let's see here. Not 8. Yes, Luke 8, starting from 22, right? So what's great about the Bible is you get— if you piece it all together like that. So we read Mark Now Luke adds a little bit more to the story, so I'll read Luke's version of that scene. Luke says, 8:22, one day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, let, let us go across to the other side of the lake. So they set out, and as they sailed, he fell asleep. And the windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filled with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, Master, Master, we are perishing. And he awoke and he rebuked the wind and raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, Where is your faith? And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, Who then is this that commands even the winds, and the sea obeys him? Right. And I'm trying to find the passage where he says, who do people say that I am? I'll have to look that up. But that is the question that we all have to answer, is Jesus asked that question to, to his disciples. Who do people say that I am? So why? Because he's the only one that could forgive our sins. Because if he doesn't forgive our sins, we're going to die in our sins. That's the condition. That is the condition. And if we could just solve that problem, it's all good. We don't want to die in our sins. He says in verse 24, 8:24, I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins, right? Now I'll read my notes here on verse 24. Jesus emphasized that the fatal, unforgivable, and eternal sin is failure to believe in him as Messiah and Son of God. In truth, all other sins can be forgiven if this one is repented of. When he says the words, I am he, The word 'he' is not part of the original statement. Jesus' words were not constructed normally but were influenced by Old Testament Hebrew usage. It is an absolute usage meaning, quote unquote, 'I am,' and has immense theological significance. The reference maybe to both Exodus 3:14, where the Lord declared his name as I AM, and to Isaiah 40-55, where the phrase I AM occurs repeatedly, especially in Isaiah 43:10, 13, 25, Isaiah 46:4, Isaiah 48:12. In this, Jesus referred to himself as the God, Yahweh the Lord of the Old Testament, and directly claimed full deity for himself, prompting the Jews' question of John 8:25, which is what we're going to do now. So you see, when he says, "I am," he is saying he is God. So he says in verse 25, They say to that, so they said to him, who are you? What are you trying to say to us, Jesus? Very simple question. Who are you? Jesus said to them, just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge. 'But he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.' Again, that's telling us the purpose of his ministry, that he is simply telling us what he himself directly heard from the Father. Verse 27: 'They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.' Verse 28: 'So Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. Verse 29: And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. As he was saying these things, many believed in him. Okay, imagine, you know, I forget where I learned it from, how we, when we talk about our children, people being rebellious, it's very funny to me because Jesus was the ultimate rebel. Think about it. He was in a place and time where it was about as religious as it gets, and true religion too, for salvation comes from the Jews according to the Bible, the Old Testament, and Jesus and the fulfillment of Jesus. So imagine at that time this man showing up in the most religious time period of Israel, basically, uh, very legalistic, and now claiming himself to to be God, Son of God, Father. He has a Father. Father is God himself. He is God. Imagine all of that. That's pretty, pretty crazy. He was the original gangster, in my opinion. He was a rebel. He was rebelling against the Pharisaical rabbinical system of that day. This message of believing in Him so that you will not die in your sins was foreign to them. As far as they knew, the only way they could get to heaven or access to God was to do the sacrificial lambs and all of that. They were basically butchers throughout their whole history and doing the atonement of all of that. He's now flipping the script saying, no, Now, in so many words, now that I am here, this is the path, this is the way. Otherwise, you'll die in your sins. So it says in verse 30, as he was saying these things, many believed in him. Great. So now verse 31, the next section of this chapter, it says, so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, truly I say to you, Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do not, and you do what you have heard from your Father. Okay, so let's unpack that section where Jesus is ending, basically saying here in this section, there's two fathers here. There's my Father and your father, right? Now, he hasn't labeled his Father. We know who he's talking about, but he's making a distinction that You Jews who come from Abraham are following your father, and I'm following my Father. The irony is the father that you think you're following, God, is really not your father. I come from the true Father. That's his point. So going back to 31, We see he's still talking, still dialoguing with them. And I want to make another distinction here in verse 31 because we see the word believe, right? There's differences of belief we see going on through the Gospels. 31 says, so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him— not necessarily believed in him, but believed him— we see it says here, so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. Real application here in modern day. Many, many people go to church, for example, Christian church. Many people call themselves Christian. Many people call themselves Christian because their parents are simply Christian. They don't go to church. It doesn't matter. Jesus is basically saying, if you are truly my disciples, which is I think what we all should aim to be, if you are truly my disciples, first step, you have to abide in my word. Abide, live with the word, abide it, stay in it. Abide in my word. Well, that's what we're doing today. Amen. You have to abide in my word. 'Believe my word. Live my word.' And he says, 'That's one sign that you are my disciple.' Then he says, verse 32, the benefit of that, the benefit of abiding in me, abiding in my word, is that you will know the truth And the truth will set you free. And that should be our aim in life, is to understand truth, what is true. So I always talk about how truth is absolute, it's not relative, right? The whole concept of— I get it, the law of relativity and relativism, it applies in some cases, but there is absolute truth. And Jesus is saying that if you are his disciple, you will know the truth. And once you know the truth, the truth will set you free. And that's why we do Bible study, because part of this is we need to understand what is truth. This is a truth gospel. Jesus says he is the truth. For us to be free in life, like real freedom despite our circumstances, for us to be free, we have to operate off of a truth premise. If our inputs are wrong, if our premises are faulty and false, the output is going to return an error, right? If you think of it in math or communications, if we want the equation to equal the answer, right? It's got to be balanced on both sides of the equation, per se. Truth equals truth. Truth does not equal false. So we always want to— in math, we want to make sure that input equals output, per se. Truth equals truth. If I'm, if I'm governing myself on the laws of truth, then my life will be truthful, and the benefit of that is I will be free. I'll be free. What can I be free of? All kinds of things. One thing is I'll be free from fear. I'll be free from anxiousness. We are afraid of many, many things, but if I'm free, he says, He will set you free. You can't get free on your own. You have to be set free. Verse 33: They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone." So he already is free. Now they're going to say, "Okay, well, you're talking about slave language here. You're talking about enslavement." And they say, well, we've never been enslaved to anyone. How is that you say you will become free? They asked that question in verse 33. Jesus answered them in 34, truly, truly— remember, truly, truly— truly, truly, I say to you, and this is, this is the thing for all of us, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. So part of our problem right now is we are slaves to this thing called sin, okay? So not to talk about sin or ignore sin or ignore its concept, right, is faulty. We're just going to keep on operating in error. We're going to keep operating in untruth. So he's saying here in 34, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. You know you're a slave to sin if you're practicing it. He goes on to verse 35: The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. Okay, now I'm going to read my notes on this. The notion of slavery in verse 34 moves to the status of slaves. While the Jews thought of themselves only as free sons of Abraham, in reality they were slaves of sin. The genuine Son in the context is Christ himself, who sets the slaves free from sin. Those whom Jesus Christ liberates from the tyranny of sin and the bondage of legalism are really free, with a cross-reference to Romans 8:2 and Galatians 5:1. So 37, Jesus says— 36, so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Okay, so real freedom comes when the Son sets you free. 37, I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me. Because my word finds no place in you. Because my word finds no place in you, that's why you seek to kill me. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father. So 39, they answered him, Abraham is our father. So they're justifying 'Abraham is our father.' Jesus said to them, 'If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me.' Second time he's mentioning, 'You want to kill me.' 'But now you want to— you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.' I'm gonna highlight that. But now you seek to kill me, a man— he's calling himself a man— who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. They said to him, 'We were not born of sexual immorality; we have one Father, even God.' Jesus said to them, 'If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.' We heard that before in the last chapter. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. That is why they can't believe in him. This is the same reason why people today can't believe in him. There's a— because Many religious people have a form of God in their mind that they think they're worshiping the true God, but Jesus is clearly saying, okay, well, let's put that thought, that concept to the test. He says to them, verse 42, if God were your Father— so now they're saying, well, God is our Father. So Jesus says, okay, great. You see how Jesus draws this whole conversation to this point because he wants them to understand the nature of God, who is God, and where he comes from. So he says, if God were your Father, you would love me. Right there, boom. So my question to you is, do you love Jesus? Because if you don't love Jesus, then God is not your Father. That's what he's saying. If you don't love Jesus, you have no understanding of who God even is. That's what Jesus is saying to the children of Abraham, to the Jews, much less— who are much closer to the truth than us Gentiles, per se. So if God were your Father, you would love me. That's what Jesus is saying. If God were your Father, you would love me. For I came from God, and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. That's the problem. People don't come to Jesus because they cannot bear to hear his word. 44. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth. Because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. See how he's juxtaposing, he's contrasting him and the devil. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. So he's explaining to them, he's explaining to those who read today, why You're an atheist, if you are. Why are you an atheist today? According to the Bible, it's because you can't bear his word. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. And your father is the devil. Now, Jesus unpacks all that in all the gospels. We put it all together, and that's hard language for sure. It was certainly hard language for them who believe they're righteous, who believe they are chosen ones of God. But Jesus is clearly saying here that they are not of God because they do not love Him. And that is the distinction, because all those that would love Jesus come from God. I'll read it one more time, verse 42, together. Jesus said to them, if God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Like, if you really did love God, if you really did respect God, and if you really did believe and knew that God's own Son was here in the flesh right now talking to you, how would you respond? How would you treat me? Jesus is saying, I am here and you disrespect me? In fact, you want to kill me, and I am the Son of God. And he says, why do you not understand what I say? So it's reflective. He's like, why, why do you not understand what I say? I'm saying it very clearly to you people. Why do you not understand what I say? I'll tell you why, he says. It is because you cannot bear my word. You cannot bear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. So now we see, first time in the book of John, he's talking about the devil. So now we know that there is a real person out there called the devil, according to Jesus himself. And he's saying that this devil is the father of lies, right? That these children, these people, these— if you're not following Jesus, which is if you follow Jesus, you're also following the Father. So if you're not there, you're following somebody. You may not know it or call it, but he's saying here you're actually following the devil. And it says here, "And your will is to do your father's desires." and your will is to do the— to do your father's desires, the devil's desires. What are— what is the devil's desires? We'll see a little bit of that right here. He says he was a murderer from the beginning. Starts right there. Jesus describing Lucifer, describing the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning. That's a characteristic of the devil. That's a characteristic of your enemy or your father, depending on what side of the coin you are. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth. That's another characteristic of the devil. He does not stand in the truth. He's not going to tell you the truth, because there is no truth in him. Just, there's no truth in him. That's why this is a battle living here in the flesh today. It's about truth. It's about discernment. We learn in scripture that the devil actually is the little g, the little god of this world. God has given him the authority, if you will, to run the world system per se, right? So we're heavily influenced by him and his cohorts, right? So, but understanding the nature and the character of the devil will help us also understand God. And Jesus' message. So we learned that the devil is a murderer from the beginning. He doesn't stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. And then Jesus goes on to say, when he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. So now we see, well, who created lying? Jesus is saying that he is the father of lies. Lying as a concept and a construct is not from God. That actually came from the devil. And he's doing that because of his own character, right? So why do people lie? Well, there's many reasons why people lie, but some people, especially the devil, they can't do anything but lie. So we have to have discernment moving forward. So Jesus 45 says with a but, but because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. So because you're so conditioned to the world system, you're so conditioned to the news cycle, you're so conditioned to what others have to say about how things are going and how things should go, and you're so conditioned by the world media, you're so conditioned by the father of lies because he's your father, because of all of that, that's your belief system. So if you have a worldly/carnal mindset worldview, because if your worldview is that, Even, even, even if you're like a conspiracy theorist, but if your mindset is, is, is in a space, a time and space where it's all, you know, what if, shoulda, coulda, it's all about conspiracy, it's all, all, all of stuff that's not in here, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're believing not necessarily a a real narrative, and that's detrimental to your health, per se, physical and mental. And he's saying to these people, because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. You can't believe the truth because you're so conditioned to the lie. That's a rider-downer. We, myself included until I got saved, We were so conditioned to the lie that we can't bear the truth. That when the truth shows up, we're so calloused that we can't accept it as being real. We can't accept that Genesis is true, that there was an Adam and Eve, that we are humans, born humans, and not of monkeys. For example, this narrative that the earth, the worlds are billions and billions of years old and Big Bang and blah, blah, blah, and that we are not children of God, and that humans are the crown jewel of creation, which the Bible calls us. God loves us so much. That he even conceived us and thought of us and created an entire universe, put us into time and space, quantum physics that we can't even explain. Yet we are so dulled to the world narrative that we are not divinely created, that we are from evolution per se. And so we believe in the lie. We believe that the color of my skin makes me better than a person. It's a lie. We believe that some humans are lesser human than we are. It's a lie. And so we believe this lie like they believe that. We believe the lie because the father of lies is controlling the narrative. The Bible says we are pilgrims in this world, that we have to live in this world but not of this world. When Jesus washed people's feet, his disciples' feet, he says the reason why he washed their feet is because he's trying to make an illustration that when you go out into the world, your feet get dirty. The world is polluted. You got to come back home and you got to wash your feet. And he says in that, when Peter says, oh Lord, you know, wash, you know, when Jesus says, well, you know, if I don't wash your feet, you can't have any part with me. And Peter says, well, wash my whole body then, you know, because he's so, you know, he's Peter. Jesus is saying, you know, you're already clean, but I have to wash your feet. So if you're saved and redeemed, you're already clean, your sins are forgiven, but your feet are going to get dirty, and you just got to wash the feet. It doesn't mean you lose your salvation. It just means you need to clean up your act sometimes. So people who can't believe in Jesus, it's because they can't bear his words, because they only listen to their father, the father of lies. The reason why you do not hear them, he says in 47, is that you are not of God. So the Jews answered him, 48, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Oh, okay, now it gets even more notched up because— and this leads us to what's the greater sin, the unforgivable sin. The unforgivable sin is attributing the works of Jesus to the devil. And now they're going to go there in verse 48. The Jews answered him, are we not right in saying that you are Samaritan and have a demon? Obviously, there are prejudiced people. You already know that. They don't go into Samaria. Jesus has already been to Samaria. That's where he met the woman at the well. Now they're calling, they say, are we not right saying that you are— you're not even one of us. You're not even a real Jew. Are we right, not right, in saying that you are Samaritan and have a demon on top of that? 49. Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father. What's so interesting about Jesus when he talks to people and he's been accused of something, he responds to people, he doesn't babble, right? He doesn't, um, he doesn't argue for the sake of arguing. He actually answers very clearly, very logically, so that for our benefit too, when we're reading all of this, we can understand his answers. And they're very clear. So we see here, Jesus says, "I do not have a demon," verse 49. We're in chapter 8. Of John, 'I do not have a demon.' First and foremost, I added that part. Jesus answered, 'I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.' So Jesus is saying, 'You know what? You guys may not get it, but you're dishonoring me. You may not know who I am right now, but You know, I'm going to hold your words, your loose lips, your accusations. I'm going to hold— I'm going to remember that. I'm going to hold that to you unless some of you get your sins forgiven, which only I can do. But Jesus saying, I do not have a demon, number one, for the record. I honor my Father. Who is God himself, and you dishonor me. Almost to say, like, do you even know what you guys are saying? Do you know who you're talking to? It's like if you're a parent, like, who do you think you're talking to, right? Do you know who you're talking to? That'd be a good subtitle for this. Verse 50, Jesus continues, yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Okay, so he's talking about God. 51, truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word He will never see death. There's another promise, right? I talked about this before. We have to, um, I said this in another lesson, what is faith? Because we talk about that a lot, you know, you have to have faith, you have to believe, faith, faith, belief. Well, according to the book of Hebrews, when you read the entire book of Hebrews, you get to the, especially the great chapter on faith, I think it's chapter 12, could be 11. Faith, by definition, is believing in the promises of God. So how does a person get more faith or even have faith is you have to believe in the promises of God, which logically, if I was to say that to you, basically you should say back to me, well, How do I know the promises of God? It's a logical thing. What are the promises of God? So here is a promise of God because it's a statement, it's a command. And Jesus kind of gave us a hint because when he does his teachings, he likes to say, truly, truly. And we want to always pay attention to the truly trulies because it's like a for real for real. Like, this is very important what I'm about to say to you next. Pay attention. So he says here in verse 51, he says, truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. That's the promise. If anyone keeps my word— again, it's— he's using the word anyone, and in other passages he says whoever. It's inclusive. All time, all tribes, all tongues, whoever, anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. And so Jesus is teaching, he's speaking, and but we have to sit back and and ask ourselves the questions, what are you really trying to say here sometimes? Because he talks about a lot of things. We learned about the father, the father, two fathers, devil, real God, you know, all these themes. You're gonna die in your sins unless you believe in me. You don't want to die in your sin, these things. And now we're, and he talks about death. You know, and I say that to say this is that we modern-day people, we get so caught up in life and in living and in jobs and in politics or gaming or whatever your thing is. And I like to— where I come from, or maybe, yeah, I even say where I come from, but I have a saying Like, and you've heard it before, like, keep the main thing the main thing. What is the main thing, right? I actually wrote a book, a real quick book, a long time ago when I got saved, 2008. I published it. I think I redid it. It's on Amazon. I'm not sure if it's still there. It's called, uh, uh, The Meaning, The Meaning of Life According to God. All right, it was like a— it was right after I got saved, 2008, 2009. I wrote this little book. About the meaning of life according to God. And I wrote that book because even to this day, people struggle with that concept of what is the meaning of life. And it's a good question. It's a valid question. And to give you the answer to that without reading the book, the meaning of life is to believe in the Son. Um, it is to believing in Jesus. But to get to that, there's a lot of trial and error in a person's mind and history and life for them to get to the place in their mind where they're like, I see it now. Some people, it's like that. Some people takes their whole life. But that's the meaning of life. The meaning of life is to believe in Jesus. And I would just say that because if you can do that, like truly, truly in your heart, other things unlock that give you a good life, a healthy life per se. And though we're not promised to have abundance per se, there are promises for abundance. Abundance in many ways. So, um, the Bible says seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. There's one promise, right? And we have to remember that God himself is an abundant God, and we saw that in 5,000. So I really pay attention. I try not to talk about the prosperity gospel per se, But because we don't want to say, "Come to Jesus, you're going to be rich," because that's not necessarily true, but we do know that God is a God of abundance, and that's a good thing to believe in and know. Anywho, Jesus says here in verse 51, "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." 52, The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. So that was their response to him. He said, truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. So think about that. So they're looking at this man Jesus, and he's calling himself God in so many ways, talking about 'Your Father' versus 'my Father.' 'You don't love God because if you love God, you would love me.' He's bringing it to himself, and they just think that's complete blasphemy. And then he's going on to say, uh, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word—' he's not even saying if you keep God's word, he's saying if you keep my word, you won't you will never see death. And they're like, who is this guy? Only God can say that. That's their big beef with Jesus. So 52, the Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon, because they're thinking you're crazy, you have to have a demon because only God could do that. They said Abraham died at as did the prophets. Yet you say, 'If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.' 53. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died, and the prophets died? Who do you make yourself out to be? That's the problem. That's their problem. That's their question. It's a good question. We said it before. Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" Here we see them saying to Jesus, "Who do you make yourself out to be? Because you're speaking like you're God. Who do you make yourself out to be?" They ask him straight up. 54. Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is our God.' But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you." But I do know him, and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. Your father Abraham. Rejoiced that he would see my day. The person you're talking to right now in your face. And not only that did he rejoice, he saw it and was glad. He saw me. He saw me. And was glad. 57. What was their response? So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. And that concludes chapter 8. High-hitting chapter, right? We start off this chapter with the woman in adultery. Jesus says to her, 'Where are your accusers?' He said to them, 'He who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone.' And they all dropped their stones, they all walked away. And Jesus says to the woman, 'Well, where are your accusers? Or is there no one here to condemn you?' She says, 'No.' He says, 'Well, I don't condemn you either. Go now and sin no more.' We see Jesus saying, whoever— he says, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have eternal light, right? He's going after all of the religious leaders. He says, you know neither me nor my Father, verse 19. If you knew me, you would know my Father also. He says to them that, um, verse 23: You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. And then that's when they asked him 'Who are you?' They're trying to figure out, 'Who do you make yourself out to be?' We get to the conclusion at the very end here, right, where they finally are, after this long 48 verses, they get to 53 where they say, 'Who do you make yourself out to be? Who do you make yourself out to be?' And Jesus concludes all that by saying, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." You set all your hope on being children of the seed, children of Abraham, the law, but I am the one that came from heaven, the bread that comes down from heaven. I am the light of the world that gives life. Last chapter: Anyone who eats of this bread that I give, which is my flesh, will have eternal life. I am talking to you Pharisees, unbelievers, that I am the one that you need to come to. For if you do not keep my word, you will see death. But if you keep my word, 40, 51, you will never see death. And two hanging hooks, two big lessons that we learned from this chapter is, is the first introduction of this other father, which is the devil. And we learned about the characteristics of that father, the characteristics of the devil, which was that he's a father of lies. He was a murderer from the beginning, right? That his character is he's a liar, right? And the reason why people who can't receive Jesus and know him or believe in him is because he tells the truth. So if your whole mindset and your worldview is constructed on lies, your belief system is in reality faulty and on lies, it's very, very difficult to understand or accept the truth when the truth actually shows up. So sometimes we got to do a full hard reboot reset, um, if we feel like God doesn't exist or there's no God. Like, the Scripture clearly says that there is a God and God is real. So as a human being, we should try to challenge our minds and make sure that we know the truth, if anything, that. And of course, Pilate says to Jesus, fast forwarding, what is truth? It's a great question. What is truth? Jesus says he is the truth. So we have a shortcut to truth. The shortcut is listen to the words of Jesus because he's saying he's the truth. So if he's— and if God can't lie and he's saying he's the Son of God, if he can't lie, that means what he's saying is true. We could take that to the bank. But if we doubt what he says, if we doubt his character, we doubt his nature, if we doubt that he even existed Well, then we're going to be— we're going to die in our sins according to scripture, because we'll just simply perish. We won't have— we won't know the truth. We won't know how to get out of the mess that we're in. So that's chapter 8, guys. I hope that, uh, your weekend is not so icy and cold as it is going to be here in the south in the next couple of days. Next time we get together, I will be in chapter 9. And until then, I wish you many blessings. Let's pray, and we'll see you next time. Father, I want to thank you for this word that you've given us in John chapter 8. We do this, Lord, because man cannot eat on bread alone, but from every word that comes out of your mouth, which is scripture. So I pray, Lord, that this was a good spiritual nourishment to the hearer, at least to myself. And though it takes a little bit of time to unpack, Lord, there's still 24 hours in a day, right? I'm reminded, Lord, when the Jews came to Jesus with the coin with Caesar on the coin, and they said to him, Jesus, you know, should we pay taxes? And Jesus says to them, bring me a coin. What image is on this coin? And they said, it's Caesar's. Even then, they were trying to test him to see if he would say that you didn't have to pay taxes. I say all that to say this, is that Jesus says then, as we apply it to us today, he says, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God. So So our worship today, which is our Bible study, is us giving back to God what belongs him. So we are thankful that we have the opportunity to spend an hour or so giving back to you our attention, our consideration. So thank you, Lord. I pray for those that are listening here that are going through struggles. We all go through struggles. I pray, Lord, that you would be with them, that you give them confidence, that you give them courage, that you remind them through scripture that you are— that you love them, that you do not forsake them, and that you're with them. And we pray, Lord, that you give them the strength to go through the storms that they are going through currently. And Lord, I know everyone wants to remove the storm that they're going through, but we also understand that through scripture, that through at least the calming of the storm, that we're never really called to pray to remove the storm, that that's what we want. But instead, God wants us to go through the storm. He wants us to have faith through the storms. Life is so unpredictable. It's up and down. But my prayer for all of us here is that we have the faith to go through the challenges, the storms of life, knowing that it's all going to end up okay because you are with us and you care for us and that you love us. So thank you, Lord, for this time. We pray these things in the name of your son Jesus. Amen. All right, guys, good seeing y'all. I'll see you next time.