And we are back
with Dr. Jon Paulien.
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We're studying the
Gospel of John in chapter 7.
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Dr. Paulien, so
Jesus tells his brothers
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that His time has not yet come.
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And so does He
not go to this feast.
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Why don't we read verses 8-10?
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"You go up to this feast.
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I am not yet
going up to this feast,
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for My time has
not yet fully come.
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When He had said
these things to them,
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He remained in Galilee.
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But when His
brothers had gone up,
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then He also
went up to the feast,
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not openly, but as
it were in secret."
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So he did go. So
he ended up going.
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So basically
what He was saying is
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I'm going not just with you.
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Well, here's the
thing. Jesus makes clear.
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My schedule is
grounded in God's purpose.
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It's not my mother's purpose,
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you know, she wants me to do
something at the wedding feast.
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It's not my brother's purpose.
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We often let other
people influence us
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away from God's
purpose in our lives.
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So here Jesus is making clear.
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He's got be in
tune with His Father.
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His schedule is
set by the Father.
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His timing has
got to be in that way.
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The brothers say, you
know, go with us, go now.
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No, it's not the timing.
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But after they left
then He went down in secret.
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Apparently a public showing
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at least at the
beginning of this feast
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was not His
intention and purpose.
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Later on, we'll see
He gets a bit disruptive.
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Because if He
would've gone with His brothers
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then people would
have recognized Him then.
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That is very likely.
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And His time
referring to His death
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that was not-- it
was not the moment.
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It was not time for
that yet. Yeah, so--
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All right, so where
then are we reading now?
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Because of time, we'll just move
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quickly through
chapter 7 in summary.
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When He actually
gets there and shows up,
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He gets setup on by some
of the priests and Pharisees.
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And they are arguing with Him.
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Because this is the
first time, they've seen Him
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since the pool of Bethesda.
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And they remember it that time.
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You know, in relation to
the Sabbath what happened.
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So they are arguing
with Him about the Sabbath.
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Then the argument
shifts to Messiah ship.
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Well, who is the Messiah?
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And what makes you think
you are the Messiah and so on?
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And then it shifts
to origin, you see.
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Because the Messiah is supposed
to be born in Bethlehem,
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but where did Jesus grow up?
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Nazareth. Nazareth.
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Yeah, Nazareth a
long way from Bethlehem,
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so they say you
couldn't possibly be Messiah,
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because you're born in Nazareth.
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Well, of course,
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that is corrected by
other gospel writers.
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Matthew in
particular shows that,
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yes, He was from Nazareth
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but He went down the Bethlehem
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because of this
tax registry, you see.
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So Matthew is
explaining how somebody
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who was born or at
least who lived in Nazareth
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grew up in Nazareth was
actually from Bethlehem.
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So Matthew's answer to
Jesus' Messiah ship is,
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yes, He was born in Bethlehem,
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just like the prophet said.
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But John
doesn't answer that way.
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John doesn't say, oh,
He was born in Bethlehem."
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No, John says
He was from heaven.
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Messiah came down from heaven.
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Doesn't matter
where He was born,
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He came down from heaven.
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And that shows that
He has God's approval.
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So God's Messiah comes from God.
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And that's John's
answer to the question,
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different answers, each of
them addressing that concern.
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So as you go
through the chapter 7,
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you see these different
controversies taking place.
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And there's kind
of a double stage.
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You have what's happening in
the temple courts with Jesus,
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behind the scenes
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the priest are
plotting His arrest, you see.
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And so you have these two
stages going on at the same time
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which happens several
times in the Gospel of John.
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The narrator kind
of goes back and forth
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and keeps us
up-to-date on both of these.
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But in the midst of all this,
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Jesus disrupts the service.
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Right at the time when
they're pouring the water
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for this Feast of Tabernacles,
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Jesus stands up.
Read verses 37-39.
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"On the last day, that
great day of the feast,
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Jesus stood and cried out,
saying, "If anyone thirsts,
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let him come to Me and drink.
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He who believes in Me,
as the Scripture has said,
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out of his heart will
flow rivers of living water.
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But this He spoke
concerning the Spirit,
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whom those believing
in Him would receive,
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for the Holy
Spirit was not yet given,
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because Jesus was
not yet glorified."
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So here's the thing
that got literal water.
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Shall we take a drink?
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Yes. Let us. Yeah.
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This water is a
good illustration. Right.
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It's good. It is.
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It's very, very good.
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And they're taking
some of that good water
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and its part of the ceremony
in the temple to remember.
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In John, it's always
something deeper going on.
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Jesus gets up
right at that point
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and He said if
anybody's thirsty.
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Let him have a glass of water.
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No, if anyone's thirsty
let him come to me and drink.
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And those who come to me
and drink out of their bellies,
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out of their stomachs will
flow reverse of living water.
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So you see here
that Jesus is saying
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the priests fill up
those vessels for a short time.
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If you're thirsty and drink,
you're going to be thirsty again
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just like the Samaritan woman.
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He is offering them water that
is deeper and more significant.
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Like we said in
our previous program,
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He will raise our need,
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you know, that we
have a deeper need.
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We realize a thirst
for spiritual things.
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God wants to kindle
in us a spiritual thirst
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that will cause us to turn
to Him and find great joy there.
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You know a lot of people in
the secular world, they say,
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"I studied the Bible
and it's just boring to me.
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It doesn't mean anything."
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Well, you see, they have not
been sensing the deeper thirst
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that we have for
something greater.
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And when we come and
touch with the thirst.
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And sometimes God uses
circumstances to do that.
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When we realize our
thirst for spiritual things
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and we come to the
word then it fills our lives
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in ways that we didn't
expect. But it's interesting.
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In Ezekiel, there's a
river that flows from the temple
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and that river
waters the whole land.
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In John 4, Jesus
becomes that temple, you see.
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You know,
Gerizim isn't the place?
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Jerusalem, isn't the place?
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Jesus is the place
where the true temple is.
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And so Jesus replaces
that Old Testament temple.
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He's the source of the water.
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But the exciting
thing in this text is
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those who are in
relation with Him
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can also become
the source of water
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that when the Holy
Sprit fills our lives
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we can minister the
Holy Spirit to others.
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That from our very lives
we awaken in other people
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a thirst for what God offers.
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And we can by the grace of
God through the Holy Spirit's
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supply that need
through our words,
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through our
actions in different ways.
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Now when these people heard
that Jesus said these words,
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what were their reaction?
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Well, they were not happy.
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I mean, He's disrupting
the worship service, you know.
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Have you ever been
speaking and somebody stands up
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in the middle your sermon
and starts arguing with you.
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You know, that's not the
most popular thing to do.
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So Jesus is just
challenging the system here.
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In verse 40 it says,
"That some rose up and said,
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"Truly, this is the prophet."
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And others said,
"This is the Christ."
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And another question, "Will
the Christ come out of Galilee?"
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So some believed then also.
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So there was
difference of opinion, yeah.
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And some in the crowd wants
to follow Him, others oppose.
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And interestingly enough when
they send guards to arrest him,
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they can't do it,
because they're so amazed
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at the things that He said.
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All right. Yeah.
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And we also said
that we were going
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to cover part of
chapter 8. That's right.
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Okay. That's right.
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Now what's
going on in chapter 8?
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So when you get to chapter
8, the controversies continue.
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But here in chapter 8, Jesus
is talking in the temple courts.
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And we'll just skip
over for the moment,
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the story of the
woman taken in adultery,
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I'd like to finish
with that in little bit.
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But here in
chapter 8, Jesus says,
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"I am the light of the world."
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At night, in the
Feast of Tabernacles,
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they had blazing torches
that would light it up like day.
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So He pronounces I
am the water of life
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and now He says I am
the light of the world.
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So what He's doing?
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He is taking the Jewish
feasts and pointing them to Him.
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To truly honor this feast,
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you will want to follow the
one that they're pointing to.
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Obviously, the
leadership there reacts to this
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and they become more
and more frustrated by Jesus
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and so there are
serious arguments
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that take place
throughout this chapter.
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One section, I'd
like to draw attention to,
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we can't cover everything.
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But chapter 8 verse 32 and 33.
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It says "And you
shall know the truth,
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and the truth
shall make you free.
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They answered him, "We
are Abraham's descendants,
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and have never been
in bondage to anyone.
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How can you say,
"You will be made free?"
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You see, once again
they take Him literally.
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They're thinking of a
freedom, political freedom,
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economic freedom and so on.
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They're not actually
even telling the truth.
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They've been in
bondage to the Romans.
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They've been in
bondage to the Greeks,
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to Persians, to the Babylonians.
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You know, one after one another.
00:10:17.48\00:10:19.31
So this isn't entirely
accurate at this point.
00:10:19.34\00:10:22.54
But clearly,
they are understanding
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the freedom here as
something that is political,
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but the reality is the freedom
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that Jesus offers
is a freedom from sin.
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Go on verses 34-36.
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"Jesus answered them,
"Most assuredly, I say to you,
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whoever commits
sin is a slave to sin.
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And a slave does not
abide in the house forever,
00:10:43.54\00:10:45.78
but a son abides forever.
00:10:45.81\00:10:47.96
Therefore if the
Son makes you free,
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you shall be free indeed."
00:10:50.44\00:10:53.49
So Jesus is offering a
different kind of freedom
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than what they had in mind,
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that spiritual
gospel coming through again.
00:10:58.35\00:11:00.77
So this
precipitates a huge argument.
00:11:00.80\00:11:04.41
And from here on
they're arguing about Abraham
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and they're arguing
about freedom and sin.
00:11:07.36\00:11:10.96
And Jesus gets very
sharp at this point,
00:11:10.99\00:11:14.33
even calls them
children of the devil.
00:11:14.36\00:11:16.71
And in the end, this battle ends
00:11:16.74\00:11:21.21
when Jesus just takes His leave.
00:11:21.24\00:11:23.42
So He spends this
time in the temple,
00:11:23.45\00:11:26.49
but things
ultimately don't go well.
00:11:26.52\00:11:29.77
Now are we missing a
story in this chapter?
00:11:29.80\00:11:32.54
Right, right at the
beginning of chapter 8,
00:11:32.57\00:11:34.42
you have the story of
the woman taken in adultery.
00:11:34.45\00:11:37.36
And there the
leaders bring this woman
00:11:37.39\00:11:41.88
who was caught in the act.
00:11:41.91\00:11:43.80
Now according to
the laws of Moses,
00:11:43.83\00:11:45.93
such a person should be stoned.
00:11:45.96\00:11:47.33
So they were being very pious.
00:11:47.36\00:11:48.73
You know, they're saying
this person has sin against God,
00:11:48.76\00:11:51.11
she's an obvious sinner.
00:11:51.14\00:11:53.71
I think one of the
things about religious people is
00:11:53.74\00:11:56.17
we almost love to
point fingers at others,
00:11:56.20\00:11:58.50
to notice people who have
sinned really, really publicly.
00:11:58.53\00:12:02.47
And somehow we feel a
little bit better about it,
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that, you know, well, I'm
not like that person, you see.
00:12:05.65\00:12:08.26
So they bring
this woman to Jesus
00:12:08.29\00:12:10.40
and Jesus completely
circumvents the plan.
00:12:10.43\00:12:13.15
He finds a way to save her
by showing them their sins.
00:12:13.18\00:12:17.79
He writes on the ground.
00:12:17.82\00:12:19.43
And they begin to
realize that in other ways
00:12:19.46\00:12:22.57
they are as bad as she is.
00:12:22.60\00:12:24.58
Now here's the
interesting thing,
00:12:24.61\00:12:26.29
it's the good guys
00:12:26.32\00:12:28.25
in the story
that are less willing
00:12:28.28\00:12:30.74
to be reached by
Jesus than this woman.
00:12:30.77\00:12:32.14
She is more open to the healing
that He brings than they are.
00:12:33.33\00:12:37.88
So she is more open
to be freed from her sin
00:12:37.91\00:12:41.24
than this other group.
00:12:41.27\00:12:42.64
Exactly, though, the whole theme
here is just freeing from sin.
00:12:42.67\00:12:45.51
The freedom Jesus offers,
they don't seem interested in.
00:12:45.54\00:12:48.57
And, Dr. Paulien, you know,
there are many people behind,
00:12:48.60\00:12:51.13
right now watching that
they are physically in bondage.
00:12:51.16\00:12:55.02
But the message that
Jesus wants to give them is
00:12:55.05\00:12:57.59
that they can be spiritually
free from their sins.
00:12:57.62\00:13:01.09
And, friends, if you accept
Jesus Christ in your life today,
00:13:01.12\00:13:04.20
wherever you
are, whatever you do,
00:13:04.23\00:13:06.00
whatever you have
ever done in your life,
00:13:06.03\00:13:07.92
you can be set
free from your sins.
00:13:07.95\00:13:10.20
Till next time.
00:13:10.23\00:13:11.60