In this episode of EXHALE Bible Discovery, Dr. Paula McDonald leads us through the first half of Chapter 8 in the Book of John. We’ll cover John 8, verses 1 through 30. In the next episode, the second half of Chapter 8 will be the focus! In the last episode, we studied Chapter 7, the lessons the Jesus taught during the Feast of the Tabenacle. This week we’re going to begin this first part of Chapter 8 with the lesson of an adulterous woman.
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Transcript
Welcome to Exhale Bible Discovery.
Speaker:Each week we'll take a deep dive into the Bible, going line by line and chapter by chapter to discover the truth that God has for us in His Word.
Speaker:Hello.
Speaker:It's Dr.
Speaker:Paula McDonald, and we are an exhale Bible discovery.
Speaker:And tonight we are going to start with John chapter eight.
Speaker:But because chapter eight is such a large, long chapter, it was important to divide it into two different lessons.
Speaker:So specifically, we're going to do John chapter eight, part one, which goes from verses one through 30.
Speaker:In our last lesson in chapter seven, we studied the lessons that Jesus taught during the Feast of Tabernacles.
Speaker:And this week we're going to begin this first part of chapter eight with the lesson of the adulterous woman.
Speaker:And so I have this in two divisions.
Speaker:First, Jesus teaches grace, and that's verses one through eleven.
Speaker:And then in our second part, Jesus teaches truth.
Speaker:And that takes us from verses twelve through 30.
Speaker:So we're jumping right in here with chapter eight opening with the dramatic story at the temple courts.
Speaker:And it appears Jesus was simply desiring to continue teaching the people because the scripture says the people gathered around him, jesus sat down to teach them.
Speaker:So immediately the story turns the Pharisees had obviously been plotting against Jesus as they were trying to ensnare Jesus in a devious plot.
Speaker:In their feeble minds, they believed they could make Jesus appear weak to his followers and to discredit him.
Speaker:Well, they foolishly believed that the problem they posed to Jesus had only two solutions.
Speaker:One, they said throwing the law of Moses to him regarding how to deal with the woman they brought to him who was caught in the act of adultery.
Speaker:And calling him teacher implied they were giving him the title of a rabbi, one who would know the law.
Speaker:And they tell Jesus the woman was caught in the act of adultery.
Speaker:And what did he have to say about this? Because the law required stoning.
Speaker:And the law referred here was in Leviticus 2010, if a man commits adultery with another man's wife, with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.
Speaker:So if Jesus responded by agreeing she should be stoned, his reputation would be damaged to his followers as Jesus continuously taught his message of love and compassion.
Speaker:And secondly, if he agreed to have her stone, he would have been considered to be a criminal according to Roman law, because the Romans law strictly forbade any Jewish person to call for the death of another.
Speaker:So either of these responses placed Jesus in a precarious position and they surely believed that they had cleverly entrapped him.
Speaker:And here is how Jesus responded.
Speaker:Strangely, Jesus bends down and begins writing in the dirt.
Speaker:And there are many theories of thought as to why he responded in this manner.
Speaker:So here's a few of those schools of thought, one was about time.
Speaker:Many believe that Jesus simply desired to diffuse the intense situation with a pause.
Speaker:What better way to confound those around Him than to simply say nothing at all, but appear to be doing something else? Second thought is prayer.
Speaker:Perhaps Jesus needed a moment to seek His Father in prayer, and Jesus may have been actually writing his prayer on the ground in the dirt.
Speaker:The third thought is compassion.
Speaker:Jesus very well may have wanted to divert the shame on this woman to Himself by dropping to the ground and causing others to question what he was doing, undoubtedly took the focus off of this woman.
Speaker:And then, fourth, averting the blame.
Speaker:Some believe Jesus may have been writing those wanting to stone the woman their own sins in the sand.
Speaker:And this for sure would have been quite convicting to those wishing to kill her, as they recognized Jesus knew their own personal sins.
Speaker:So as the questions continued, Jesus then stands up and says, if any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.
Speaker:And according to Levitical law, both of the parties to the adultery were to be tried and punished.
Speaker:Rather than Jesus arguing his decision, he brilliantly turns the table on them, exposing their own sinful nature.
Speaker:And additionally, he subtly points out that there were two parties involved and not just the woman.
Speaker:What a beautiful demonstration of true compassion for this woman.
Speaker:I can imagine how she must have felt so loved by Jesus at that very moment.
Speaker:Jesus's discussion with the woman before he says anything to her, those who are ready to stone her begin leaving one at a time.
Speaker:And finally, the scene involves only Jesus and the woman.
Speaker:What a great reminder to all people that one day we will all stand before Christ face to face.
Speaker:Two Corinthians 510 tells us, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each 1 may receive what is due Him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Speaker:He calls her woman, which we've discussed earlier when Jesus called his own mother by this name.
Speaker:And as you may recall, this term expresses a tenderness and with full respect.
Speaker:And as we read this passage today through the lens of our own culture, it could almost sound rude, but it was quite the contrary.
Speaker:Jesus was addressing this broken woman with much love.
Speaker:I can almost see the scene as if she is facing Jesus with her tearstained, face of regret and shame.
Speaker:Yet here she is, face to face with the Savior of the world, looking back at her with his beautiful, compassionate eyes.
Speaker:And he asks her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? And she responds, no one, sir.
Speaker:So Jesus not only shows her respect and compassion, but he also removes the condemnation placed upon her.
Speaker:And although he has not yet gone to the cross.
Speaker:He was clearly pointing to his ability to remove sin.
Speaker:And Jesus leaves her with one last command then neither do I condemn you.
Speaker:Go now and leave your life of sin.
Speaker:He clearly tells her personally that he holds no condemnation for her.
Speaker:What a perfect example for each of us to rest in this beautiful all of us have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.
Speaker:As Paul wrote in Romans 323, because we have all sinned, we can know that Jesus death on the cross was not in vain.
Speaker:He did sacrifice on that cross for you and for me.
Speaker:And we are no longer condemned.
Speaker:Why then do we continue to condemn ourselves and others for sins committed? The next time you continue to berate yourself for a past sin, refer back to this beautiful story here in chapter eight and the second part of Jesus's parting words with her relating to how now leaving her life of sin and to make changes.
Speaker:Well, he doesn't condemn us, yet he does require us to stop the sinning.
Speaker:This is a nonnegotiable with Jesus.
Speaker:We simply cannot say I'm sorry and then continue to sin.
Speaker:He clearly says leave the sin.
Speaker:So true forgiveness requires a changed heart, and a changed heart requires repentance from sin.
Speaker:One cannot remain in sin.
Speaker:Jesus didn't die so you and I could use Him as a get out of jail card.
Speaker:His immense sacrifice and suffering requires each of us to completely turn and run from our sins and to continually seek his strength in order to do this.
Speaker:So now we are in the second half of this lesson, part two, Jesus Teaches Truth.
Speaker:Now the story turns to Jesus speaking to the people after this supposed stoning incident, and he goes into more teaching regarding his deity.
Speaker:He has some main teaching points here.
Speaker:One, he says he is the light of the world.
Speaker:He again refers to himself in the terms of light.
Speaker:I have a whole supplemental lesson that I'm going to provide on light, and you guys are going to want to listen to that and I'll record that soon.
Speaker:But go back to the very beginning of John, the book of John, and you will see how he starts this whole book talking about the Light, and then two, about following him.
Speaker:Whoever follows Jesus will never be in darkness, but would have the light of life.
Speaker:And again we see the requirement of action to follow requires movement.
Speaker:Movement requires motion.
Speaker:Motion requires the expenditure of energy.
Speaker:So therefore, believers, you and I, we must be moving toward Christ.
Speaker:Daily belief in Christ has to be accompanied by action, and our energy must be spent toward his kingdom.
Speaker:So at this statement, the Pharisees again challenged Jesus, and now they accuse Him of being his own witness, thereby negating his testimony as valid.
Speaker:And the law stated that there needed to be at least two witnesses to make a testimony valid.
Speaker:And how interesting that just before they were willing to throw this woman to the wolves without giving her the same courtesy of this law, jesus, saying he was the light of the world was very much telling them he was equal with God as their light.
Speaker:And the Jewish people referred to God as the glory of God.
Speaker:In Psalm 19 one it says the heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands.
Speaker:And the word Shakina in Hebrew means dwelling or one who dwells.
Speaker:A Shikhaina glory means he who causes to dwell, referring to the divine presence of God in Exodus, God manifested Himself in the cloud by day and the fire by night, as he led the Israelites through the desert.
Speaker:Glory equals light.
Speaker:And so Jesus response here, as he says Jesus, he is the authority.
Speaker:He refuses their claim by showing them and telling them his unique relationship to God.
Speaker:And that he tells them he is not from this earth and that his judgment or their judgment is by human standards jesus, not being of human origins, he cannot be judged therefore by human standards.
Speaker:And then he did.
Speaker:Appointing to a partial part of the Trinity, jesus was not judge alone here.
Speaker:Rather, his judgment, along with his father's, created two witnesses.
Speaker:How beautiful and perfect that is.
Speaker:And then the pharisees ask him, where is your father? And he responds again so beautifully, he says they don't know Jesus or His Father.
Speaker:And he points out that they weren't recognizing Jesus because they really didn't know God or his ways.
Speaker:And although they claimed to know God and everything about Him, jesus was exposing them of their false claim of knowing God.
Speaker:And also Jesus points to his death.
Speaker:He tells them he was going away and so he was letting them know he would not always be with them in the flesh.
Speaker:That time was short and to pay attention.
Speaker:And then thirdly, the warning of dying in sin.
Speaker:Rejection of Jesus results in death and eternity in health.
Speaker:Rejection of Jesus keeps unbelievers from living in eternity with Him.
Speaker:And next he tells us that God is reliable, that if they believed in God and that he is a perfect God, then Jesus who came from God is also reliable.
Speaker:And then he refers to the cross.
Speaker:The lifting up of Jesus would clearly point to Him being whom he said he was, and then finally that God sent Him.
Speaker:God was with Jesus, and Jesus did only what pleased God.
Speaker:And as a result of all of these important teaching points from Jesus, many at that time then placed their faith in Him.
Speaker:They could see the logic of Christ.
Speaker:And although the leaders were still challenging Jesus at every turn, many listened.
Speaker:Wow, such a beautiful, beautiful message of our Gospel.
Speaker:So if you have your notebooks, how do you apply these truths to this first part of chapter eight in John? Number one is there any area of your life that you continue to place self condemnation upon yourself daily? Like just self doubt, I can't do this, I can't do that.
Speaker:And number two, are there any people in your life that hold you and your own condemnation and bringing up your sins and shortcomings? And if so, ask God to help you release this.
Speaker:It's ugly and you don't need it in your life.
Speaker:Third question what areas of sin do you need to leave and run from? Four is there evidence of Jesus in your life to those around you? Number five what are you doing to please Jesus as he pleased his Father? Six write a heartfelt prayer to Jesus, thanking him for what he is doing in your life and what task is he asking of you today? So I hope you enjoyed this first part of John, verses one through, and we will conclude with John, chapter eight, part two.
Speaker:In our next episode, be sure to visit my website, Dr.