John 8:12-21

You have your Bibles starting with me to John

chapter 8.

It was important to me to preach the last six

sermons in a row out of Ephesians because

of the content.

I didn't want to lose the continuity

concerning marriage and husbands and wives.

So I've been on a tear of preparation for a

bit and I went through reams of material

to condense the best I could those messages.

So this week I was ready for a break to be

quite honest with you of preparation and I

still go back through but not nearly to the

extent.

So we're back to John, it's been a while, and

as we return to John 8 we come to a very

unusual type of text and there are not many of

these, in fact really only two maybe, but

some of you are going to know this and some of

you are not.

You look here in John chapter 8 in these first

eleven verses, we have the story of the Jesus

and the woman taken in adultery and I'm sure

everybody remembers that story, the very

familiar

line, "He who is without sin among you, let

him be the first to throw the stone at her."

Right?

Well what is unusual here in this text is that

this story, which also actually embraces

the last verse of chapter 7, does not appear

in any of the oldest Greek manuscripts of

the New Testament.

In fact it doesn't appear in any of the Greek

manuscripts before the 5th century, none

of them.

Now as you know there are over 5,000 existing

manuscripts and pieces of manuscripts that

make up the copies of the original text of the

New Testament and as I've told you many

times, no other ancient text in all of

literature comes anywhere close to the

existing volume

of manuscripts that those who engage in what

is called textual criticism can lay out to

compare one with another to make sure that

what we have is indeed as close as possible

to the original text and original meaning.

The ancient text by the way with the second

most in second place of existing surviving

manuscripts in whole and pieces and parts is

Homer's Iliad and it has 1,757 copies existing

.

That's nowhere close to the 5,000 and in fact

when I studied this, first studied in

understanding

this great reality about the veracity of the

New Testament having 5,000 copies to compare

with one another.

It's one of the things that the Lord used in

order to bring me to saving faith because

I was at a point, I'm looking for evidence,

well this is one of the greatest pieces of

evidence that there is, that there's over 5,

000 that we can compare so that the translation

is not inspired but the original text of

course is inspired is what we believe and we

can

have great absolute certainty that what we

have before us is indeed the Word of God but

we get to this and the oldest of these

existing Greek manuscripts do not contain this

story

and if you look in your Bible, especially if

you have a study Bible, you will probably

find a bracket there that starts at chapter 7

verse 53 and that bracket ends at chapter

8 verse 11 and I'm sure if you have especially

a study Bible, there's a note in the margin

of the study Bible and it says something like

this, later manuscripts added this and

because of the fact that we have so many

manuscripts over 5,000, there's really little

doubt that

this particular story was added later if

something isn't in the oldest manuscripts and

it shows

up much later, obviously it was added and that

's one of the advantages of them over

time discovering more and more older

manuscripts, there's just a better and better

certainty

that what we have is the Word of God, now

there's nothing in the story here that is

un-Christ-like, there's nothing here unlike

the behavior of Jesus at all that we see in

any other parts of the Gospels and there's

nothing in this story that is unlike the

behavior

of the religious leaders for that matter.

This is a great story of forgiveness and many,

many solid, solid Bible commentators believe

that this story or something similar to it

actually did happen and it was passed down

orally from person to person and eventually

down through the centuries somebody decided

that this story ought to find its way into the

New Testament even though it doesn't

appear that the story was in the original text

, so they put it in there, in fact some

of this story is found in some manuscripts,

some in Luke, so it was a story that was

passed

down orally that somebody decided this is true

, this needs to be included and if you

remember what John says at the end of his

books, if all the things that Jesus said and

did were to be written down and we wouldn't

have enough books in the world to contain

all of these things, in fact the problem here

is this though with this text, the church

from its earliest years has known that it

really hasn't belonged in there, in fact none

of the church fathers make one comment about

it in their writings all the way until the

12th century before one of the church fathers

even says anything about it and even when

you start to find commentaries in the 12th

century the notation is made, this doesn't

appear in the earliest manuscripts, so we ask

the obvious question, why is it in here?

So number one it's here because somebody put

it in here, why is it in your Bible now?

Well the answer to that is because it found

its way in and it became traditionally over

the time period of centuries a part of

Scripture and apparently Bible translators are

unwilling

to remove it, so they just put brackets and

this notation.

Now here's the upside of this, the fact that

when this does happen and it also happens

at the end of Mark 16 if you look in your

study Bible or even a regular Bible you'll

see brackets around the end of Mark 16, when

it does happen well guess what?

We know that there are additions because we

have all those 5000 ancient manuscripts so

when it pops up hey we know this is an

addition and consequently we know that the

Holy Spirit

has then enabled us to preserve the true

original text as I said earlier, but the main

issue

here is this, if the story didn't appear in

the original text then guess what?

It's not authoritative and it's not inerrant.

And while most commentators think and believe

that it actually occurred it was orally passed

down through time as what they believe there's

still no absolute guarantee that this is

accurate.

We don't have this absolute guarantee as we do

with all of the rest of the manuscripts

that we've looked at so there's no guarantee

absolutely even though we do think that it

did happen that it's without error as every

other part of Scripture is.

In addition to all this if you kind of read

along it really kind of interrupts the flow

of the story.

So we've been studying in chapter 7 Jesus

remember if you could think back it's been

a while but we're at the Feast of Tabernacles

now in the Gospel of John and it's really

obvious if you read along the sequences events

when you get to chapter 7 verse 52 that's

where we left off last time boom immediately

you can skip over to John 8 12 and see the

flow of the context is just right there and

that's what we're going to do today.

That's what John MacArthur did with the text

and I always follow his lead as you know and

he has more extensive explanation of this if

you're interested in his commentary and

you'll find that in all solid commentaries and

I will come into you and I hope maybe

when they get this finished somewhere way down

the road we will put this in our Sunday

School videos.

Wes Huff, Wesley Huff this young man who is

just an extraordinary just brilliant mind

when it comes to textual criticism.

We went and heard him at Live Oak Church about

six or seven months back.

He has been producing in Egypt video series on

can I trust the Bible with all of this

type of stuff and I'm sure he's probably going

to have this in that and so I think he's got

two parts of it done and when he gets it all

the way finished I want us to watch that

together

in Sunday School very very good bolster to

your faith to understand how the Bible is

in the air.

And now we're going to start by reading our

text starting in verse 12 and we will read

again through 21.

Then Jesus again spoke to them saying I am the

light of the world.

He who follows me will not walk in the

darkness but will have the light of life.

So the Pharisees said to him you are test

ifying about yourself.

Your testimony is not true.

Jesus answered and said to them even if I

testify about myself my testimony is true

for I know where I came from and where I'm

going but you do not know where I come from

or where I am going.

You judge according to the flesh.

I am not judging anyone but even if I do judge

my judgment is true for I am not alone in

it but I and the Father who sent me.

And in your law it has been written that the

testimony of two men is true.

I am he who testifies about myself and the

Father who sent me testifies about me.

So they were saying to him where is your

father.

Jesus answered you know neither me nor my

father.

If you knew me you would know my father also.

These words he spoke in the treasury as he

taught in the temple and no one seized him

because his hour had not yet come then he said

again to them I will go away and you will

seek me and will die in your sin where I am

going you cannot come.

Now we've already seen this conflict

throughout the Gospel of John escalating right

and it's

going to continue all the way through as I

told you before these are the final six months

here at this part of the Gospel of John of

Jesus's life until it reaches this height

when it takes him to the cross.

But that's going to happen as we're going to

see again here today on God's timetable.

And again it's the same thing that is the

things that Jesus said.

It was his words that kept escalating this

animosity of these Jewish religious leaders

and one of those statements is found here.

Look again in verse 12 where Jesus said I am

the light of the world.

Now here's what you have to understand.

They knew the Jewish religious leaders knew

exactly what he was claiming in that statement

.

This is one of the seven I am statements found

in the Gospel of John and they're trying to

get a better grip on how these Jewish leaders

received what he said here.

We need to break this narrative down into some

sub points okay we're going to start

first with the area and we need to skip down

to verse 20 to get this and then we'll go

back.

And what I mean by area is the exact location

where these words were spoken.

So notice down in verse 20 what it says.

These words he spoke in the treasury as he

taught in the temple.

Now this is important to note because this is

another compelling scenario that Jesus

captures here.

Now you're going to have to put your thinking

cap on, you're going to have to get them

all memory cells going here.

Back in chapter 7 if those of you who are here

remember when I preached this Jesus gave

that illustration of living water.

Remember when he talked about the living water

?

And he was giving that illustration in the

temple courtyard and what was the backdrop?

Well that physical water was being poured out

in the Jewish ritual into the basin as

he's giving the illustration if you remember

that of him being the living water.

So it says here that Jesus is in now a section

of the temple where the treasury existed.

One of the things that people did when they

came to the temple of course was to give money

.

And one of the huge courtyards in the temple,

remember there are several courtyards, one

was called the court of the women.

And what it had was 13 receptacles we can call

them in this, around this entire area.

The outer courtyard remember was the Gentiles.

That's where anybody could come in to the

court of the Gentiles.

And then you left that court and you went in

further to the next courtyard.

That was the court of the women.

That was for Jewish men and women only and

proselytes to Judaism who had converted to

Judaism and the women could go no further than

this, okay?

The next court in after that would be the

court of the priests.

That court inside that court think of a square

was restricted to men only who went in to

offer sacrifices with the priests and in the

court from there is the holy of holies.

You know that whole thing.

But it was in this court of the women where

they put all the places to give an offering

where both Jewish men and women could go.

And around what we could call the porch of

this massive court of the women.

There were 13 allocated places where you could

give money all the way around this court.

And each of them were trumpet shaped.

They had a wide opening, wide round opening

and that larger opening then funneled down

into where the money went down into some type

of container.

So you just walk up there and you just throw

your money in there, the big round thing and

it goes down the tunnel into the chute into

the container.

And each of them was designed of the 13 was

designed to accept a specific type of offering

like one of them was for the temple tax.

Boom.

So you put your money in that one.

Two of them were for the women to put money in

to buy two pigeons that they needed to

offer to purify themselves from childbearing

and that was a specific Jewish ritual in law.

One was where the money went to buy the wood

for the fire on the altar.

One was for the incense of the altar and on it

goes just like that for all the different

things that was necessary in the 13 different

receptacles.

Well, point being is this, this courtyard.

This is where Jesus is at this and this text.

He's in this court of the women and it was

always just packed.

Right.

The Jews would come from all around to come at

this time to this feast and we stay in

the flow.

Look at chapter seven verse 52.

If you remember the Pharisees are, are, are

talking to Nicodemus and Nicodemus, remember

he's sticking up for Jesus.

You are not from also from Galilee, are you?

Search and see that no prophet arises from Gal

ilee.

And then if you just skip the story as we

talked about, go straight to verse 12, then

Jesus spoke to them again saying, you see how

it flows.

I am the light of the world.

He who follows me will not walk in darkness,

but will have the light of life.

Now I want you to notice what he didn't say.

He didn't say, I am a light in the world.

Did he?

Now some rabbi could say maybe that he was a

light in the darkness, right, as he taught

out of the Old Testament.

Now Jesus said, I am the light.

He, and he didn't say, I am a light in

Jerusalem.

He didn't say, I am a light in Judah.

Again a rabbi could say that maybe about

himself.

But he said, I am the light of the world.

Very important.

This is exclusive.

This is all encompassing.

More importantly, this is, they knew this,

this is a direct claim on the part of Jesus

to be the Messiah.

They knew it because how did they know it?

They knew all the Messianic verses in the Old

Testament.

Look with me in Isaiah chapter 42, verses 6 to

7.

God in this passage is speaking to the Messiah

and he says, I am the Lord.

I have called you in righteousness.

I will also hold you by the hand and watch

over you and I will appoint you as a covenant

to the people.

Look at this as a light to the nations, to

open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from

the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness

from the prison.

And then also at the end of Isaiah 49, verse 6

, where again the Lord is speaking to the

Messiah and he says, I will also make you a

light of the nations that my salvation may

reach to the ends of the earth, that's way

outside of just Israel, right?

That's the whole earth.

So these verses right here and others also

demonstrate that from the words of God himself

,

that the Messiah who would come would be the

light of the whole world, not just Israel.

So when Jesus says, I am the light of the

world, he is claiming right there in that

courtyard, right there in the highest Jewish

leaders of that day, religious leaders, he

is making a claim to be the prophesied Messiah

that they had long read about all their life

out of Isaiah and other scriptures.

Now, we saw the start in John's Gospel and I

'll just quote it right quick.

This great passage in him was life and the

life was the light of men, the light shines

in the darkness and the darkness did not

comprehend it, there was that true light which

coming

into the world enlightens every man, he was

telling them even then, this light, this is

a magnificent metaphor.

Light is the active power that dispels

darkness.

I mean, think of the contrast, if you close

your room off to any light coming in and it's

just pitch black and you turn the light on,

wow, you know, think about the contrast that

we can just think of just a few here.

Jesus is the light of truth that dispels the

darkness of falsehood in our world, right?

How about he's the light of wisdom that disp

els the darkness of ignorance?

How about he's the light of joy that dispels

the darkness of sorrow?

How about he's the light of holiness that disp

els the darkness of impurity?

How about he's the light of life that dispels

the darkness of death?

I mean, we could go on and on with these

pictures when he says, I am the light of the

world

and he uses that phrase, I am, that's what the

ologians call the tetragrammaton, the I

am statement, the claim to be God.

The Jews knew to say specifically, I am the

light of the world.

That is to identify yourself yet again, as we

've seen so many times just in these first

seven chapters of God, this is Jesus

identifying himself as God and Psalm 271 says,

the Lord

is my light and my salvation.

In 1 John 1 5 it says, God is light and in him

is no darkness at all.

So believe me, they understood exactly what he

was saying.

Now let me give you the backdrop to what he

was saying.

Just like with the living water illustration,

when they poured the water in the basin, it's

their Jewish ritual and he's telling them,

saying, I'm the living water, we got another

backdrop here in this courtyard.

Now he could have said just by itself, I am

the light of the world and it would have made

sense to say that in this world of darkness,

but there's more going on here in this

courtyard

than just that.

Every night during the Feast of Tabernacles,

all throughout this big courtyard of the women

,

candelabras were set up and every night people

light all these candles all the way around

this courtyard.

The historians say they literally filled the

court of the women with this amazing

capability

of light, so many candles because they didn't

have any electricity of course at that time,

that it would just light up and they burned

these candles all night and the Jews actually

called it, they had a name for it, the illum

ination of the temple.

And the reason for this was, remember what

they're celebrating, where are they

celebrating

at this Feast?

They're celebrating God's protection and his

provision during the 40 years of wandering

around in the wilderness and back then, how

did those Jews, those Israelites in that

period

of 40 years wilderness wandering, how did they

know where to go?

They were led by what, light.

They were led by a pillar of fire at night in

a lighted cloud in the daytime.

So to commemorate this in the temple, in the

courtyard of the women, they lit all these

candles and burned them all night and they

actually quoted some of these verses that

we looked at from Isaiah, the light to the

nations and they was lighting up all these

candles.

Now look, of course we don't know for sure the

exact moment that Jesus spoke these words

here starting in verse 12, but like R.C. used

to say, it's okay for the preacher to take

some speculative license and just think about,

maybe it's certainly possible that right

when they're lighting these candles up in that

courtyard, imagine Jesus looking at one

of those candelabras as they're being lit and

he's looking at those Jewish leaders and

all those gathered around and saying, I am the

light of the world.

Imagine that backdrop, it's very possible.

I am the light of the world.

If you follow me, you will never be in

darkness.

You will have the light of life.

I mean, think about what a profound moment

that that would be, I mean, there'd be no

way it was a coincidence if it went down like

that, right?

And this is not a light to be looked at is

what Jesus is saying.

This is not a light to be admired.

As you're admiring this light in this

courtyard, no, I am the light of the world.

I am a light to be followed.

That's what he's saying.

He said, if any man come after me, let him

deny himself and take up his cross and follow

me.

The Jews followed the pillar of fire and cloud

and they were led to the promised land, but

that whole generation died, didn't they?

Only the next generation of Jews was able to

go into the promised land.

But Jesus says, if you follow me, this light

will bring you all the way to the full

promised

land and the full promise of eternal life.

He was telling them then he's telling all

people right now in 2025 in the United States

of America today, I know the way out of

darkness, follow me and I will lead you out of

the darkness.

I know the way out of the darkness of

ignorance.

I know the way out of the darkness of sin and

sadness and sorrow.

And I even know the way out of the darkness of

death.

The only way out of the darkness of death,

follow me and I will lead you to the light

of eternal life.

And what does it mean to follow?

In the Greek it's used to describe a soldier,

I always love that illustration, a soldier

following his commander, a slave following his

master and that is exactly how every believer

is called to follow Jesus all throughout the

New Testament, right?

So here in verse 12, Jesus is claiming not

only to be the IM, not only to be God who

is the true light, but to be the Messiah proph

esied long before that all these Jews knew

about.

So let's go now from the area courtyard of the

women next, let's go to the assertion

and you can tell how well, you can tell how

well these leaders understood him because

we see next in verse 13 immediately,

immediately their response is antagonism.

Look what it says.

So the Pharisees said to him, you are test

ifying about yourself.

Your testimony is not true, which is as we

often say in football games when a penalty

happens, you can't do that.

That's not how it works.

They accuse Jesus of an invalid claim because

he's making this claim for himself by himself.

You're just boasting Jesus.

Why should we believe you?

And their point is there's no witnesses around

you to confirm what you're saying.

So this is another calculated attack.

They're saying this is an illegal claim that

you're making because you can't claim anything

unless it's confirmed by two witnesses.

That's biblical law, which Jesus is fixing to

point out in just a minute.

We forgot to get there.

You have to have two witnesses.

You can't possibly think that just because you

say it, Jesus of Nazareth, that it's true,

it's invalid because there are no other

witnesses.

And that's exactly how unbelief operates.

They've never, ever, ever, ever, ever has

enough proof, right?

They already had overwhelming evidence at this

point with just six months left in Jesus'

life on earth.

I mean, he done raised a man from the dead,

and they all saw it, and they all knew the

man was dead and was thinking, right?

They had all the evidence, but none of that

mattered to them.

They were in ignorance because of their unbel

ief.

They didn't process anything that he said.

They didn't connect any of the incredible ev

idences that he produced, almost banishing

sickness

in Israel.

They just wanted him trapped, and they just

wanted him dead.

That's what they wanted.

The ignorance, the sheer ignorance of unbelief

is a frightening place to live out your life

on planet earth.

That's a frightening place to be.

It never ends well, right?

If you stay there.

So next, we go from the antagonism to the

answer.

I always love Jesus' answers, and verse 14, he

starts out, "Jesus answered, and said

to them, 'Even if I testify about myself, my

testimony is true.'"

Now, the passages in Deuteronomy that talk

about two or three witnesses, who are they

for?

Well, they're for liars.

Right?

I mean, that works for us because we're all li

ars, right?

We all live in a world of lies and deception.

Just go on and turn your TV on.

We have to confirm things down here in

responsibility land with several people and

witnesses hoping

to get to the truth.

But that doesn't apply to God, does it?

When Jesus said, "Even if I testify about

myself, my testimony is true," he was saying,

"Hey, guess what?

Guys, I'm not subject to those laws.

Those laws right there are meant for a world

of liars."

And then look what he says next, "For I know

where I came from and where I'm going."

What's he saying?

He's saying, "I'm eternal," that's what he's

saying.

He's saying, "I am transcendent," that's what

he's saying.

The law was made for man, not for God.

The Sabbath was made for man, not for God.

So the answer is, first of all, my claim is

valid of who I am and where I'm from and

where I'm going.

And as we know, he came from the Father.

He's going back to the Father, look next in

verse 14, "But you, you do not know where

I came from or where I'm going."

In fact, really, I said, "Jesus of Nazareth a

minute ago," they didn't even know what

town he was from.

They thought that he was born in Nazareth.

They never bothered to check the records to

see he met the Messianic credentials of

being born in Bethlehem.

Their unbelief confined them to a willful,

willful ignorance.

They never looked at the records of his

lineage.

They would have, they would have saw that he

was in the land of David on both sides

of the family.

Their denial of his testimony, again, willful

ignorance, ignorance in the face of clear

evidence is something folks that is deadly.

Next, verse 15, "Jesus goes on, you judge

according to the flesh."

Their judgment was superficial and they judged

everybody according to the flesh.

Then look next in verse 15, "I am not judging

anyone," what he means right there, right

behind the previous verse, "I don't judge in

the flesh."

That's not how I judge.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians, "I judge no man in

the flesh."

And he means there this, "I don't judge people

superficially."

As a Christian, any judging that is to be done

is to be done spiritually, not superficially.

The Pharisees judge superficially.

That's what he means by "in the flesh."

Jesus said, "I don't judge that way."

And then look next in verse 16, "But even if I

do judge, my judgment is true."

And by the way, he will judge back in John

chapter 5, look in verse 22, "For not even

the Father judges anyone, but he has given all

judgment to the Son."

One day, King Jesus, this very Jesus who spoke

these very words to these religious leaders

over 2,000 years ago, that day in the

courtyard of the women, one day he will raise

all the

dead of all human history and he will judge

them either to a judgment of eternal life

or a judgment of eternal death and condemn

ation in hell.

It also makes clear in verse 30 of that fifth

chapter that he will judge in perfect harmony

with the Father.

Who judges all people?

Only God does.

Jesus is God.

And that's in line with what he says here in

verse 16.

After he says, "My judgment is true," he says,

"For I am not alone in it, but I am the Father

who sent me."

Now, so far in answering what they said, you

are testifying about yourself.

Your testimony is not true, what they said.

Think about what he said so far.

Jesus has made clear to them this, "Not only

because of who I am from heaven going back

to heaven, sent by God going back to God in

perfect harmony with God, not only all that,

he goes further and exceeds their expectations

as he always did."

And look what he says next in verse 17, "Even

in your law it has been written that the

testimony

of two men is true."

He's saying, "I'll give you that.

You're right.

That's biblical law."

So then watch this in verse 18, "I am he who

testifies about myself and the Father who

sent me testifies about me."

You want to?

There's you to.

God the Father, God the Son, God.

And here again, another claim that had to have

sent them into complete apoplexy at that

moment right there in front of Jesus and

anybody else that was sitting there watching.

Like the things he said back in chapter five

that made them want to kill him.

The Bible says he was making himself equal

with God.

Of course he was.

Let me tell you something.

I say this all the time and I cannot say it

enough.

There's a lot of things that people can say

about Jesus.

But with any honest reading of the New

Testament, one thing that you cannot say is

that he

never claimed to be God.

He claimed to be God on just about every page

of the Gospel of John.

He makes that claim clear over and over and

over again.

You just have to read the book and understand

what it's saying just in this text today.

What does it we see him say?

"Judge, judge and my Father judges.

I judge and my Father judges equally."

We both judge.

Who's equal with the Father in judging?

God the Son.

I judge it.

No one else.

I testify and my Father testifies.

What he's saying is we equally testify because

I'm God the Father, God the Son.

And of course, their response is now very

predictable, verse 19.

So they were saying to him, "Where is your

Father?"

I mean, that's just straight sarcasm, right?

Ridicule.

Look next, Jesus answered, "You know neither

me nor my Father.

If you knew me, you would know my Father also.

You don't know me."

Guess what?

That means you don't know God, leaders of

religion in Israel.

You don't know God.

He said something similar.

Look in John 5.23.

That can John 5.23, he said this.

"So that all will honor the Son, even as they

father honor the Father.

He who does not honor the Son does not honor

the Father who sent him."

Did he say that about Peter?

Did he say that about Paul?

Did he say that about any other human being?

No, it's not possible.

Later, he actually says to the disciples, "

What?

If you've seen me, you've seen the Father."

I mean, how much more clear could Jesus

possibly be?

And again, what he says to him here in verse

19, "It really is the most insulting thing

that he could possibly say to the Jewish

religious leaders, 'You don't know God.'

You make your living on religion and knowing

God.

You don't know God at all."

It's a devastating state.

That is the primary characteristic of the

religious leadership of Judaism in the time

of Jesus.

They didn't know God.

And it's still true of those who reject the

King today.

And those who say that they believe in Jesus,

but He's not God, they believe in a Jesus

that doesn't exist.

He doesn't exist.

He's a figment of their imagination and false

religion.

You can say, "Jesus all day long," if you want

to, with your lips.

If you don't believe He's God, you're not

believing in Jesus, period.

Then verse 20, which we already looked at, "

These words he spoke in the treasury as he

taught in the temple, and no one seized him,

because his hour had not yet come."

Three times, just in John 7, they had tried to

seize Jesus, cried to seize him unsuccessfully

.

And again, the Bible says that they can't,

because his hour had not yet come.

He's on this divine schedule, and I read this,

and I just have to think about this.

I have to wonder, did any one of them, of

those religious leaders, ever stop and think

and find it strange that, although every

single one of them desperately wanted to kill

him,

somehow it just mysteriously kept not

happening.

I mean, somebody in that group had to think

like that.

If I'd have been in that group, I can tell you

that's what I'd have been thinking.

Somehow we want to do this, and somehow it

just, he keeps living, and he keeps preaching

in the temple of all places.

Well next, we come to the final statement in

our text, which is really, it's just

breathtaking

to think about verse 21.

When he said to them, "I go away, and you will

seek me, and we'll die in your sin.

Where I am going, you cannot come."

Think about that for just a second, to have

Jesus Christ, the God-man, tell you, you are

going to die in your sin.

There's nothing more terrifying than that.

There's no Hollywood movie that can come up

with anything more terrifying than that.

Earlier, he remember, he was telling them, "I

'm not going to be around much longer."

You remember that?

He was kind of telling them, "Hey, there's

still a little time here.

You guys can understand what's happening here

."

Now, as we get to this point, shortly six

months away, he's basically saying, "You're

in your ignorance is confirmed.

It's willful.

It's the product of your unbelief in the face

of clear, direct revelation and evidence.

You are still rejecting me.

You will seek me."

And remember from last time, we said, "Hell is

where you finally know who you need and

you seek, but you will never find it.

It'll be too late."

That's why there's weeping and gnashing of

teeth, Jesus says in hell.

He says, "Where I go, you cannot come and you

will die in your sin."

Absolutely devastating.

And every single one of them right there in

that group that didn't repent and believe

and died, they've been in hell ever since.

They're there right this moment.

And you can better believe it never escapes

their thought this moment right here.

What a sad reality.

It's no different with people today who reject

Jesus.

He's the only light of the world.

And you can walk in the light during this one

and only lifetime on earth that you get.

Or you can experience darkness forever, both

now and forever.

There's no middle ground.

I can't say it enough.

It's all or nothing when it comes to Jesus,

when it comes to believing Jesus and his

gospel.

And you only get one lifetime to get this

figured out.

And as we saw with Bodhi Bakam, same age as me

, you never know when your last day would

be.

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you.

This is just amazing that we, through the

inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we get to be

right there

in the courtyard of the women with this

exchange, this great exchange of words between

Jesus

and these Jewish leaders.

How good are you to give us this word, to give

us this revelation of what happened when

Jesus was here?

And Lord, we know it's of a truth that nothing

has changed about Jesus' claims.

Nothing has changed about the fact that he is

the only light of the world.

And so right now we want to pray for all those

in our family and friends who have not bowed

the knee to King Jesus, the biblical King

Jesus.

Lord, we pray for you to draw them effectually

to yourself.

We pray that if there be anybody in this room

that hasn't done that, you would do the same.

Bring them as you brought us.

Wipe the scales off the eyes so we can see the

light clearly of the only way of salvation.

And we pray that all that we've done today has

been done in such a way to bring you maximum

glory. Jesus' name we pray. Amen.