John 8
12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

• When I am looking for something in the dark… I grab my phone…
• It helps me see when I cannot on my own.
• The lampstand in the temple was a symbol of the pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the wilderness.
• Wherever light shines… it reveals wickedness
• For every one act of evil there are multiple acts of grace.

13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”
14 “Even if I testify about myself,” Jesus replied, “My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I’m going. But you don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. 15 You judge by human standards. I judge no one. 16 And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am the one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

• Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15 & Numbers 35:30 – You must have two witnesses to prove a crime.

19 Then they asked him, “Where is your Father?”
“You know neither me nor my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” 20 He spoke these words by the treasury, while teaching in the temple. But no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

21 Then he said to them again, “I’m going away; you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.”
22 So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill himself, will he, since he says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’?”
23 “You are from below,” he told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they questioned.

• They are wasting opportunities by arguing with Jesus rather than trusting Him.

“Exactly what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. 26 “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him—these things I tell the world.”
27 They did not know he was speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own. But just as the Father taught me, I say these things. 29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”
30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
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31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

• A disciple is a person who abides in God’s Word.
• Don’t place the listener to this passage under the Law.
• You don’t have to read your Bible.
• You get to read your Bible.
• Paint the picture of who Jesus really is so others will have the desire to learn the Word.
• Many believers will develop their understanding of Jesus at an early age… hear all the stories.
• They may even come to a point of hearing and understanding their identity in Jesus.
• But few will ever become real students of the Word and further their understanding of Jesus and the Father.
• Eventually this passage of “freedom” comes attached to their behavior rather than their identity.
• “I am free to do whatever I want to do.” That is absolutely true my friends.
• But just don’t forget the first part of this verse… If you continue in My Word…
• I am free in Christ… which leads me to be free in my behavior because it is Him doing it in me.

33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”

• Total denial – Jews have always been enslaved. They were currently ruled over by the Romans.

34 Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

• Now we can really understand what this freedom is that Jesus is talking about.
• How many of you have or are dealing with an addiction or a sin issue?
• How many of you tried to overcome this issue in your own strength? How’d that work for you?
• This is what we call legalism.
• God’s Word says do this… so make sure you live accordingly.
• The freedom Jesus is referring to is conjunction of being enslaved to sin.
• Trust Jesus… it is the only way you are going to be free.
• How do you get free of this? The Son sets you free… Who does this? The Son

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37 I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you. 38 I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father; so then, you do what you have heard from your father.”

• Jesus is referring to “their father” as Satan.

39 “Our father is Abraham,” they replied.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did. 40 But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. 41 You’re doing what your father does.”
“We weren’t born of sexual immorality,” they said. “We have one Father—God.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on my own, but he sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out 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 tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Who among you can convict me of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.”

• Most of my “spiritual” posts on FB are posted inside the Leavener Group.

48 The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?”
49 “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges. 51 Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
52 Then the Jews said, “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. 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 claim to be?”
54 “If I glorify myself,” Jesus answered, “my glory is nothing. My Father—about whom you say, ‘He is our God’—he is the one who glorifies me. 55 You do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 The Jews replied, “You aren’t fifty years old yet, and you’ve seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”
59 So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple.[1]
[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Jn 8:12–59). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.