John Chapter 8:12-26

That question shouldn't be the one we ask. What can I still do and be a Christian? We should be leaving those things of darkness. And understand it's uncomfortable, it's uncomfortable when the light shines down on a dark place in your life and you go, oh man, Lord, I didn't know that was still there and I didn't know that was still a struggle.

But you know, when the Lord illuminates an area of your life, He also gives you the power to be overcome. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina.

D.A. Brown is with us in the studio today. He's one of David's associate pastors. Glad to have you here, brother. Bob, I'm excited to be here and I'm excited about John chapter eight where we're reminded when we follow Jesus, we should leave the darkness behind.

Sounds good, brother. Here's David McGee with his teaching. Meekness is not weakness. So John chapter eight, verse 12. Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world.

He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. Now, understand the backdrop to this. Remember, we talked about the Feast of Tabernacles. We talked about there was water involved in that feast. We also, if you remember, I alluded to the fact that there was also fire involved. Now, the Feast of Tabernacles was remembering the journey through the desert.

And so as part of that, they had the water that flew from the rock that they were remembering. And they also were remembering the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. And so part of what they would do is they would light the menorah every night of the Feast of Tabernacles, which occurred when there wasn't a full moon.

So it was rather dark and you're out in the desert and they light these. And keep in mind, if you're thinking of a menorah as a little thing this tall that sits on your bookcase, that's cute, but it's not really accurate. A menorah was taller than I am. As a matter of fact, they have one in Jerusalem today and I've seen it in the cardo that they've rebuilt. It cost about $2 million. It's made out of gold.

It's a beautiful thing, but it's taller than I am. And so they lit this. And so as they celebrated the Lord, him being the light, him leading them by the fire by night and in the midst of this. And remember guys, this is the day after. This is the day after because verse eight or chapter eight, sorry, starts out and it says now early in the morning.

What morning? The morning after the Feast of Tabernacles, which had happened the night before in chapter seven. So it was of significance that Jesus said, I am the light of the world. After they had been celebrating around this menorah, Jesus said, I'm the light. I am the light of the world. He didn't say, I am the light of the Jewish people. He didn't say, I am the light of the church. I am the light of the Christians. He certainly is those things, but he says, I am the light of the world, the whole world.

That's an awesome thing. This is an opportunity for the world to know the light and they won't stumble in the darkness. Revelation chapter two verse five reminds us of something. It says, remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Now that lampstand spoken of there is the menorah. The seven candlesticks, it talks about that in Revelation.

Remember the first works, return to your first love. When you follow Jesus, you should leave the darkness behind. It's interesting sometimes in talking to people, they ask, and I used to ask questions similar, but when a question starts out, can I be a Christian? Can I still be a Christian?

And fill in the blank. Can I be a Christian and still drink a six pack every night? Can I still be a Christian and smoke dope? Can I still be a Christian in this and that and the other? I guess technically to those questions such as, can I be a Christian and still see movies or whatever? I guess technically the question is yes. But see, that's not even the question we should be asking, is it?

How much can I get away with and not lose my salvation? That's another way to say it, isn't it? Is that really a question we should be asking?

I don't think so. We should be saying, you know what, Lord, wow, you love me so much, you died for me. What can I do for you?

Not how much can I get away with, how long will you be gone, you know, kind of thing. Because God knows us, God knows our hearts. And he understands that the heart behind a question like that is not a pure heart. It reminds me, you know, when Ashley was real little, she came into the living room one day and she was just like three years old or something. And she came into the living room and me and Nora were sitting in there talking and she came in there and she came out of her bedroom, came into the living room and said, you guys wait right here. And then went back to her bedroom. I mean, it was pretty obvious something was going on that we weren't supposed to see or be doing, you know.

And sure enough, there was crayons and walls and different stuff involved. But that question shouldn't be the one we ask. What can I still do and be a Christian? We should be leaving those things of darkness. And I understand it's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable when the light shines down on a dark place in your life and you go, oh man, Lord, I didn't know that was still there and I didn't know that was still a struggle. But you know, when the Lord illuminates an area of your life, He also gives you the power to be overcoming, to be an overcomer, to be victorious in that area. So when you follow Jesus, leave the darkness behind.

Walk in the light. Verse 13, the Pharisees therefore had said to Him, you bear witness of yourself. Your witness is not true. And Jesus answered and said to them, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I'm going. But you do not know where I come from and where I am going. Now, what they were talking about is in Jewish law, you could not testify for yourself.

In other words, if you were to appear because you had been charged with a crime or you would stand before Him and you were not allowed to defend yourself, because obviously, you know, you're gonna say you didn't do it or you were innocent or you'd been framed or whatever. It was, there was some wisdom in this situation, but Jesus here is saying, you know what? My witness is true because Jesus can't lie. And He says, you know what, I know where I came from. Where'd He come from? He came from heaven and I know where I'm going.

Where's He going? He's going to the cross. Make no mistake, early on in Jesus' ministry, He told people what was gonna happen. Jesus knew from before the time He came here that the cross wasn't an accident. It wasn't some political scandal or necessarily even a tragedy.

It was much, much more than that. It was God reaching down to man and offering Himself to forgive man of his sins. And Jesus knew it was part of the plan and they didn't understand that.

They didn't understand that. Verse 15, you judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Now, the Word of God tells us that if we judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But if we don't judge ourselves, then we will be judged. And what do we use to judge ourselves?

We use the Word of God. Now, it's kind of a mistaken thing to, you know, everybody runs around quoting, you know, Matthew chapter seven, verse one, judge, I should be judged. It's one of those scriptures that, you know, even people who don't know anything else about the Bible tend to memorize that one. And they usually quote it out of context. But it also goes to say in verse five that, you know, we're supposed to remove the beam out of our own eyes so we can do what?

Help our brother with the speck that's in his eye. Don't think that it's just saying never judge anybody. Because we're also told that spiritual man judges and discerns all things. But don't condemn people. And realize that if we judge ourselves according to the Word of God, we won't stand condemned. But if we never take a look at our lives and how our lives line up with the Word of God or don't line up with the Word of God, then we shall receive the judgment of God. And also, Jesus says, I judge no one here.

This is the first coming. This is his coming as the Lamb. When he comes as the Lamb, Scripture's very clear that in his second coming there will be judgment. And he's given the right and the authority to judge everyone in that coming. And verse 16, and yet, if I do judge, my judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one who bears witness of myself and the Father who sent me bears witness of me. So Jesus said to our bearing witness, myself and the Father. Then they said to him, where is your Father? And Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my Father. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.

Guys, your attention, please, don't miss what these people are saying. When they asked Jesus, where is your Father? You see, everybody kind of knew that the upbringing of Jesus, his background, if you will, was a little questionable.

A lot of whispering probably going on. Well, have you heard? You know, she got pregnant before she was actually married. Joseph was gonna leave her, but decided not to. And so part of the rumors of that day is that Jesus was an illegitimate child. And that's what they were insinuating here when they said, where is your Father? Now keep in mind, guys, Jesus never calls Joseph his Father. Not one time in scripture. In scripture, every time it refers to God as his Father. But how hard hearted for men to say, yeah, we've heard about you, we know about you. And as we look at that, guys realize that sometimes we act the same way.

We judge people, we condemn them, oftentimes on rumors and misunderstandings. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be right back with more in just a moment. But I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on crossthebridge.com. There's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. You have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as Savior. You need people to pray for him.

You need someone to present God's word to him. Every day we're presenting God's word to him here on Cross the Bridge with Pastor David McGee. We can pray for them as well just by simply going to crossthebridge.com and click on the pray for the lost button. All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as Savior, click on submit and immediately hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones. And what an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from Associate Pastor D.A.

Brown. Bob, we want to take a minute to pray for our listeners in a few cities in Florida, Panama City, St. Mark's, Tallahassee, West Palm Beach, and also in Georgia, Athens, Blue Ridge, and Brunswick. God, we thank you for those listening today.

We know that you have a special word just for them. And God, we pray that they would be encouraged in following you, that today they would put their trust in you with no holding back. And Lord, that they would be an encouragement to others with what you're doing in them. Lord, we pray for the pastors in these cities, that you would give them wisdom and discernment and that you will be honored in the midst of that. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, thank you, brother.

And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. We've kind of sanitized this part of Christianity, haven't we, the virgin birth? I mean, it sounds really cool, doesn't it, virgin birth? Now, I certainly believe in the virgin birth.

But practically, have you ever really stopped to consider what happened? I mean, here's a teenage girl who goes to her betrothed, that means more than engaged. As a matter of fact, if you broke the betrothal, you had to get her rid of divorce. She comes to Joseph and says, Joseph, I'm with child. And you know, Joseph, I'm sure, is freaking out. Oh my gosh, she's pregnant, I can't believe this. And then she goes, but don't worry, don't worry. What do you mean, don't worry?

Who's the father? It's the Holy Spirit. I mean, would that freak you out? See, we don't think of that stuff.

We just think back and we think, oh, you know, that wasn't that nice. But it wasn't that big of a town. People were talking about it. And I was like, oh, is that the guy?

That's the guy, you know, nobody knows who his father really is. And you know the amazing thing? And this blows my mind. Jesus chose to come to this earth under those conditions. He chose to come that way. That is so unlike humans. That is so unlike me.

That's probably so unlike you. You know, the angels probably were really taken by surprise. They probably got all excited.

Oh, you know, God's sending the sun towards the earth. This is just gonna be fabulous. We're practicing, the choir's practicing.

We're rehearsing, this is gonna be great. The curtain's parked and there's three shepherds standing there. What happened? Who was in charge of promotion here? We got, you know, there's not even a rabbi. There's these three guys and they're shepherds.

They're not even priests or anything. Amazing. Because how would you do it? I would come up with a completely different plan, you know?

I would, we'd need a big venue, even larger than here, maybe the Greensboro Coliseum or Lawrence Jobe Memorial or something, and gather the creme de la creme of the religious movement, make sure they were all there, make sure the press was there, you know? It's not how he did it. Isn't that amazing? The Philippians chapter two, verse seven tells us, it says, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men.

What an amazing thing. He came that way so that he would be approachable to us. You see, if he came as a king in a colosseum or in the temple, the people wouldn't have felt that he was so approachable.

He did this for us. And he came, Mark chapter 10, verse 45 tells us, for he came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life, his life a ransom for many. Yes, but to serve there in the Greek is dikoneos. That's where we get our word for deacon.

It's kind of interesting. He didn't even use the word for elder. He used the word for deacon and he came to serve. That's what he came to do. And you know what? That should be part of our church life.

You should be serving, not just coming to be served, but be an active part of serving. You know something amazing here too? They say, where's your father? Do you understand who they were talking to? They were talking to Jesus. Jesus sitting there with the power to do whatever. The power to have the ground open up and swallow a mole. The power to have fire come down from heaven and consume him.

But he didn't do it. So y'all can be probably grateful that I don't have the gift of calling down fire from heaven. Because it would be a handy gift to have, right? You could spiritualize it. You could, when you were out witness and you could say, okay, I'm gonna give you one more chance here. You really ought to pray this prayer.

I mean, you could find ways to use it that would spiritualize it, but it would still be wrong. I'm so glad that I don't have some of those gifts. I would not do well with some of those gifts. But Jesus had those gifts.

And you know what? Sometimes we confuse meekness with weakness. Life lesson here, meekness is not weakness. Meekness is courage and strength under control. That's what meekness is. Meekness is courage and strength under control. It's not weakness. We make the connection with weakness.

Absolutely wrong. There's a word picture there of it's a stallion that has been broken, but is very, still very, very strong. But he's bent his will towards his master. That's what meekness is. It's not weakness.

It's not a George McFly kind of thing that we all get in our head. And the reality is God has given us some powers. How are we using those powers? You have the power to speak to somebody and to present words of life and mercy and truth and liberty and freedom. Are those the words that you're speaking to people? The power that you've been given, how are you using it? The gifts that you've been given, how are you using those? Are you using those for earthly gain?

Are you using those to bless others? Verse 20, these words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple. No one laid hands on him for his hour had not yet come. Then Jesus said to them again, I'm going away and you will seek me and will die in your sin.

Where I go, you cannot come. Now this angered them in part because they didn't think of themselves as sinners. Sinners were, they were other people. They were the non-religious people. It's interesting how much bearing that has on us today. A lot of church people think that they forget they're sinners saved by grace.

God's religion is so in the way of getting people to Jesus. And some of you, you've had to overcome so many obstacles just to come here. So many bad memories, so many bad experiences. And man, let me, I appreciate you being here. I appreciate you overcoming so much stuff to sit in here and learn about the Lord. And it really shows that there's a hunger in you.

And keep in mind, I've had to overcome some of those same things. I remember sitting in a chapel service one day and the pastor, and I was like nine or 10 years old, and the pastor said, do you know what people are who don't ask God to bless their food, who don't give thanks over their meal? Do you know what those people are? I'm thinking, well, there must be some technical name he's gonna tell us here, you know. And I'll never forget, then he held up a picture of a pig.

And at the young age, I remember thinking, you know, I understand a little bit of this right and wrong thing. That just looks wrong. See, it's a far cry from what Jesus intended, isn't it? So the Jews said, will he kill himself? Because he says, where I go, you cannot come? And he said to them, you are from beneath, I am from above.

You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. See, there it is again that Jesus is representing himself as the exclusive way to heaven.

There's only one way, folks. As a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus and you believe in Jesus, it's not up to you to say, well, there's many ways to heaven. You can't say that, because Jesus didn't say that. Jesus said there's one way. And either you're a follower of Jesus or you're not.

And if you tell somebody or you represent that there's many ways to heaven, then you're misrepresenting Jesus who you claim to follow. And maybe you sit there and you think, well, that's kind of judgmental and narrow-minded to say that there's only one way. Look, I'm grateful there's one way.

I am grateful there's one way. And see, God is, God can judge. You know why?

Because he knows everything. You and I, we don't know everything. So for us to try to sit in a place of going, well, that's wrong and that's wrong and this is right and that's, you know, outside of the Bible, you can't do that.

You can't do that. God's a merciful God. God's a loving God.

I don't know how this works out. And, you know, and people want to talk about, well, what about the pygmies in Africa? You know, you ever notice people always want to talk about a lot of weird things when you start talking about them and Jesus? What about the pygmies in Africa?

Can God make a rock he can't move? And then they get into all these, but you know what? That's not even the question. And when people, you know, I got a good reply. When somebody says, hey, you know, what about the pygmies in Africa?

I don't know about the pygmies in Africa. I know that I'm sitting here talking to you about Jesus. So if you really got a heart to minister to the pygmies in Africa, you go ahead and accept Jesus gets saved and then you can go over and tell him since you've got such a burden for him. Praise God. But Jesus is saying, you know what?

This is, if you don't believe I am he, you will die on your sins. See sometimes, and Jesus knows they're going to play a part in his crucifixion, but you know what? Sometimes being a Christian means you got to say things that you might not even want to say, but people need to hear them. They need to hear them. And that's difficult sometimes. My job as a pastor puts me in that place frequently where I know what somebody needs to hear and also know they might get mad and they might get offended, but they need to hear. So I got to say it. I've had some wonderful experiences doing that and I've had some rather hard experiences, but it's still the truth that I have to tell them and that should describe you too. Verse 25, then they said to him, who are you?

Oh man, that's the question. Who are you? Who is Jesus to you? Was he just a good man, good teacher that whole trip or do you understand he was the son of God who died to save men and women from their sins? And Jesus said to them, just what I have been saying to you from the beginning, I have many things to say in the judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true and I speak to the world those things which I heard from him. You understand Jesus could have sat there that day and listed every sin, every one of these guys when that audience had ever committed, but he didn't do it.

You know why, because he knew there was no benefit. They weren't listening. Understand when you're talking to somebody about the Lord, keep the main thing the main thing and if they're not listening, they're not listening. Don't try to kick the door down.

We're not, guys, we're not vacuum cleaner salesmen. Don't kick the door down because you may ruin it for the next person because the Spirit of God can convict and open that door for you. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I wanna lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven, you've been born again. Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him and he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness those who were sick, not the righteous.

So congratulations, friend, you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27117 and share how God is working in your life. Well, D.A., before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day, you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, Life Lessons to Consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee.

That sounds good, Pastor D.A., and again, it's been great to have you with us on the program today. But tell us, what else can our listeners find on crossthebridge.com? If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, or on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. Eastern Time? Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There, you'll experience a live service from David's home church, The Bridge, in North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.