You pick up your Bible and wonder. Is there more here than meets the eye? Is there something here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right?
Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink. Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own. as we ask God to meet us there in its pages. Welcome to More Than Inc.
So you've heard people say, who do you think you are? Oh, yeah. Especially when somebody says something or does something that indicates that they are greater than we know they are. Yeah, and we know they're not. But today in John 8, they're going to ask Jesus this very question: who do you think you think you are?
John 8. Today on more than ink.
Well, good morning. I'm Dorothy. And I'm Jim. We are glad you're here. Welcome back to More Than Inc.
Yeah, are you sitting at your dining room table?
Well, we are. We are.
So we are enjoying just exploring our way through John, and we hope you took the opportunity to go through John 8 this week. I'll show you John 8. Because it gets pretty testy, really fast. It's probably one of my very favorite chapters in the Gospel of John because of the progression of the conversation. Yeah.
Yeah, and last week, in fact, we had we saw conversations from just the people and the Pharisees, the leaders. Today, it's pretty much the leaders as the Pharisees.
Well, John 7 was more a scattergun, little catches of little snippets and different statements. But John 8 is pretty much one continuous conversation between Jesus and the religious leaders. And we watch as the intensity. And they get mad. Oh, they get so angry.
And his responses become more and more pointed as the. As the thing develops.
Well, and they don't get mad because Jesus is trying to make them mad. In fact, he's doing this, we'll see in just a second, because they're in desperate need and they don't even know it.
Well, and he just continues to press deeper and deeper into what the real issue is, being sin. And can you recognize the one the Father sent? Yeah, so he's talking to them out of their need. Before we get into that, I wanted to make a few comments about the opening section in chapter 8. It's about the woman caught in adultery, one of our favorite stories.
It's a story we love. Yeah, and we, and I tell it to youth all the time. I mean, it's just really a stunning story. But what most people don't know is that almost everyone who's a Bible scholar who understands the original languages agrees that this was not in John's original manuscript. The whole story that goes from verse 1 up and up through verse 11 in chapter 8.
They're almost convinced of that.
Well, and the science of textual analysis is a huge study. Gigantic. And all reputable Bible translators will always flag this passage. Yeah. Not because it's not consistent with who Jesus is or what we know he taught, but simply because it's not in some of the earliest manuscripts.
Yeah, and you know, we pick up manuscripts that have been laying around for a long time. We can date them and we can look at the earlier ones that come out of John's Gospel, and this is not included in those. And as well, if you look at the fundamental Greek. About how these sentences are formed, you realize it doesn't really quite sound like John.
So they're convinced that this is not in John's original manuscript.
So the question kind of comes from the same thing. But the content is entirely consistent with Jesus. The content tells us that this is consistent with what Jesus' ministry would be like.
So we include it. If you have a modern Bible, modern translation Bible, they'll usually include these verses, but they'll put a little side note on it and says, you know, this was not in the earliest manuscripts, which tells us that maybe this was not in John's original manuscript. But the fact that everyone includes it is everyone says this does have extraordinary value, and we are convinced because of just its own content that this fits into an episode. It's an accurate telling of a piece of Jesus' ministry. But whether it actually took place at this precise moment in the sequence between John 7 and John 8, while Jesus is teaching during this week of the Feast of Booths, that we don't know.
We don't know. But at some point it was inserted at this point in the text. Right.
So if you're at all technically minded and want to dive into the technical issues of textual criticism and how do you square old papyruses that have different things on them, it's a fascinating study, but it is very technical. And we rely on experts to help us figure out why we should include stuff or not. And we have so much evidence in old manuscripts. If you're interested, I'll just give you one book that I recommend to people all the time. It's kind of an introduction to the whole discussion.
It's called How We Got the Bible, and it's by Neil Lightfoot. It's been published since the 1960s, I think, and he's been adding to it and stuff.
So it's really a great introduction to how do you figure out whether or not you can trust what's there and what fits and what doesn't fit.
So take a look at that. How We Got the Bible by Neil Lightfoot. There's a whole bunch of other books as well, but I think this is probably the best intro to the topic about how do you do this. But it's pretty accessible. Yeah, it is very accessible.
So we're not going to talk about the. a woman caught in adultery. Our favorite story. We're going to jump into verse 12 and on in the chapter for John 8 and move ourselves toward this very contentious discussion that he ends up having with the Pharisees.
So if you've got your Bible out, jump into verse 12. And Jesus starts off by this very provocative statement: I'm the light of the world. And he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
Well, the Pharisees respond in a funny way. How do they respond?
Well, they're saying, well, you're testifying about yourself. Your testimony isn't true.
Well, you should remember back in chapter 5, Jesus had talked about the testimony. The works that he does testify to him. The father has testified to him. John the Baptist has testified to him.
So it's like they have just thrown all of that out. Because in Jewish culture, you know, the courtroom culture, you have to have witnesses. You have to have witnesses.
So it's like they've just decided that anything Jesus says that testifies of his own, or if he gives testimony of himself, that they can just disqualify that. And disregard all of that. He's a nobody. He's a nobody. What he should normally do, what he should normally do, if he's like the rabbis and speaking publicly, he would start referencing all the great teachers that have taught him, and he'll quote them and put all these great rabbi voices together and saying, so this is what I've come up with.
You never really basically quote yourself. You quote other experts. But here, Jesus is clearly quoting himself, so much so that he's saying that I am the light that everyone understands everything by. I am it. And so it seems.
Almost narcissistic if he's not who he is. I mean, he's saying, I do that. And so they're challenging him.
Well, who, buddy, who are you to be able to make such a bold claim? And you're not quoting anybody else. Right.
Well, he says, even if I do testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I'm going. But you do not know where I come from or where I'm going. You judge according to the flesh. I'm not judging anyone, but even if I do judge, my judgment's true, for I'm not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent me. Right.
So, if you're not quoting other known and reputable sources for your truth, Then you have to claim that you come from a special place. You have to claim that you yourself are special and has everything to do with where you come from. That's why the whole discussion shifts here: like, who are you and where did you come from? Like, in our day, we would say to somebody, Well, you just made a very bold claim. What did you come from Harvard or Yale?
Or I mean, where did your origins tell me that are your credentials to you? What are your credentials?
So, the credentials here are: where did you come from?
So, he says, The Father who sent me testifies about me. This is verse 18. And so, their response is, Well, Where's your father? Where is your father? You're talking fathers now?
Yeah, who's your daddy? And Jesus said, You know neither me nor my father. And then this next statement always astonishes me. If you knew me, you would know my father also. If you knew me, you'd know my father also.
Now, John tells us very specifically, he spoke these words in the treasury as he taught in the temple, and no one seized him because his hour had not yet come. But that statement was enough to make them angry.
Well, yeah, because he's claiming that his credential is the fact that he comes from a particular family. He has a father who's particularly notable. Right.
And this is the first of several kind of if-this-then-that statements that he makes in this conversation, and they grow in intensity and pointedness. If you knew God, you'd recognize me. If you believed me, certain things would be true. If you believed God, then you would believe me.
So.
So this is the first one. If you knew me. You know my father also. He's saying we if you're Seeing me, you're seeing the father. They're trying to decide whether to believe what he's claiming based on his credentials.
And his credentials, he's claiming, is his family, his father. But they're still not quite catching the father he's talking about. And they might be confused thinking he's talking about Joseph. That's not what he's talking about. Right.
So we'll come back to that in a second. But then in the next breath in 21, Jesus tries to give them what I think is an honest warning. I mean, the issue here isn't just Jesus and the Pharisees debating and they're having kind of a popularity contest with the people, and whoever wins gets to, you know, have all the marbles. That's not the issue at all. Jesus says, you know, there's something very important at stake.
Something critical. Very important at stake. And he says it in 21, and this is relating to the Pharisees. Look, I go away and you'll seek me, and you and will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.
So he's basically saying, You're going to die in your sin, and time is short. I'm going away, and at that point, you're not going to be able to follow me. It's like you're saying, you need to take advantage of this while I'm here. And you can't get where I'm going because since the issue. Right.
And so, of course, this confuses him in 22. You know, surely he will not kill himself. Is that what he's saying? He's going to commit suicide and we can't fall in there. They're still trying to figure this out.
He says, Where I'm going, you cannot come. What does that mean? And so Jesus, again, has to bring this warning really down to earth in 23. He was saying to them, Look, you're from below. I'm from above, clearly meaning heaven.
You are of this world, which is fallen. I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you, he's unwinding this nicely. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am.
He You will die in your sins.
So he's giving them an honest warning about: look, we're not messing around here. You guys are in deep need because of your sin. And I'm going someplace pretty soon that'll make it impossible for you to take advantage of this offer. You got to respond right now, and you got to believe who I am because I'm from above, you're from below, I'm uniquely qualified. Wake up, or you will die in your sins.
Now, we need to remember at this point, John 3, when Jesus had said to Nicodemus, just like Moses raised that bronze serpent on the pole in the wilderness. Anyone who believes that I am given life, that I am the remedy for their sin will have eternal life. I just mangled the quotation, but back in John 3, Jesus says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes may in him have eternal life.
So he's likening himself to that image of the snake on the pole, where the people who were dying. Because of their rebellion, could simply look to the snake on the pole and believe intellectual debate. This is an issue of dealing with the problem of sin and death. It's destined. Believing that there is one remedy for it, and it is the Son who will be lifted up in death.
So Jesus puts himself right in the center of that problem in 24. He says, unless you believe that I am he. And actually, we've said this before. The words are, unless you believe that I am. Right.
And die in your sins. There's a lot at stake here, guys.
So wake up. But in a contentious response, again, they're trying to ask him, why should we listen to you? Right.
Well, who are you? Who are you? What they're trying to get him to say. I am. Right.
Which by the end of the chapter, he's going to. Yeah. So it's like them saying, who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? You're saying that we're going to die in our sins.
And by the way, the Pharisees were pretty sure they were not going to die in their sins because they were the few. I don't think they had any. The few and chosen ones who satisfied the law and they did everything right. I mean, they were literate enough to even know what the laws were, let alone they did them all.
So when Jesus says you're actually, no, you're sinful, and they're going to cause you to die. At this point, they were already plotting to murder him. Right.
Which he had brought up in the previous conversation. You know, you claim that you're following the law, but you're seeking to kill me. Yeah, exactly.
So Jesus wants to Push it forward. He says, Look, this has been going on from the beginning. I'm trying to speak to you. There's problems coming up here, but he who sent me is true. What you're hearing is truth.
It's truth. You're going to die in your sins, and the things which I heard from him, these are the things I speak to the world, he says in 26. I'm not lying to you. This is important stuff. But John tells us in 27, he explains that they did not realize he had been speaking to them about the Father, about the Heavenly Father, about God Himself.
And so they weren't making the connection. About what the problem is and what the solution is, and Jesus is trying to save them, and they're just debating it. And there in the crowd are the religious leaders who were not believing him, but there were many standing in the crowd who were believing him.
So he's kind of speaking to both groups here.
So Jesus says in verse 28, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you'll know that I am he. And I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught me. 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. And as he spoke these things, many came to believe in him.
So there it is, many who are hearing him. He's answering straight up their challenge, their challenge about who are you? And he says, this is who I am. And I'm not making stuff up. I'm telling you what the Father is saying.
So you need to wise up. But he knows now that in the crowd are those who are believing what he says.
So in verse 31, he says to those Jews who had believed in him, and this is a statement everybody knows a fragment of, but we don't always put the whole thing together. Here's what he says in verse 31: If you continue in my word, then you're truly disciples of mine, and you'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. We all know that truth will make you free part, but the if is the continuing in his word, continue to believe and take it to the next step and become a learner that we incorporate what he has said and make it reality within us. And then we will know what is true. And then we will begin to experience the freedom of believing that he does, he is the remedy for our sin.
Yeah, so Jesus really raises. raises it again back. He puts himself in the center of the conversation. You know, you're going to die in your sins unless you believe who I am and what I'm saying. My message comes from the Father, so I'm not making this up.
You know, and my credentials are, I come from the Father. And the issue really is if you hang on to what I teach like a disciple. Then the truth will set you free. Right.
If you grasp it and internalize it, my words are the centers. The religious leaders are staying on the surface here. Hey, we're Abraham's descendants, we've never been enslaved to anyone. How is it you say you'll become free?
Well, that's simply not true. Because Abraham's own immediate descendants did become slaves in Egypt. At the time of this writing, Israel was an occupied country. The Romans were in charge.
So they were enslaved. Yeah. So they're. They're just debating and they're doing a poor job right here. But it is, I mean, it's sort of an insult to say, you know, my words, Jesus says, my words will set you free.
And they're going, well, we don't need to be freed. You know, well, you sort of do, but they don't really understand freed from what.
So Jesus moves on to what it is they need to be freed from.
Well, he brings it back to sin. Sin again, you're going to die in your sins. Yeah, truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. Oh, which means you can't stop yourself. If you sin, you're a sinner.
You're gonna die in your sins. Jesus is bringing this home pretty powerfully. The slave does not remain in the house forever, but the son does remain forever. You're talking about who has influence in the house.
So if the son makes you free, you'll be free indeed. Talking about himself. If you'll be free in reality, it will actually happen. And then he addresses their kind of sidestep. I know you're Abraham's descendants.
And yet you seek to kill me. because my word has no place in you. Wow. And then he goes on and says, You know, you're standing behind Abraham and then 38. I speak the things I've seen with my father.
Therefore, you also do the things which you heard from your father.
Now, he's moving in another direction here. Getting pretty personal. But he's said about as much as he can say about his personal credentials. You know, he's the son of the father, and he's not making this stuff up. but they are also the sons of another father.
and they respond. And they respond, Well, Abraham's our father. Which is, it's more of an entitlement statement. Abraham is our father. We have Abraham as our father, meaning we're the children of the covenant, we're the children of the promise, we are the heirs of everything that God has to give.
We get in. We're entitled. Slobs don't, but we get in. Gentiles, forget it. They don't get in.
We get in. And we don't have sin problems. Gentiles do, but we don't because we're the children of Abraham. Yeah, so Jesus says, hey. Inverse 39.
If you are children, Abraham's children, then do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you're seeking to kill me a man who's told you the truth which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do.
Well, what did Abraham do? The scripture says Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as a righteousness.
Well, that comes right back into this conversation when Jesus says, I'm telling you the truth. If you believe me, You'll be saved. Back to the center. Freed from your sins. Back to the center of that again.
And in fact, that would be such a welcome message, such good news. You would love him. And that's what it goes on to next. If God were your father, you'd love me. You'd love me.
You'd love me. I proceeded forth, I've come from God. And I haven't even come on my own initiative, but he sent me.
So I'm here to save you. You're going to die in your sins, guys. You're going to die in your sins. You need to believe that and you need to love me. And my words are central to you understanding and taking advantage of that fact.
But you don't understand what I'm saying. Right there was this continuing sense of speaking at cross purposes. Jesus was driving the conversation into deep spiritual territory, and they were staying on the surface of what they can see, which actually he had said at the beginning of the conversation: you guys judge according to the flesh. I'm not talking about the flesh. I'm talking about the spirit.
Remember, he had said that. The flesh profits nothing, but the words that I speak are spirit and our life. Back in chapter 6, he said that. But he says that they actually have an inability to hear. An inability to hear.
Because they're not connected with the Father. They don't resonate with Jesus' words, who's speaking the words of the Father, because they themselves are not of the Father. Which you raised is a very interesting thing: can we come to Jesus unless God draws us, unless God gives us some kind of understanding beforehand? And the answer to that is exactly yes. That's the way it works.
Well, and I don't remember. I don't remember if we talked about it when we did John 5 and 6, but Jesus said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. Right.
And here's a real case in point where the Pharisees have not been drawn. And they're just arguing with Jesus. And they're arguing about his credentials, arguing about his origins. And Jesus saying, Look, guys, I've come from above. You're from below.
You're clueless about what's going on here. You've got sins. You're going to die in your sins. You think that being a son of Abraham is going to save you? It's not going to save you.
You guys got to, you need to wake up. Which is why the original, the first messages that Jesus and John the Baptist were preaching as they went across the countryside is repent. You need to repent. You got to understand you got a sin problem and it's going to get you killed. And so Jesus is trying to say, I'm bringing you this message, and all they're doing is arguing with, well, what are your credentials?
Who are you to say that? And he comes back and says in verse 30, 45, but because I speak the truth, you don't believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? Anybody? If I speak truth, why do you not believe me?
He who is of God hears the words of God. for this reason you don't hear them, because you are not of God. Pretty? pointed. Yeah, you're not of God.
And so they kind of throw it back in his face and say, Well, you're not either.
Well, first, he had said to them, You're seeking to kill me because my word is just bouncing off, right? You don't believe. My word has no place in you. And then he says, You don't understand what I'm saying because you can't hear my words. And then essentially, in verse 47, he says, Here's why you don't hear them because you're not of God.
In other words, you don't even have ears to hear this kind of truth because you're so intent on listening to your Father. The first and final and ultimate liar. Yeah, that's quite an offense to them. Oh, because it's an offense to me. They're the people of God.
And Jesus just said, You're not of God. Right.
And that's why I say they came right back at him in 48 and said, Well, neither are you. You know, you're a Samaritan, you have a demon. Yeah, so that's their answer.
Well, you're just crazy and you're dead. You have a demon. Yeah. And Jesus says, Nope, don't have a demon. And I honor the Father, but you dishonor me.
So, you know, it's really kind of an interesting tit for tat where Jesus says, no, you got it all wrong. You got it all wrong. I'm from the Father and you're not. And then 51, he comes back to the centrality of his role with the word. Look, I say to you: if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.
Remember, he says they're going to die in their sins?
Well, they're never going to see death if they stay on his word. And by the way, that word keeps my word, it doesn't mean obey necessarily. It can imply that, but what it more strongly means is being attentive to it. Treasure it, guard it. Right, like guards keep their eyes fixed on something.
That's what's talked about. Pay attention. Pay attention and stay on that, and you will not die. And then they say, well, now we know you've got a demon. You know, Abraham died.
Prophets also die. Everybody dies. And you're saying if anyone keeps my word, he'll never taste of death. Oh, right. That makes a whole lot of sense.
Yeah. Who do you make yourself out to be? Are you greater than Abraham? Who died? Right.
And you've got more power than Abraham himself? The prophets died too? You're saying you're bigger than all those guys? Whom do you make yourself out to be? He says in the 50s.
Are you claiming to be? Buddy, who do you think you are? And here to the end of the chapter, Jesus lays home who he is until finally he says, Let's jump to 58. Jesus said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. I am.
Now that really ticked him off.
Well, they picked up stones to throw. Why? Because that was utter blasphemy. Blasphemy. Unless it was true.
Because he was claiming for himself the personal name of God. Right.
So here, these quote-unquote sons of Abraham would not recognize who Jesus was, and so they decided the guy was just blaspheming and they'll just kill him. They'll just kill him, which is what they'd been wanting to do all along.
Well, that's what the law had told them to do of anyone who claimed another God than who God had revealed himself to be. And Deuteronomy and Leviticus describe how they should actually stone to death anyone who was guilty of blasphemy. And so they're ready to execute right now. Right.
And Jesus, throughout this whole section, for their benefit, is trying to save them from dying in their sins. And all they can do is just resist him and try and kill him because he's not God. Clearly, he's being blasphemous. Let's kill him. And they claimed all along to be the experts on knowing God according to the law.
But Jesus had said to them back in verse 57, which we kind of skipped over. Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It's my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say he's our God. You have not come to know him, but I know him. But I know him.
If I say that I don't know him, I'll be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word.
So Jesus is no longer being cagey about who he is right in their face. They just hate it. They just hate it. Next week, we're going to go to John 9, and Jesus is going to heal a blind man, and that's going to occupy the entire chapter, and it's really going to mess them up. Born blind.
Born blind. And, you know, Who can heal someone born blind? Never been recorded. Maybe. That it ever happened.
Maybe the Son of God.
So that'll occupy the entire chapter. And boy, does it get testy. Who do you make yourself out to be? He's gone public and he's served notice to everybody. I'm the Son of God.
I am. Before Abraham was, I am.
So come back to us next week on More Than Ink. Good job. More than Inc. is a production of Main Street Church of Brigham City and is solely responsible for its content. To contact us with your questions or comments, just go to our website, morethaninc.org.
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