WEBVTT 00:00:06.670 --> 00:00:15.780 So, it's good to be speaking. I'm feeling a bit underprepared actually. Nick asked me 00:00:15.780 --> 00:00:21.040 about being able to preach some months ago and we'd arranged the date and the passage 00:00:21.040 --> 00:00:25.620 and so on and I was preparing everything and looking at my notes and praying and thinking 00:00:25.620 --> 00:00:29.760 about what I was going to say and I was just looking at the PowerPoint I'd done and thinking 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:34.120 well is that the right colour scheme and does it need a bit of, and then I happened to look 00:00:34.120 --> 00:00:41.620 at the service outline and I realized I've been preparing the wrong passage. That was changed so 00:00:41.620 --> 00:00:53.240 there's no PowerPoint I'm afraid but I have got some visual aids so truth and very good I'm glad 00:00:53.240 --> 00:01:02.860 they're legible. Now I know something similar happened to Erica when she preached last week 00:01:02.860 --> 00:01:07.860 she was talking about how she'd been hoping to be preaching on a different passage and she ended up 00:01:07.860 --> 00:01:12.680 preaching very powerfully which was a blessing to all of us so now you'll see the other way it can 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:23.870 go. You won't because Nick's prayed over me so I'll be fine. So we're still in John chapter 8 00:01:23.870 --> 00:01:29.430 and we're following directly on obviously from the passage that Erica preached on 00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:35.750 last week and if you heard Erica's sermon you might remember that the passage she was preaching 00:01:35.750 --> 00:01:44.850 on finished with a verse that said as Jesus was speaking many believed in him many but not all 00:01:44.850 --> 00:01:51.280 so I'm going to take on this passage in in three chunks just because it's quite a long passage this 00:01:51.280 --> 00:02:00.700 takes us to the end of chapter eight so this passage starts to the Jews who had believed in 00:02:00.700 --> 00:02:07.980 him jesus said so he's not talking to the people who were rejecting him he's talking to the people 00:02:07.980 --> 00:02:15.280 who had accepted him on some level who believed in him either because of what he said or because 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:22.260 of who he was or because of the signs he did we're not entirely sure but it's interesting that 00:02:22.260 --> 00:02:28.940 jesus just keeps pushing you know we we get we get somewhere with jesus and he starts that's great 00:02:28.940 --> 00:02:38.080 now try the next bit and it can be a challenge because Jesus wants us to be perfect and the 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:46.720 good news is that through the power of his spirit he can make us perfect but that does mean 00:02:46.720 --> 00:02:54.670 that sometimes we're challenged to move on to develop to grow but to the Jews who had believed 00:02:54.670 --> 00:03:03.310 in him Jesus said if you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples then you will know the 00:03:03.310 --> 00:03:13.910 truth and the truth will set you free they answered him we are Abraham's descendants and we have never 00:03:13.910 --> 00:03:21.480 been slaves of anyone how can you say that we shall be set free which is it's a bit of an odd 00:03:21.480 --> 00:03:28.100 response I mean in chapter 7 the previous chapter of the gospel according to John we've just had the 00:03:28.100 --> 00:03:34.840 festival of booths the festival of tabernacles why were they in booths they were remembering 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:40.480 their time in the wilderness as God's people now why were God's people in the wilderness 00:03:40.480 --> 00:03:50.260 anyone yeah they'd been freed from slavery and we're not all up to speed with the festival of 00:03:50.260 --> 00:03:57.720 booths, but the big Jewish festival, the one that constitutes God's people in the Old Testament, 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:03.600 in the Hebrew scriptures, is the Passover. Why were they having a Passover? Because God was 00:04:03.600 --> 00:04:11.480 freeing them from slavery. That's what it is to be a Jew, to be one of those people who remembers 00:04:11.480 --> 00:04:20.240 being freed from slavery in Egypt. But these people, so Abraham's descendants, we'll get on 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:27.700 to that a little bit later, and have never been slaves of anyone. It's as if they don't like the 00:04:27.700 --> 00:04:35.890 idea of the status of a slave. Well, I've never been a slave. But the whole point of being God's 00:04:35.890 --> 00:04:44.770 people is that we have been freed from slavery. It's not that we were never slaves. God doesn't 00:04:44.770 --> 00:04:53.150 pick the people who don't need saving Jesus said I came to to find sinners not the righteous 00:04:53.150 --> 00:05:06.220 healthy people don't need a doctor God frees us from sin and death and he does it partly by making 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:14.010 us perfect and that can be a real challenge and a real struggle but what we should never be doing 00:05:14.010 --> 00:05:19.380 is looking at ourselves and saying yeah i'm i'm not surprised god picked me i'm worth picking 00:05:19.380 --> 00:05:25.920 they answered him we are abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:34.160 how can you say that we shall be set free jesus replied very truly i tell you everyone who sins 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:42.860 is a slave to sin this is a kind of slavery that the passover and the passage through the red sea 00:05:42.860 --> 00:05:50.800 and the 40 years in the wilderness couldn't save God's people from because it happens to each 00:05:50.800 --> 00:06:01.900 individual person we each need individually to be freed from sin by God by the power of his spirit 00:06:01.900 --> 00:06:08.580 very truly I tell you Jesus says this is a bit of a catchphrase of Jesus's he all the gospel 00:06:08.580 --> 00:06:16.540 writers record him saying truly i tell you amen is the word we translate truly um probably the 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:24.900 same word as the amen we say at the end of a prayer and it means true truth so when you start 00:06:24.900 --> 00:06:31.820 a saying with amen it means that this bit's true pay attention and when someone else says something 00:06:31.820 --> 00:06:41.020 and you say amen you're saying yep so be it i agree so say we all very truly i tell you everyone 00:06:41.020 --> 00:06:47.880 who sins is a slave to sin now a slave has no permanent place in the family but a son belongs 00:06:47.880 --> 00:06:57.500 to it forever so if the son this is the son of man the son of god sets you free you will be free 00:06:57.500 --> 00:07:04.340 indeed I know that you are Abraham's descendants yet you were looking for a way to kill me because 00:07:04.340 --> 00:07:12.560 you have no room for my word I am telling you what I have seen in the father's presence and you were 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:20.700 doing what you have heard from your father so spoilers for the next bit when he says your father 00:07:20.700 --> 00:07:31.960 he doesn't mean Abraham. He's challenging this idea of being children of Abraham. So 00:07:31.960 --> 00:07:38.180 Jesus is telling the Jews who believed in him, and Jews, by the way, everyone in this story is a Jew. 00:07:39.050 --> 00:07:45.910 Jesus is a Jew, his disciples are Jews. When John talks about Jews, it's not entirely clear who he 00:07:45.910 --> 00:07:54.130 means. He might mean Judeans, Udioi is the word in the Greek that we translate as Jews, as opposed 00:07:54.130 --> 00:08:01.770 to Galileans, so southerners. You know, like people sometimes talk about Brussels when what they mean 00:08:01.770 --> 00:08:08.650 is the mechanisms and the decision-making bodies of the European Union. Now, that doesn't mean 00:08:08.650 --> 00:08:13.070 everyone in Brussels is responsible for what's going on. You know, Jean-Claude Van Damme isn't 00:08:13.070 --> 00:08:19.090 responsible for what's going on. What they mean is the decision makers of the EU. And similarly, 00:08:19.670 --> 00:08:28.270 when John writes, you die, Jews. John was a Jew. Jesus's first followers were Jews. It's not 00:08:28.270 --> 00:08:32.970 entirely clear who he's talking about, but he is talking about the people who weren't quite on 00:08:32.970 --> 00:08:42.650 board with Jesus. Jesus says to them, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free, 00:08:42.650 --> 00:08:52.640 which is great news it's not only good news it's amazing Jesus is offering eternal life 00:08:52.640 --> 00:09:02.890 he says later on that eternal life is this to know the only true God and his son whom he 00:09:02.890 --> 00:09:11.310 has sent and that's in the same passage where he calls himself the truth what he's saying is I 00:09:11.310 --> 00:09:21.540 offer you this knowledge that is eternal life and when he says you will know the truth he's not 00:09:21.540 --> 00:09:29.370 talking about a kind of head knowledge a kind of intellectual understanding he's talking about 00:09:29.370 --> 00:09:40.260 the knowledge that informs your whole life if you hold to my teaching not if you read it or hear it 00:09:40.260 --> 00:09:47.540 and think yeah that sounds good but if you actually begin to live by it and try to grow 00:09:47.540 --> 00:09:58.440 into it that truth will set you free you will come to know the eternal truth that is eternal life 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:04.000 but these people who were they're not the people who who were already against him they're the 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:11.340 people who sort of took his side in the previous bit, they don't like the idea of being set free 00:10:11.340 --> 00:10:19.490 because being set free means you weren't free before. I read somewhere, I've read it more than 00:10:19.490 --> 00:10:25.230 once but I read somewhere, I can't remember where, that the difficult thing about learning to do 00:10:25.230 --> 00:10:34.810 something is it starts with realising you can't do it or you could do it better and that can be a 00:10:34.810 --> 00:10:40.570 blow to the ego. That can be difficult to think, oh, I'm rubbish at this. And the stage of doing 00:10:40.570 --> 00:10:45.570 it in a rubbish way can be difficult. Oh, I'm not very good at this, but I need to keep practicing. 00:10:47.340 --> 00:10:53.380 And that's kind of like what these people are saying here. We've never been slaves. We don't 00:10:53.380 --> 00:11:01.510 need to be freed. We don't need what you're offering because we're already fine. And Jesus 00:11:01.510 --> 00:11:11.220 says very truly I tell you listen to this bit everyone who sins is a slave to sin the slave 00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:16.020 has no permanent place in the house if you're a slave you're not really part of the family 00:11:16.020 --> 00:11:26.420 but the son is and if the son sets you free you will be free indeed and he agrees with him you 00:11:26.420 --> 00:11:32.820 are Abraham's descendants yet he says you were looking for a way to kill me this isn't a 00:11:32.820 --> 00:11:40.340 surprise to these people chapter 7 I think Andy preached on some of it and Micah and Cornelius 00:11:40.340 --> 00:11:44.660 preached on some of chapter 7 weeks and weeks ago but you can still go and look at the videos 00:11:44.660 --> 00:11:49.760 if you're thinking well I don't remember hearing that bit but that's got a lot about Jesus saying 00:11:49.760 --> 00:11:53.440 you're trying to kill me and the people he's talking to are saying no one's trying to kill you 00:11:53.440 --> 00:12:00.800 is this the guy they're trying to kill so it wasn't a secret that Jesus's opponents wanted 00:12:00.800 --> 00:12:08.420 him dead. And he's saying to these people, you're trying to kill me because you have no room for my 00:12:08.420 --> 00:12:16.330 word. I'm offering you freedom and you're saying we don't need freedom. I'm offering you truth and 00:12:16.330 --> 00:12:24.830 you're not listening. You have no room for my word. I'm telling you what I have seen in the Father's 00:12:24.830 --> 00:12:33.000 presence, in the throne room of God, in heaven, in the presence of the uncreated light that the 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:40.720 Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple is meant to be a symbol of, the place where no one goes 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:48.640 except God and his best angels. I've been there, I've spoken with him, this is what I've heard, 00:12:48.640 --> 00:13:00.940 and you're not listening you're doing what you've heard from your father so then on to the next bit 00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:05.780 we're by the way we start at verse 31 of chapter 8 if you're following along we're on to 00:13:05.780 --> 00:13:15.650 verse 39 Abraham is our father they answered if you were Abraham's children said Jesus 00:13:15.650 --> 00:13:24.180 then you would do what Abraham did now Jesus isn't contradicting himself here he said I know 00:13:24.180 --> 00:13:29.660 that you're Abraham's descendants and now he says if you were Abraham's children. In the Greek it's 00:13:29.660 --> 00:13:38.020 two different words. The word that's translated here descendants is sperma, literally seed. You 00:13:38.020 --> 00:13:43.240 are the offspring of Abraham, the descendants. And the word for children in this verse is tekna, 00:13:43.760 --> 00:13:52.430 children. If you were Abraham's children then you would do what Abraham did. Now being someone's 00:13:52.430 --> 00:13:59.550 child is often used, was often used in the ancient world and in the scriptures to indicate a kind of 00:13:59.550 --> 00:14:07.150 character. So Barnabas, Paul's colleague, was known as, Barnabas wasn't his real name, that was a 00:14:07.150 --> 00:14:15.780 nickname, Barnabas, son of encouragement, because he was such a great encourager. Jesus called 00:14:15.780 --> 00:14:25.940 himself son of man to indicate that he's a human being he's the most human being even though he's 00:14:25.940 --> 00:14:35.020 the one who's not just human and here these people are claiming to be the children of Abraham and 00:14:35.020 --> 00:14:42.690 Jesus says well you can't claim that you can't be children of Abraham the Abraham is mentioned a few 00:14:42.690 --> 00:14:50.410 times in the gospel books, John actually only mentions Abraham in this passage. Jesus talked 00:14:50.410 --> 00:14:56.190 about Abraham but John only records it in this passage. Luke is the gospel writer who mentions 00:14:56.190 --> 00:15:04.690 Abraham most and he talks about things like the bent over woman who Jesus healed in chapter 13 00:15:04.690 --> 00:15:12.820 of Luke he calls her a daughter of Abraham should she not be freed having been bound by Satan 00:15:12.820 --> 00:15:20.760 should she not be freed on the Sabbath and Zacchaeus Luke records Jesus calling him a son 00:15:20.760 --> 00:15:28.660 of Abraham in other words children of Abraham are God's people being a child of Abraham means 00:15:28.660 --> 00:15:36.380 you're in. You're part of God's people. And obviously what Jesus is challenging here 00:15:36.380 --> 00:15:42.680 is the idea that these people he's talking to are claiming that status. And the way he's 00:15:42.680 --> 00:15:48.410 challenging it is by saying, Abraham didn't behave like this. If you want to be a child of Abraham, 00:15:48.850 --> 00:15:56.890 that means behaving like Abraham. And Abraham was a man of faith. Abraham was a man who sought God. 00:15:56.890 --> 00:16:03.480 abraham was a man who sought the truth he was a man of obedience he heard what god was saying to 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:09.640 him and he did it so jesus says if you were abraham's children then you would do what abraham 00:16:09.640 --> 00:16:16.660 did as it is you were looking for a way to kill me a man who has told you the truth that i heard 00:16:16.660 --> 00:16:24.540 from god abraham didn't do such things you were doing the works of your own father so he's he 00:16:24.540 --> 00:16:29.780 keeps pushing this idea that they have a different father it's not Abraham it's someone else and they 00:16:29.780 --> 00:16:38.440 say we're not illegitimate children in other words well we know who our father is and they might be 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:46.140 having a sly dig at Jesus here because of course Joseph married his mother Mary but didn't claim 00:16:46.140 --> 00:16:52.210 to be Jesus's biological father if if he had there'd be no scandal at all if you just know 00:16:52.210 --> 00:16:57.380 yeah we got a bit carried away but now we're married so it's fine he didn't claim that so 00:16:57.380 --> 00:17:03.320 there was you know there was gossip about Jesus's parentage they're saying we are not illegitimate 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:11.620 children the only father we have is God himself so they're raising the stakes a bit and again 00:17:11.620 --> 00:17:16.900 they're not they're not saying something outrageous the Hebrew scriptures refer to God's 00:17:16.900 --> 00:17:27.980 people as God's child. In Exodus 4 when God is telling Moses to go to Pharaoh and ask Pharaoh 00:17:27.980 --> 00:17:36.380 to set his people free he says you know Israel is my firstborn son these are the people who I've 00:17:36.380 --> 00:17:43.540 chosen my son and so these people are saying our father is God himself they are raising the stakes 00:17:43.540 --> 00:17:51.160 but they're talking quite conventionally you know as Jews as children of Israel we are children of 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:59.660 God but Jesus accepts that raise in the stakes and says if God were your father you would love me 00:17:59.660 --> 00:18:07.880 for I have come here from God if you were Abraham's children you'd do what Abraham did 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:17.420 if you were god's children you'd love the son of god you'd love the one he sends i have not come on 00:18:17.420 --> 00:18:26.870 my own god sent me why is my language not clear to you because you are unable to hear what i say 00:18:26.870 --> 00:18:35.000 you belong to your here it comes you belong to your father the devil and you want to carry out 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:44.560 your father's desires he was a murderer from the beginning not holding to the truth for there is no 00:18:44.560 --> 00:18:54.280 truth in him when he lies he speaks his native language for he is a liar and the father of lies 00:18:54.280 --> 00:19:01.570 it's a wonderful turn of phrase when he lies he speaks his native language but Jesus isn't just 00:19:01.570 --> 00:19:07.630 calling the devil a liar he's calling the devil a murderer and it's interesting that he says he was 00:19:07.630 --> 00:19:15.980 a murderer because there's no truth in him as if lies and murder go together when he lies he speaks 00:19:15.980 --> 00:19:21.700 his native language for he is a liar and the father of lies if we're talking about whose children you 00:19:21.700 --> 00:19:29.120 are let's look at how you behave and let's look at who the father of that behavior is he's the father 00:19:29.120 --> 00:19:38.410 of lies so you liars are his children yet because I tell the truth you do not believe me. In other 00:19:38.410 --> 00:19:46.590 words they're not just people who are sometimes economical with the actuality, they are people 00:19:46.590 --> 00:19:54.440 who are lost because of lies. They're so into lying that when someone tells the truth they 00:19:54.440 --> 00:20:00.280 don't believe it. Because I tell the truth you don't believe me. Can any of you prove me guilty 00:20:00.280 --> 00:20:07.280 of sin he says. If I'm telling the truth why don't you believe me? Whoever belongs to God 00:20:07.280 --> 00:20:18.110 hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God. So Jesus is 00:20:18.110 --> 00:20:25.930 really hammering this idea that these people are trying to kill him. He says you're trying to kill 00:20:25.930 --> 00:20:32.010 me, you're looking for a way to kill me because you have no room for my word. You're not open to 00:20:32.010 --> 00:20:38.120 the truth because you've committed yourself to a lie. You were looking for a way to kill me, 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:46.100 a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. And by the way, that's nothing like 00:20:46.100 --> 00:20:55.470 the way Abraham lived his life. And then he says, your father, the devil, was a murderer from the 00:20:55.470 --> 00:21:02.930 beginning. In other words, you're looking to kill me because you take after your father. He's a liar 00:21:02.930 --> 00:21:10.350 and a murderer and that's what you are. And the reason you do not hear is that you do not belong 00:21:10.350 --> 00:21:19.630 to God. So this is heavy stuff. This is Jesus really laying into these people and these are 00:21:19.630 --> 00:21:27.700 the people who believed him in the last passage. So there really is a challenge here that he's 00:21:27.700 --> 00:21:34.650 saying look at what you're doing. He's saying if you want to claim this status as children of 00:21:34.650 --> 00:21:43.440 Abraham maybe think about who Abraham was how he behaved and maybe the thing about being a child 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:50.810 of Abraham is to live like him not just to to tick it off the list say yep I'm a child of Abraham so 00:21:50.810 --> 00:21:59.000 I can behave how I like and when they escalate by saying well actually our father is God himself 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:07.100 Jesus says no he's not your father is the devil because murder and lies those are in his department 00:22:07.100 --> 00:22:15.380 God doesn't do that stuff so then the third section I'm not really dividing these sections 00:22:15.380 --> 00:22:21.160 I'm just rolling through but anyway up to verse 48 verse 59 is the end of the chapter by the way 00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:28.850 up to verse 48 the Jews answered Jesus here we go aren't we right in saying you are a Samaritan 00:22:28.850 --> 00:22:39.020 and demon possessed Jesus said I am not possessed by a demon but I honor my father and you dishonor 00:22:39.020 --> 00:22:47.080 me I'm not seeking glory for myself but there is one who seeks it and he is the judge very truly I 00:22:47.080 --> 00:22:56.380 tell you whoever obeys my word will never see death the second very truly I tell you in this 00:22:56.380 --> 00:23:01.480 passage there's there's several of them in in the there's a number of them in the gospel books as I 00:23:01.480 --> 00:23:06.860 say it was like Jesus's catchphrase and John the other gospel writers record Jesus saying truly I 00:23:06.860 --> 00:23:14.440 tell you amen lego human John records him saying very truly I tell you amen amen lego human in the 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:22.250 King James translation I think it's verily verily I say unto you it's like listen up whoever obeys 00:23:22.250 --> 00:23:33.320 my word will never see death so we've had everyone who sins is a slave to sin and now we've got 00:23:33.320 --> 00:23:42.720 whoever obeys my word will never see death at this they exclaimed now we know that you were 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:47.640 demon possessed they've gone from asking look is there something wrong with you have you got a 00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:54.680 demon to say well now we know you've got a demon because you're saying that people who follow you 00:23:54.680 --> 00:24:03.430 people who obey your word don't die and here we go this is what we call or what biblical scholars 00:24:03.430 --> 00:24:11.240 call what I read in books what we call Johannine irony these people are telling the truth now 00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:19.160 without meaning it and we're in verse 52 Abraham died and so did the prophets yet you say that 00:24:19.160 --> 00:24:27.240 whoever obeys your word will never taste death are you greater than our father Abraham well yes he is 00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:35.610 but they don't know that he died and so did the prophets who do you think you are well we know the 00:24:35.610 --> 00:24:40.390 answer to that of course and if we'd read the previous passage the one erica preached on last 00:24:40.390 --> 00:24:48.210 week uh still in the same chapter chapter eight um we would have heard or read who jesus says he 00:24:48.210 --> 00:24:53.010 is the same thing i told you from the beginning but don't worry he's going to tell them again 00:24:54.300 --> 00:25:01.360 who do you think you are? Jesus replied, if I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. 00:25:02.280 --> 00:25:10.580 My father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, 00:25:10.840 --> 00:25:21.490 I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar, like you. But I do know him and obey his word. 00:25:21.490 --> 00:25:30.370 your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day he saw it and was glad so 00:25:30.370 --> 00:25:37.720 there's a lot there including that wonderful burn I would be a liar like you are but I do 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:43.360 know him and obey his words and Jesus says Abraham saw this he saw this coming now it was commonly 00:25:43.360 --> 00:25:50.200 believed apparently that Abraham was granted visions of the future by God so you know no one's 00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:57.220 surprised by that but the idea that Abraham was granted visions of Jesus and rejoiced I think that 00:25:57.220 --> 00:26:03.660 might be a bit strong medicine for these people and they say you are not yet 50 years old and you 00:26:03.660 --> 00:26:10.510 have seen Abraham very truly I tell you and this is the third one in the passage very truly Jesus 00:26:10.510 --> 00:26:20.440 I tell you Jesus answered before Abraham was born I am and this is John records Jesus saying 00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:27.440 I am like that seven times in in the whole book he has him saying I am something I am the bread 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:34.220 of life I am the light of the world I am the gate of the sheep I am the true vine I am the way the 00:26:34.220 --> 00:26:39.040 truth and the life all these there are seven I'm not sure I can't remember seven anyway I'll have 00:26:39.040 --> 00:26:46.380 to look them up but there are also seven times in John's gospel book where Jesus just says I am 00:26:46.380 --> 00:26:51.890 because it's the secret covenant name of God 00:26:51.890 --> 00:26:57.920 and because what it says about God is that God is. 00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:01.340 He tells Moses, I am what I am. 00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:03.880 I will be what I will be. 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.720 Tell them that the I am has sent you. 00:27:07.540 --> 00:27:12.300 And Jesus says, before Abraham was born, I am. 00:27:13.210 --> 00:27:14.130 It's a big claim. 00:27:14.130 --> 00:27:20.750 but it's totally in line with what Jesus has been saying. Jesus has been saying, I'm telling you the 00:27:20.750 --> 00:27:29.820 truth, listen to me and you won't face death. My truth can set you free from the slavery of sin. 00:27:30.120 --> 00:27:42.740 I'm telling you what I've heard in God's throne room. Who do you think you are? Well, I am. Not 00:27:42.740 --> 00:27:46.680 last week but on a previous occasion when Erica was preaching, these things stick in my mind 00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:59.040 sometimes. She said, Jesus is saying, before existence existed, I existed. At the beginning 00:27:59.040 --> 00:28:07.000 of his gospel book, John talks about being, and he says, in the beginning was the word. 00:28:07.730 --> 00:28:14.590 And he uses a different word for creation. He says, creation came into being. The world came 00:28:14.590 --> 00:28:27.440 into being. God is. He has eternal existence. He is the one who is self-sufficient. He is the one 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:32.460 who exists and we find that difficult to get our heads around sometimes. Sometimes we're tempted 00:28:32.460 --> 00:28:39.060 to think well there's the world, there's the universe or whatever and then God is maybe in 00:28:39.060 --> 00:28:46.140 there somewhere or maybe he's outside it but he's kind of an addition to the universe but actually 00:28:46.140 --> 00:28:53.230 it's the other way around. Julian of Norwich, who's one of my favourite writers, who was writing 00:28:53.230 --> 00:29:01.130 maybe 700 years ago, she had a vision that she wrote about where Jesus was there holding 00:29:01.130 --> 00:29:06.110 something in his hand and she says it was like a nut, it was the size of a nut, but it was blue 00:29:06.110 --> 00:29:12.310 and she asked him what it was he was holding and he said that is everything that was made. 00:29:12.310 --> 00:29:22.940 in other words there's a universe and here's Jesus God is the thing the one who exists 00:29:22.940 --> 00:29:32.830 and the universe is kind of an add-on because we we derive our existence we exist because 00:29:32.830 --> 00:29:40.890 something happened I exist because my parents met and fell in love I exist because I can continue 00:29:40.890 --> 00:29:48.530 to get air and water and food and shelter and so on, the necessities of life. I exist because 00:29:48.530 --> 00:29:58.990 God keeps me in existence by his mighty word. But God, God just is. He's on a different level. 00:29:58.990 --> 00:30:07.820 And Jesus is telling these people very plainly, I am. Those things you say about God, how he's 00:30:07.820 --> 00:30:17.500 uncreated he's he's all glorious he's eternal that's me before Abraham was born I am and at 00:30:17.500 --> 00:30:24.790 this last verse of the chapter at this they picked up stones to stone him but Jesus hid himself 00:30:24.790 --> 00:30:34.000 slipping away from the temple grounds so chapter eight I know that the chapter divisions in the 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:40.920 bible they weren't put in by the original writers john didn't put the chapter headings in that was 00:30:40.920 --> 00:30:48.380 put in uh much later on uh around the 12th century i think so after over a thousand years of having 00:30:48.380 --> 00:30:55.170 the bible as a book people put the chapter breaks in to make it easier to read but this chapter 00:30:55.170 --> 00:31:02.370 is a passage that starts with people trying to stone the woman caught in adultery you remember 00:31:02.370 --> 00:31:07.630 of the story. They caught a woman doing adultery all on her own, which tells you what you need to 00:31:07.630 --> 00:31:14.600 know. And they were going to stone her, but Jesus stopped them. He said, look, if you want to stone 00:31:14.600 --> 00:31:21.590 this woman, you better make sure you don't have any sin. And they all slunk off. And Jesus said, 00:31:21.610 --> 00:31:27.150 well, I don't condemn you either. Go and sin no more. And now the chapter ends with them trying 00:31:27.150 --> 00:31:36.280 to stone Jesus but he hid and ran away because it wasn't his time because that wasn't the plan 00:31:36.280 --> 00:31:47.110 but we see the violence that goes with the lies and this is the big difference this is I've not 00:31:47.110 --> 00:31:51.770 really been using these I should have done a powerpoint but we see the big difference between 00:31:51.770 --> 00:32:03.860 truth and lies. Lies need maintenance. Lies need enforcement. You sometimes read online that Saint 00:32:03.860 --> 00:32:09.720 Augustine said the truth is like a lion. I don't think he did. I've read around it a bit. I think 00:32:09.720 --> 00:32:15.800 it's probably Charles Spurgeon who said that, who said the Bible is like a lion. Let the lion go and 00:32:15.800 --> 00:32:23.690 it will clear itself of all its enemies. If people have objections to the Bible, the answer is the 00:32:23.690 --> 00:32:30.990 Bible. Show them the Bible. But truth will out. That's the thing about truth, because truth 00:32:30.990 --> 00:32:41.830 is what there is. And in this passage, Jesus is diagnosing what's wrong with these people 00:32:41.830 --> 00:32:50.470 and their lies. He tells them, you have no room for my word. If we want the truth, 00:32:50.470 --> 00:32:58.200 we need to be open to the truth it's one reason why i find it so sad when people who love science 00:32:58.200 --> 00:33:03.040 and people who love jesus are at odds when people say well science and christianity they're against 00:33:03.040 --> 00:33:12.640 each other they're not they're different they ask and answer different questions but all truth 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:20.760 is god's truth you have no room for my word because you've bought into this lie and that 00:33:20.760 --> 00:33:29.040 gets in the way of truth thinking of science the uh the nazis who ran germany and started the 00:33:29.040 --> 00:33:36.940 second world war they couldn't be doing with einstein because even though he was a brilliant 00:33:36.940 --> 00:33:42.300 scientist he was a jew and they were like well we can't have jewish science we need to make up a 00:33:42.300 --> 00:33:48.930 different science that's not the same as that but he was right so the only way they could do 00:33:48.930 --> 00:33:57.700 something different was by being wrong. The only alternative to the truth was a lie. But Jesus says, 00:33:57.880 --> 00:34:05.780 you're looking for a way to kill me because you have no room for my word. And again, he says, 00:34:05.780 --> 00:34:14.460 why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You've decided 00:34:14.460 --> 00:34:21.180 what you want to believe and so you can't hear someone telling you even if they're telling you 00:34:21.180 --> 00:34:27.560 straight from God you know I've been in God's throne room this is what he's saying you can't 00:34:27.560 --> 00:34:35.820 you can't accept it because you're not open to the truth because you want to decide what's what 00:34:35.820 --> 00:34:44.660 whoever belongs to God Jesus says here's what God says the reason you do not hear is that you do not 00:34:44.660 --> 00:34:53.010 belong to god and when he has his um his burn about belonging to their father the devil 00:34:53.010 --> 00:35:02.710 he says there is no truth in him he was a murderer from the beginning not holding to the truth 00:35:02.710 --> 00:35:11.270 the lies and the violence go together if we want to believe a lie we have to enforce it 00:35:11.270 --> 00:35:21.190 if we want to be the arbiters we have to use violence we have to say right i'm going to make 00:35:21.190 --> 00:35:29.170 this be this way i'm going to make the world fit my views that's that's the huge difference 00:35:29.170 --> 00:35:36.350 between truth and lies because the truth is out there as we used to say the truth is what there 00:35:36.350 --> 00:35:45.330 actually is and what we need to experience the truth is to be open to the truth to listen to 00:35:45.330 --> 00:35:55.760 learn to find out more to develop and as Jesus says then if you hold to my teaching if you live 00:35:55.760 --> 00:36:03.760 according to what I'm telling you then you will know the truth you will come into this greater 00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:08.560 awareness it's greater understanding and the truth will set you free i've gone way over time 00:36:08.560 --> 00:36:18.010 whereas if you want lies you get violence just one last thing i've realized i've overrun really 00:36:18.010 --> 00:36:27.570 sorry but um i used to be in charge of supervising some preachers and it's difficult to believe but 00:36:27.570 --> 00:36:35.100 one of them was really um she wouldn't preach what the bible says she wouldn't preach the christian 00:36:35.100 --> 00:36:39.480 faith she would preach her own opinion and it wasn't it wasn't really a christian opinion 00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:44.990 um and i worked with her for quite a long time and met with her and talked with her 00:36:44.990 --> 00:36:51.050 and she said to me at one point because i said to her well when you were licensed as a preacher 00:36:51.050 --> 00:36:58.620 you had to say you believe the bible why did you say that and she said well i was told by the people 00:36:58.620 --> 00:37:05.280 who were guiding me through the process that it was okay to lie and i had to say to her those 00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:12.560 those people who told you it's okay to lie they were lying and that's the choice we have 00:37:12.560 --> 00:37:20.880 we can be open to the truth or we can close it off with lies but lies aren't harmless lies aren't 00:37:20.880 --> 00:37:28.450 just an alternative way of looking at the world lies are what leads to violence and murder and 00:37:28.450 --> 00:37:38.880 force now I'm just thinking I've overrun already I think I've said what I need to say 00:37:38.880 --> 00:37:46.500 but I think we need to be aware that Jesus is the truth that one of the great I am sayings 00:37:46.500 --> 00:37:54.340 he gave to his followers is I am the way and the truth and the life and that doesn't mean 00:37:54.340 --> 00:37:58.280 he's a different kind of truth or we can ignore other truth and look at Jesus instead 00:37:58.280 --> 00:38:07.810 no he is the truth and everyone who is on the side of truth listens to him amen