John 8:1-12

[0:00] So the Gospel of John, back there, chapter number 8. And we closed to the end of chapter 7.

[0:19] We're going to just kind of leak back one verse to the very last verse of chapter 7 to begin. And I don't know what kind of Bibles you have before you. I trust it's a King James Bible, but I don't know what publisher you have in front of you, whether it's a Thomas Nelson or a Zondervan or if some of you I know have Ruckman Reference Bibles.

[0:39] I have an old Schofield Bible up here in Oxford. And I'm sure we all have different publishers of our King James Bibles. But I'm curious here, at chapter 7 and verse 53, I wonder how many of you have a note or have a little number or a letter or something that indicates a suggestion that this verse and the next 11 verses of chapter 8 do not belong or may not belong or certain manuscripts don't have them.

[1:07] Does anybody have that? I have it in mine here. Does anybody else have that little note too? Nobody else? Because you've got three. It's okay if you have the note. If I were you, just cross it out because it's wrong.

[1:19] What my note says here is that John 7, 53 through chapter 8, verses 1 through 11, that's those 12 verses, is not found in some of the most ancient manuscripts.

[1:33] And then there's given an explanation of potentially why. If it was in fact stricken from them, others will... I'm not sure if versions completely eliminate that or if they just put it in, but yet put the notes and put brackets around it and say these are not found in what they...

[1:53] The newer versions consider the greatest or the best manuscripts, and so they'll really cast doubt on the veracity of the text in front of us this morning. And so we're about to read a portion here in these first 11 verses that only John gives account of.

[2:10] It's that woman that was taken in adultery and brought before Jesus Christ in the temple while he was teaching. And, you know, he stoops down and writes in the ground. Now, so if you're familiar with that, the only reason you know that is because of John's gospel.

[2:24] He's the only one that even hints at it, much less talks about it. So others say that doesn't belong in there. Certain of what we call the corrupt manuscripts or corrupt family of manuscripts, which are missing a whole lot more than just 12 verses, because they're missing this chunk right here, then certain translators or certain versions, translations will say, I don't think it should be in there.

[2:49] We'll put it in there just so that our Bible looks like the real thing. We're not going to leave 12 verses missing. So they'll put notes in it and say, we're not sure if this belongs. Now, likely your King James Bible has it with maybe just a subtle note saying, maybe, maybe, but the newer versions will put it in there and say, we really doubt whether this belongs.

[3:10] So just to give you an idea, we're going to read some stuff here that belongs in your text. And if I could just, while we're just trying to conclude this thought, this Bible that is in front of us has been in print in English for well over 400 years.

[3:26] The newer versions that have come out and predominantly the newer versions, or even the editors of the study Bible or the publishers that have produced your Bibles, they haven't been around for 400 plus years.

[3:39] So this text has been around, John 753 through 811, and they've since, man has since come to it and said, oh, we don't know if that should be there.

[3:50] And so which came first, the text or the men that criticize it? Because what is their evidence to say that it doesn't belong there? Well, it's we found some other manuscripts that don't have it.

[4:01] So therefore, we think those are older and better. And if they were honest, they'd say, we're not even positive that they're older, but they're definitely not better. Nevertheless.

[4:11] So let God be true. Let the Bible be true as it stands. And the board of editors or the translators on the translating committee or the council or whoever, professor or theologian, whoever it is, the commentators, just let them be the liars.

[4:27] Just let your Bible be what it is and ignore the notes where it gives. I have it all through this. It's tempted me over the years to get rid of my old Schofield because he and the men that are on the board of all the notes that they put in this, they don't believe the words of this text, King James Bible.

[4:45] They often in the little columns will make notes saying, well, it should be translated this way or blah, blah, blah. You're familiar with that. And I just cross them out and move on.

[4:56] Some of you have Bibles that are from publishers or more recent, that the men that have taken the position of the King James Bible is the truth and that these words are pure words.

[5:08] And therefore, you've got comments and notes in your Bibles where they don't attack the words. They say, oh, it's right. It's right every time. And they exalt the words. That's a blessing. So that's the kind you probably want if you're looking to study and get some help from some comments.

[5:24] All right. So we're in John chapter 7 and verse 53. It says, Every man went unto his own house. And take a look. Connect that to the very next verse. Jesus went into his own house.

[5:38] No, the Son of Man hath not to where he lay his head. Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives. What's he doing to go unto the Mount of Olives? Oh, I didn't write the references.

[5:50] Let's try. We're in John. So look over to John 18. Let's go there first. Yeah, this doesn't give me what I want.

[6:15] We'll just read it. 18.1. It says, The night of his betrayal and arrest. Jesus, when he had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, into the which he entered and his disciples.

[6:30] Now we know where this is. This garden elsewhere is called Gethsemane. Let's try Luke. I'm pretty sure we'll find what we want in Luke. Luke 23, maybe 22.

[6:44] Luke 22. Yeah, this will do it. Luke 22, verse 39. Luke 22. Luke 22. Luke 22.

[6:58] So this is the same context of that night of his betrayal and arrest. Verse 39. And he went out, and he came out and went as he was wont, meaning it's commonplace for Christ to go to this particular place, to the Mount of Olives.

[7:13] And his disciples also followed him. And you can read in that context, that's the garden that Matthew calls Gethsemane, the garden that he went to pray.

[7:25] It's on the Mount of Olives. In John chapter 8, Jesus, when everybody goes home for the night, Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives. He goes down across the brook and across the valley and back up the other side.

[7:38] And up there is a garden somewhere up on that mount. And it seems that's the place he would go to pray. Look back. I don't know if I'll find this one.

[7:50] I know it's in Luke. And it describes him going to the Mount. This is my bad.

[8:01] I looked these up recently and never wrote these ones down. I feel like it's in 20, maybe 20, maybe not.

[8:23] Well, I might not catch it. So there's a reference fairly close by, I think, somewhere in Luke, that describes him going to that place at nighttime, I think.

[8:41] But I didn't write it down, sorry. I'd really love to put that out there today, though. So I'll have to skip that. But coming back to John 8, he goes to the Mount of Olives.

[8:53] It seems that it's nighttime because the next verse, early in the morning, he came again into the temple. So it's nighttime likely, and this is a place that it was...

[9:04] Now, he's not from Jerusalem, but while he's in town, that seems to be the thing he does is to head over to the Mount of Olives. I'm not suggesting that that's where he sleeps every night, but it's a common thing for him to be in prayer.

[9:17] Earlier we saw it in John 6 or 5 or... Yeah, in 6, when they were up in Galilee, and that multitude was there, Jesus went up into a mount.

[9:27] He went to pray, and his disciples went across in a boat. And so that's a common thing for him to do is to separate himself at evening time, overnight at least, and he spends time in prayer. So we're in John 8, and everybody goes to their house.

[9:41] Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives. And early in the morning, verse 2, he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.

[9:52] Now, it's important just to picture the scene here that he's in the temple, and he's about to be just rudely interrupted by some powerful men.

[10:03] And they're on a mission, and their mission is to discredit Jesus Christ and to take him in his words and to arrest him. It was just previous in chapter 7, they sent officers to take him, and they came back, and they said, Why haven't you brought it?

[10:17] Well, never man spake like this man. And so they've come up with plan B, or C, or D, wherever they're at exactly. But they came up with some plan that we're going to look at here, and I'm not even sure, I'm not even sure why this is such a great plan.

[10:33] But let's continue reading. Jesus sat down, and he taught them. Verse 3, And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, like the midst of teacher and students, if you want to call it that, in the midst of the temple, where he sat and is teaching, they just interrupt this time and bring her right in the middle and cast her down.

[11:00] They set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou?

[11:14] This they said tempting him that they might have to accuse him. Now the hypocrisy, as we can see, is just pouring out of their mouths.

[11:25] The fact that, number one, they walk into the temple and say, Master, while all the other students are around that he's teaching, and then they're pretending to be one of the students, you know, like blending in with the rest of Israel seeking the truth and the word of God.

[11:42] Master, they said to him elsewhere in Luke, we know that thou teachest the way of God rightly. We know that what you say is true. And then they try to trick him with something else.

[11:53] Here they call him Master, like a bunch of hypocrites, because they're not, he's not their master. He's never been their master. They don't submit to him. Yet these others are seated. So when they come into that room and say, it's like somebody coming in here today and having an issue that they want us to open up something and cause a big divide and strife, and they come in and sit down and say, Pastor, I have a question, and pretend to be in submission and in the congregation and one of everybody else, but really in their heart they're just looking to, you know what I mean?

[12:29] So that's kind of what they're kind of trying to beguile. Well, so Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. In the very act.

[12:40] An act is an action. There was an act of adultery taking place. Now, Moses commanded that such should be stoned.

[12:54] But what sayest thou? Well, if Moses commanded that, then why are you asking Jesus Christ what his opinion is, as if it's going to be different than Moses about the crime committed, the trespass of the law?

[13:07] What kind of question is this? What exactly are they tempting him with that they might have to accuse him? I'm not sure exactly. I have a thought, and there's some scripture we can look at, but what is their angle here exactly?

[13:23] If she was taken in the act and she's guilty and the law describes that, I mean, you remember David, God gave David the sure mercies of David, otherwise he didn't have anything to cling to. He should have been stoned as well for committing adultery.

[13:36] Yet this woman's brought to him in the very act. So she's guilty. She doesn't say she's not guilty. She's guilty. She knows it. They know it. Jesus knows it. And yet the thing ends with him saying, neither do I condemn thee.

[13:49] He didn't even condemn her for this. So now, before we even say much more about that, I'll just mention this. Christ is not condoning the act of adultery in this situation.

[14:01] If you know the story before we even get to it, you can just erase that. But there's something else going on here. Take your Bible and go back to Deuteronomy 22.

[14:15] Here's what Moses commanded in the law. And they said this. They said, Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. That such should be stoned.

[14:29] Referring to the adulterous woman. Well, let's be clear on what Moses did command exactly in the law. So we're in Deuteronomy 22.

[14:44] And let's find verse number 22. If a man, a man, be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they, then they shall both of them die.

[15:04] You saw the word both. There it is again. Both the man that lay with the woman and the woman, so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. If a damsel that's a virgin be betrothed unto a husband and a man find her in the city and lie with her, then you shall bring them both out under the gate of the city and you shall stone them with stones that they die.

[15:26] And he goes on from there, but you get the context pretty clearly here. Man and woman. Did they say they found her in the very act? If they found her in the act, then she wasn't alone.

[15:40] Therefore, there was a man that is just as guilty as the woman. Moses in the law said, if the man and the woman commit adultery, they're to stone them with stones.

[15:54] They are to be, the evil is to be put away from Israel. This is something that will blot the nation. You need to get this out. And so they do it by capital punishment. That's what Moses in the law said.

[16:07] Is that the situation that they brought to him? What they brought was a woman taken in adultery in the very act, but no man. So how can we stone one and not another and actually be fulfilling the law of Moses?

[16:21] Perhaps that was their angle. I can't say that for sure. But perhaps their angle was, if he declares her guilty and says, yes, we stoned her, well, then we got him because that's not the law of Moses and he's condemning a woman.

[16:33] And I don't know that that's really, it sounds odd. Now come to Numbers. Find Numbers chapter 5. Just a little bit back to the left from Deuteronomy.

[16:44] Numbers 5. This is a completely different situation, but it might have some bearing on the way Jesus Christ responded to them.

[17:00] So in Numbers chapter 5, let's see. And verse number 11. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, If a man's wife go aside and commit a trespass against him, and a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manor, meaning she's not pregnant, and the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled.

[17:35] Or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, she be not defiled. Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her an offering for her, a tenth part of the ephod barley, and so forth, down to verse 16.

[17:48] The priest shall bring her near, set her before the Lord. The priest shall take the holy water in an earthen vessel, and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle, the priest shall take her and put it in the water.

[17:59] And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of a memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering. The priest shall have it in his hand, the bitter water that causeth the curse.

[18:11] Long story short, she's to drink this bitter water, and if she's defiled, and she's guilty, then in verse 22, this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot.

[18:26] And if nothing happens, then she was innocent. If she was innocent, nothing would happen. This is the way God handles it when a husband is jealous of his wife, supposing that she's been unfaithful to him.

[18:39] So I can't say that that's the exact case in John 8, but the case is that a woman is brought into the temple, just like it says in Luke, and she's alone, and she's declared to be guilty.

[18:52] So should we stone her with stones? Well, we better be stoning the man and the woman according to law of Moses, and you very well know there was a man if you caught her in the act, so what are you guys actually trying to pull here?

[19:07] Or, on the other hand, if it's just a woman, and she's guilty or suspected to be guilty, there's another way. There's the dust. Instead of stones, there's the dust of the tabernacle and the water, and you let God handle it that way.

[19:22] Now, I'm not saying that's what he stooped down on the ground and wrote. I'm not saying that that's exactly what he was referring to. I'm just trying to put some thoughts together here and maybe give some ideas of what his thinking is on the matter and why they're totally wrong in bringing the woman to him, at least by herself.

[19:42] They're wrong in that. And therefore, maybe it's the Numbers 5 situation would kind of kick in if that were the case of just a woman alone. And I'm not even positive that all of this meets the letter of the law clearly.

[19:56] But nevertheless, they're tempting him and they're seeking to accuse him. So verse number 6, John chapter 8 again, verse number 6. This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.

[20:13] I want to remind you and point out that these men have assembled. This is not some random like, like, oh, this terrible woman. Well, let's, hey, I got an idea.

[20:23] Let's take her to Jesus. He's in the temple and let's, you know, see what he says. That's not happening here at all. They've already sat around and thought, how can we kill this man?

[20:36] How can we get him? We fear the people. The people are listening to him. They're hearing him gladly. How are we going to, so somebody came up with some idea. I don't know if this is staged.

[20:47] I don't know. But something is definitely amiss and Christ sniffs it out right away when they show up with a woman saying, Master. Okay, so they're tempting him, trying to accuse him.

[20:59] It seems like they've put together some plot here and Christ sees right through it. So in verse 6 in the middle, it says, but Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not.

[21:13] Now, it says that he's in the temple teaching. He sat down teaching and they brought a woman and they set her in the midst.

[21:25] And then he stoops down seemingly right in front of him where he sat, I would imagine, in front of the woman surrounded by these others that are hearing him and these scribes and Pharisees that came in that are just thinking we've got him now.

[21:41] And he doesn't even answer their words or their accusations against the woman. He just starts with his finger on the ground, on the dust there, on the floor. It's such a remarkable thing.

[21:55] What did he write? No one knows what he wrote. You'd surely presume it to be something of the word of God. of the, I mean, he gave the word.

[22:08] But, you know, who knows what he wrote. Nobody knows. But he stoops down with his finger, wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. As though he heard them not. What is it, which part is it that he didn't hear?

[22:22] Or pretending he didn't hear? Master, this woman was taken into adultery in the very act. What sayest thou? Moses made him stone. What sayest thou? As if he didn't even hear anything they said?

[22:36] Or just the second part about what sayest thou? Or the part about Moses said she should be stoned? Is it just that they brought her, said here's this woman, set her in the midst, she was taken into adultery? As if he just ignores what they say.

[22:49] And what is it that he's writing? I can't give you an answer. I'm not even going to try. But, he stoops down, writes on the ground. Verse 7 says, when they continued asking him. Sort of like, hey, come on, what are we supposed to do?

[23:02] Something has to happen to her, right? Everybody's sitting around and is like, well, yeah, we know what the law says and this woman's a sinner and something's got to happen. They continued asking him.

[23:13] He lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

[23:26] So, maybe his writing on the ground was something he was teaching before they ever showed up because he's just ignoring them, ignoring them, ignoring them. And then they take off leaving and then he's like, woman, where do your accusers go?

[23:40] Maybe he's drawing a chart of dispensational truth. I don't know what he's drawing on the ground or writing on the ground. But here's a great verse I want to take you to that, man, this would have been a good one to write.

[23:54] look at Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. And if there was a passage that seemingly matched this moment, I feel like this would hit it.

[24:21] Beyond just the fact that Moses said, it's the man and the woman. But this passage here, in connection with this, with his response to them, their accusations, and of course, knowing the filth, the guilt that's in them, the hypocrisy in them bringing this woman to him, accusing him, tempting him, knowing they're guilty, and then they want to cast stones at someone else, and he's the son of God in front of them, and they're rejecting his words.

[24:56] I'm going to start in verse 35. This is a prophecy of Ezekiel toward Jerusalem, toward Israel.

[25:07] In verse 35, wherefore, O harlot, who's he calling a harlot? His people. Not the woman taken in adultery, but the nation.

[25:19] You're the harlot for your whorish things you've done in committing whoredom. And this whole chapter discusses that. And back in, you'd have to read it on your own, back in 1617, thou didst commit whoredom with them, with the gods of other nations.

[25:39] And verse 35, wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them, like literally sacrificing their children to their gods.

[26:00] Behold, therefore, I will gather all thy lovers with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated. And I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

[26:15] And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged. And I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places, and they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and they shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.

[26:39] Verse 40. And they shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with swords, and on and on and on.

[26:51] God's judgment upon his own people. And they want to throw stones at this woman, because she's an adulteress, and she was taken in the very act. And yet they themselves have committed adultery against God Almighty, and they're guilty, and his own prophet said, you harlot, I'm going to throw stones at you.

[27:12] I'm going to have them and destroy you. And so here they come before God in the flesh, seeking to tempt him. And what did, I don't know what he wrote, but boy, does that Ezekiel one ever hit it on the head.

[27:23] And so what they do in verse number seven, they respond, well, did we read that? They continued asking him, okay, he said, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone to her.

[27:34] Again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Verse nine, and they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

[27:48] So they heard, I'd say they heard this comment, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And so who in the congregation could pick up a stone?

[28:01] So maybe he wrote something even closer to the effect of just that, well, as Paul quotes in Romans, all have sinned, come short of the glory of God. Something more along the lines of, there is none right, there is none that doeth good, there is none that sinneth not, something like that.

[28:18] And so he that is without sin among you, something that, some law, some scripture that declared everybody guilty, even, well, who's going to pick up a stone and toss it?

[28:30] Anybody that, after he said that, anybody that would pick up a stone is declaring they're without sin. And so they slide on out of there and leave the woman.

[28:41] In verse number 10, Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman. And he said unto her, woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? He's just, he's got a little sarcasm in his tone.

[28:56] And I just love the way he talks to people. She said, no man, Lord, Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. What's he saying when he says sin no more?

[29:08] He's talking about the adultery, obviously. And we've already covered this thought about sin and being sinless and the way the word is used as far as a violation of the law or on and on.

[29:21] But no man's condemning me, Lord. But once you take it in the very act, how can the Son of God allow an adulterous woman to walk away without any reprimand or repercussions?

[29:39] How could he just allow that? How could he not, with the law of Moses, demand that payment be made, that she be stoned, that she, at the very least, go before the priest?

[29:53] I mean, how is Christ going to do this? You remember the place where those two disciples of the Lord, James and John, got all upset because the town wasn't hearing their preaching and they said, Lord, should we call fire down from heaven as Elias did?

[30:10] Should we do that? And Christ's response was, no. You know not what spirit you're of. But Lord, that's what Elijah did.

[30:20] I mean, he's the man of God. He's the preacher. And then, I mean, when the sinners reject the preaching, they get the judgment of God and he did it and should we be doing that too? And he said, no.

[30:32] The Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. So shouldn't we, shouldn't we kill her? He says, no.

[30:44] I came here to help her. I came here to save her. I didn't come here to cast her into hell. I didn't come here to destroy her. A little bit later, he talks about judging.

[30:56] We'll get to that in a second, but flip over. Just going to get a little ahead of myself, but it's worth it. Let's see. Look at John. Look a little later in the chapter.

[31:08] I'll point this out first. He says in verse 15, he turns to these others. He says, you judge after the flesh. I judge no man. Yet if I judge, my judgment is true.

[31:20] My judgment is true. His judgment right here was to not condemn this woman. And he says, I judge no man. Yet if I judge, it's true. But I didn't come to judge them.

[31:31] Look at chapter 9. No, 12. 12. Chapter 12. Yeah, 1247.

[31:48] 1247. If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not. Meaning, I don't sit as a judge and execute judgment upon him. I'm not calling fire down from heaven on them.

[31:59] I didn't call the angels down to kill everybody at Calvary either. If you don't hear and you don't believe, I judge him not. I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

[32:13] He that, like the judgment will take place later. God's going to handle, it's all going to come out in judgment. And in verse 48, he that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him the word that I've spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

[32:26] The judgment's coming. But if you're not at the last day, then God's still more interested in saving than he is judging and condemning and damning.

[32:38] And so Jesus Christ, in this case, doesn't condemn the woman. He wants her to go and sin no more. He wants to fix her life. He wants to show compassion on her. He wants her to see that these men want to kill you.

[32:51] And by the way, that's religion. Religion brings the woman to Jesus Christ just so that they could condemn her just so they could play some game. They're not interested in the woman that's a sinner that has problems.

[33:04] They would just as soon see her be stoned and then be able to, in their minds, condemn Jesus Christ for violating Moses. Religion's not trying to save anybody.

[33:15] Religion's trying to make everybody guilty and harm them the whole time. So the Lord Jesus Christ does not condemn, but rather, he's seeking to save.

[33:28] And so you can't just, by the way, you can't just say, well, neither do I condemn you. Jesus didn't condemn her, so don't you condemn her. We've already covered these verses on judging and judging righteous judgment and declaring guilt and declaring sin.

[33:41] And the woman, Christ said this, go and sin no more. So it's pretty plain. She knows it, he knows it, they know it, what she was doing was sin.

[33:53] And he's not condoning it in any way. He's definitely condemning that she was doing wrong, but he's not condemning her and judging her, but saying, don't do it again. You've had mercy. You've met me. You've met compassion in a person.

[34:06] So she said, no man, Lord, Jesus said, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more, because the Son of Man came to save. All right, verse 12, then spake Jesus again unto them, saying.

[34:20] Now it's, if we eliminate these previous 12 verses like some say, it just has Jesus Christ standing in front of the Jewish council or Sanhedrin or the Pharisees and others.

[34:35] It just kind of plops him right in the midst of something where you don't really even, it just doesn't flow right. These verses belong there. Our context gives it many a time.

[34:50] Well, there's more to prove on that, but we don't need to prove it. So verse 12, then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

[35:08] I know this is a common phrase to us in the Bible or this thought of I am and I am the light of the world. And it's said in chapter 9 again, he says it in chapter 9 in verse number 5, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

[35:25] Now spiritually speaking, Christ is the light of the world. This is not a reference to physical light in the moment, although in the future his glory will be the light of that city in New Jerusalem.

[35:36] Revelation 21, Revelation 21, he's likened to a sun that in the sun as it rises in the morning, he is the light of life. But here he is, the light of the world.

[35:48] And I don't think you ever, I don't know if you ponder these things, if it ever comes across your mind when you see that phrase. Can you imagine what the world would be like without light?

[35:59] Not the sun and the moon and the stars. I mean, I mean, the Lord Jesus Christ and truth and the word of God. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light.

[36:12] The commandment is light in the Proverbs it says. This book is likened to something that illuminates everything around you. Can you even, just even for the moment, try to just set yourself in this world where it's nothing but darkness?

[36:30] Like you don't have any hope. You don't have any understanding. You're just, you've just evolved from some puddle somewhere and eat, drink, be merry, gratify yourself, you're first, do whatever you want.

[36:50] I mean, without light, without a guiding instrument of truth, what is this world? It's a selfish place. It's a kill or be killed rat race.

[37:04] It's a, if you don't get to the top, you're nobody. And, and, the laws that man has established and put into place without the light of the word of God, what would we even have on our books?

[37:20] I know some of you, you look at some of the laws that are out there now and they're hideous. They're getting darker and darker and darker. What would it be like if there had never been a light? You can't even fathom it.

[37:31] You just can't. You can't put yourself in that world because this world's never been that way. It's never had that. It's always had some truth in it, some preacher of righteousness. It's always had God infusing His word and His will into this, making it available.

[37:47] And so, Jesus Christ says, I'm the light of the world and God forbid to live in a world where there is no light, to where there's no truth, to where we don't have the book to cling to, to understand Him, His revelation to us, to understand how we can please Him, where we're going, not just when we die, but just like what's beyond this life.

[38:11] Boy, it'd be a miserable place. It'd be cold. It'd be, there'd be no heart and compassion and no desire for doing right if there's no God to please.

[38:25] It'd just be, I'll do what I want to please me in the end. You'd find out. You too. You have so much light in you now, it's hard for you to even imagine if there was none. What kind of person you would be.

[38:36] Maybe some of you did grow up without any truth in your life, but you still grew up in a world where the Bible was. You just can't put yourself in that place. It's just too far out of reach.

[38:46] But there's Jesus saying, I'm the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness. So are you following the light of the world?

[39:00] Because if you are, then you are not walking in darkness. I know you got up and came to church this morning, so you're not out there walking in darkness.

[39:11] Likely most of you here, likely all of you here were not out last night walking in darkness in the filth of this world and the lust of your flesh. I don't think any of you were.

[39:23] Thank the Lord. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness. Following Jesus Christ is what makes you get up on Sunday morning and attend church and carry your Bible with you and show up and dress up and want to come together with other people that love the Lord and hear His word and sing and glorify God.

[39:44] That's following Christ. That's because there's light in your life and you're following that light. And we're out of time but we run some references on this and this theme of light goes from cover, literally cover to cover.

[39:59] It's more than you ever even imagined until you start looking at the verses and studying this. It's something that is part of God's nature. God is light. The very first words recorded in the text and God said, let there be light.

[40:17] And that thing runs the whole Bible. And it's spiritual, it's physical, it's eternal, it's everything. You remember, we're done here, but you remember a couple weeks ago in Exodus we studied darkness and I gave you categories and one of them was eternal darkness and there was spiritual darkness and individual and local and the original thing on the face of the deep.

[40:40] that's kind of an interesting study but just on the same, on the opposite, there's light and there's that same original light that God is light and there's spiritual light and there's eternal light where they are in the light of the Lord and the glory of God forever.

[40:56] It's the same thing is true of light in the person of God. So anyway, we'll stop there and try to pick it up in verse 12 where Christ is the light of the world. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.