Hello and welcome to another broadcast. We're looking at John chapter 8. We're going to pick it up today at verse number 24. Have your Bible ready. Well in our previous broadcast we saw in chapter 8 here that it was early in the morning and Jesus was in the temple teaching a small remnant of people who really wanted to listen to what he had to say. Well the Pharisees had caught a woman in adultery and here was an opportunity for them to trap Jesus and that's all they wanted to do with this situation. It's interesting that Jesus wrote on the ground. He didn't even bother talking to them. And they came to the light. Well, you shine light on cockroaches, they'll slither away into the dark. And so did these Pharisees slither away into the dark. Well, they sent some more, we find in verse number 13. They got some more Pharisees, therefore, and they come and they tell Jesus he's just a liar. They said, you just bear record of yourself. You're not who you say you are. And they continue to argue with him. And so finally, Jesus says in verse number 24, I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins, for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." Now here we have a choice. They believed not. Here we have a consequence. They die in their sins. Everybody can decide whether they're going to believe in Jesus or whether they're not. It's a choice. We're free to make our choices, but with our choices, we are not free to determine the consequences of those choices. Believe not, die in your sins. When he was talking to Nicodemus back in chapter 3, you remember that he said that very famous verse that we all know, for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. What do we have to do? Whosoever believeth in him, and it's whosoever by the way, not Calvin's little select group, whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Then he said in verse number 18, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. Why is he condemned? He goes on to say, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Believe not, you die in your sins. Well, you get to the last verse of John chapter 3, and it says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him. In verse 32, Jesus said, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Now he focuses on the truth. You notice in verse number 32 he talks about the truth. In verse number 40, the truth. Verse 44, the truth. 45, the truth. 46, again he's talking about the truth. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. You shall know Christ and Christ shall set you free. ye shall know the truth." Well, they said, what are you talking about set free? They answered him, verse 33, we are Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage. We're not in bondage. How sayest thou you shall be made free? So they changed the focus from the truth to Abraham, Abraham. You'll notice the word Abraham in verse number 33, Abraham three times in verse 39. Abraham in verse number 40. Again, Abraham in verse number 52. 53, Abraham. Verse 56, Abraham. 57, Abraham. 58, Abraham. Over and over again. They said, no, we're not in bondage. We are followers of Abraham. Abraham. Well, you see here, the thing is, that they are in bondage. They're in bondage to sin. Look at verse number 34. They said, we're not in bondage. And Jesus said, in verse 34, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commit a sin is servant of sin. They are in bondage to sin. No, we're trusting in Abraham, they said. You know, the greatest curse on earth, as far as eternity is concerned, is religion. religion. They were trusting in their religion. You get the story of Nicodemus in chapter 3, and he had that problem. He was trusting in his religion. And we believe this, and we believe that, they said. Then you have the scribes and the Pharisees. They're trusting in their religion. When Jesus talked to the woman at the well, who was immoral, She didn't have any problem at all. She didn't have to... Jesus didn't have to work at getting rid of her religion before he could get through and talk some sense to her. Religion is the devil's opium for the real thing. I'm not religious. People look at me and say, you're a pastor, you're not religious. No, I'm not religious. I hate religion. Religion is a devil's counterfeit for the real thing. I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not a religion, it's a relationship. And those who know Jesus Christ, he said, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. And Jesus said, I am the truth. Know the truth. Not just about the truth, but to know him. And he said, he will make you free. Well, they said, we're not in bondage. Well, man is in bondage. They need to realize that Isaiah 64, 6 says our righteousness is as filthy rags. Romans 7 and 18 says in the flesh dwelleth no good thing. Psalm 39 and 6 says the best state of man is altogether vanity. Proverbs 22, 15 says foolishness is bound in the heart. Isaiah 61, 1 says we are in captivity to sin. Second Peter 2, 19 says we are the servants of corruption in bondage. Here these religious hypocrites called Pharisees were saying, we're not in bondage to sin. All the time they're planning on how to murder the Son of God. Well, we need to understand that the Bible says, Isaiah 1 and 6, there's no soundness in us from the sole of the foot to the head. In John 8 and 34, we're the servants of sin. Titus 3.3 says we're serving the lusts of the flesh. 2 Peter 2.14 says the heart is full of covetous practices. In 2 Timothy 2.26, we are taken captive of the devil. Ephesians 2.2, we're walking according to Satan. John 8 and 44, we're doing a lesson. of the devil, and we're going to say we're not in captivity, we're not in bondage. Yes, Jesus said, whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. But he also said in verse 32, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And verse 36 says you shall be free indeed. Jesus said this in John 18 and 37, everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. In verse 44, he said to these religious hypocrites, ye are of your father the devil. Oh, they said, no, our father is Abraham. No, no, Abraham didn't act at all like these people. He's not your father. Oh, God is our father. No, he's not your father. Ye are of your father the devil. Well, keep in mind that little remnant that we started out at the beginning of this chapter that Jesus was talking to when they came in and busted up the meeting with the woman in adultery and so on. This little remnant's been listening to all of this and they're learning. The religious, what are they doing? Verse number 59 tells us, that they are picking up stones to stone Jesus Christ. It says in 59, then took they up stones to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. Well, if you study this chapter 8 carefully, you'll find that Jesus kept pushing and pushing and pushing. He kept pushing their buttons. He kept getting them more and more and more upset. They're about ready to blow up because of what the things that he was saying. He's doing this on purpose. Why was he doing it? Because the remnant was listening. You see, they needed to learn what these religious hypocrites were really all about. They were learning. I mean, you upset You upset milk and you're going to get milk. You upset a person and you'll get whatever is on the inside. And the more that the Lord upset these people, well, we got what was really in their heart. They just spewed it out. And so this little remnant who really did want to follow Jesus, it started out here in the first verse of this chapter, they're standing there and they're watching these religious hypocrites picking up their stones ready to cast at the Son of God. And so they got a great lesson that day. Now again, the Pharisees didn't learn anything. They're still on the trail going to figure out how to kill Jesus Christ. Well, you can't teach them anything, but you can use them to teach the little remnant that have been watching him through this whole chapter. You can teach them, and they are learning a valuable lesson this day. Well, you'll notice that chapter 9 begins with, as Jesus passed by, and you'll notice in verse 59 of the last chapter, Chapter 8 ends, so Jesus passed by, and 9 starts, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth, and his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sin or his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. For I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day, the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of world, and when he had thus spoken, He sat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sent. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing." Well, here we have Jesus. They're picking up stones to stone him, and so he passed by. That is, he just got away. But while he's leaving, While he's leaving, as he passed by, he sees a man which was blind from his birth. Well, he's not going to let these religious hypocrites stop him from doing what God has sent him into this world, stones in their hands or not. If you will just get in the center of the will of God, you're in the safest place you can possibly be. You can stop and help the man, whether they got the stones or not, didn't matter at all. Well, his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents? that he was born blind? That's a very interesting question. It seems like almost a ridiculous question. Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? How could this man sin before he was born? Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Well, it's a ridiculous question. But the rabbis thought that they could, that the parents could sin, and as a result of their sin, this child would be born blind. They also taught that a child could even sin in the womb. I don't know how he does that. Maybe he kicks his mother too many times. The Pharisees taught a lot of foolish things that are not in the Bible. A lot. Well, Jesus said neither. He wasn't born blind because of any of that nonsense. He says here that the works of God should be made manifest. Here's this man, he's been sitting there blind for at least 30 years because the Bible says his parents said later he is of age in verse number 21. Ask him, he can speak for himself. Well, he's of age. That was considered to be over 30 years of age when they used that phrase. at that time. Well, we read here that Jesus said, I must work the works. Let's not have a long dissertation here about what the Pharisees have been teaching and what the rabbis have been teaching, etc. Here's a fellow who needs help. He's blind and he needs to see, and that's why we're here. I came so that the blind could see, not only physically, but spiritually. I came for this reason. Well, he said in verse number six, when he had thus spoken, he sat on the ground, made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind men with the clay. He spat on the ground." Now isn't that interesting? If I did that when I was a kid, my mother would give me spanking. He spat on the ground. What an interesting thing here. He sticks his finger in there and makes a little potion out of it, and he sticks this clay in the man's eyes. Now, you know, it seems to me that if you're going to put dirt in somebody's eyes, he's not going to help them see. What is the lesson here? There's a lot of lessons here. I think that one of the main lessons is don't put God down to any particular way of working. Another time he healed some blind men when he was coming out of Jericho and he just touched them and said be healed and that was it. He didn't go through all of this. Nothing is recorded here that he even talked to the man. He just came by. He must have wondered what in the world was going on. I'm sure they mentioned something to him. You want to be healed? Yeah, I can do that for you. All right. And so we see here, he puts this dirt in his eye. Here's mud in your eye. Well, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sent. He went his way therefore and washed and came seeing. Now we're going to have to pick it up here on our next broadcast. It's a very, very interesting chapter. I love this story in John chapter 9. Be sure and tune in again tomorrow. We'll try to make it plain and we will try to make it simple. I'll be there, I'll be there I'll be there, I'll be there I'll be there, I'll be there I'll be there, I'll be there I'll be there, I'll be there