Gooding, David: 12 - The Third Journey: Part 3—John 8

We are then currently studying the chapters seven, eight, nine, and ten of the Gospel of John, which is the record of our Lord's visit to Jerusalem on the occasion of the Feast of Tabernacles and then the Feast of Dedication. In our first studies, we have noticed that these chapters deal with God's strategy for making himself known through Jesus Christ our Lord, through his birth in Bethlehem of the Virgin, through his public ministry, and then through his going away by the cross, burial, resurrection, and ascension to God's right hand, and his pouring out of the Spirit of God on those that should believe on him. We then, uh, looked in some detail at chapter seven. There are, in fact, five major portions to chapter seven. The first sets the problem as was seen by the brothers of the Lord Jesus. Why he would persist in remaining in Galilee when he ought to go down to Jerusalem to gain, uh, the publicity and popularity. And our Lord mentioned to them the basic problem facing himself and the Father, that he must inevitably witness of the world that its works are evil, and therefore there would be resistance to the message that he had to proclaim. And how God would overcome this resistance, and by what methods and techniques, this is the story of John chapter seven, eight, nine, and ten. So in chapter seven, our Lord eventually goes to the feast, but does so deliberately incognito, so that when eventually he went halfway through the feast, he just slipped into Jerusalem with scarce anybody noticing he had come, and went up into the temple to teach, the people who were listening did not immediately recognize who he was. And our Lord had done it deliberately that way so that he might concentrate their attention first on his teaching and then on his miracles, and invite them to use their moral judgment on his teaching and on his miracles. They were part of God's self-revelation through his son, and to this very present they remain important elements in the witness of the Holy Spirit to us and through us to the world at large, if we would advocate the person of our Lord Jesus. To witness to the quality of his teaching and to its source. Saying in many respects it is unique. It raises the question of what is its source. Not only the quality of his teaching, but his motivation in teaching it. He sought not his own glory. It is a thing to be noticed about our Lord, that though he claimed deity, he was not a power-crazed, religious, self-propagating machine. He sought not his own glory. He could say in one and the same breath, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thou hast given all things to thy son, and at the same say, but I am meek and lowly in heart. That balance of character is a very potent part of our witness to our blessed Lord Jesus. Witness, therefore, to his teaching and to his motivation in teaching it, and the open invitation to people that there is an experiment that they can do to find out whether his teaching is of God or not. If they're willing to do God's will when they know it, Christ guarantees that God will show them that the teaching of Christ is of God. And next, not only the witness of his teaching, its moral quality, its motivation, and the experiment that you can do to find out if it is of God or not, but also the moral quality of his miracles, that they did not, as the Jews accused him of doing, break the word of God as given us in the Old Testament in general and the law of Moses in particular. And when he had argued the moral quality of his miracle, he appealed to the crowd once more to use their moral judgment on him. That is a perfectly, uh, good thing to do. It has been done by many preachers in modern times, such as Lewis and John Stott and company, pointing out that you have to make up your mind whether Jesus is a lunatic... or whether he is true and his word is true that he is God incarnate. The result of his teaching in the temple, therefore, was a dispute among the crowd. They raised the question that, uh, uh, supposed according to them, when the Messiah came, no one would know where he came from. That was a bit, I think, of superstition. But our Lord now urges upon them that there are two senses in which you can speak of where did our Lord come from. In, if you mean where it was his home on earth, where did he come from there? Well, he came from Nazareth, and that they all knew. The more important question is not whether he is Jesus of Nazareth, but did he come from heaven? Is God his father? But when there was, uh, uh, the, uh, uh, dispute among the crowds as a result of his temple teaching disturbed the Pharisees. They sent officers to take him. Notice, please, that that wasn't an unfortunate accident that unfortunately cut short his ministry. He said to the officers, but I'm going away anyway. You needn't trouble, gentlemen. For the going away was a deliberate part in making God known. It was not an unfortunate cutting short of his ministry. But he was going where they would not, uh, find him. That cryptic language got them thinking, though they couldn't solve the, the conundrum at the, uh, to start with. It was going not on a lecture tour, he was going back where he came from, to heaven. In the fourth place, John records what our Lord did on the last day of the feast. When the water had been poured down for the last time at the side of the t- of the altar, in memory of the water that God gave to Israel during the wilderness out from the rock. But also provoking their minds to the promises of the Old Testament, through Isaiah, through Joel, through many a prophet, that the days would come when God would pour out his spirit on all flesh. And one of the evidences here i- i- i- is, as you see, he said that if any man thirsts and let him come unto me and drink, and he that believeth on me. He was already appealing to the people that would believe on him there and then. Anybody that believed on the Lord Jesus, so to speak, there and then, before he went away, would find their faith confirmed that he was the Messiah, because he would pour out God's Holy Spirit upon them. So it was, of course, with the apostles and the crowd in Jerusalem. Witness Acts chapter two, facing the crowd that had actually heard Christ, and that had, in spite of it, crucified him. Now Peter is saying that he is risen, and here is the evidence he is risen. He has poured forth this Holy Spirit, as prophesied in the Old Testament. And of course, it is for us likewise, that the Holy Spirit, uh, uh, confirms, vindicates our faith in Christ. When our Lord announced that, of course, this great element of salvation, satisfaction, and in the context, that satisfaction that God gives, amongst other things, the satisfaction that Jesus is the promised Messiah. And that satisfaction of the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, that all the prophets and their promises shall be fulfilled. It led to a further discussion and debate in the crowd. Some said, you see, this is of truth the prophet that should come into the world, meaning what Moses had said, the Lord your God shall raise up a prophet like unto me. Some said, no, it's not that exactly, but this is the Christ. And others said, but that can't be because he comes out of Galilee. So once more, you've got the debate among the crowd that you get in, uh, uh, part two of the thing as a result of his ministry in the temple, the crowd debate where he comes from. And somewhat superstitiously, we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ comes, we don't know where he comes from. And our Lord said, well, in a sense, you don't know where, you do know where I come from, from Nazareth, yes, but in another sense, you don't know where I come from. You don't know the God I come from. He sent me. It's not merely the place I come from. It's from whom do I come. So now again, after his announcement of the coming of the Holy Spirit to those that believe on him, and the satisfaction it would bring, uh, some think he is the Messiah, some the prophet prophesied of by Moses, but faced with the claim that this is the Messiah, some say, but that can't be because he comes out of Galilee, and scripture has said, not now current superstition, but scripture had said that he comes from Bethlehem. He is of the seed of David. He comes from the village where David was. That seemed to them a very good argument. It was scripturally based. But notice as the chapter comes to its end in the last section, chapter five, what has been happening? For us, even as far as his birth was concerned, he didn't come from Nazareth, and he didn't come from Galilee. He came from Bethlehem, was born in Bethlehem of Judea. He was of the seed of David. Why didn't they grasp it? Well, listen to the Sad- the the the Pharisees. When the officers come back empty-handed, they haven't arrested Christ nor brought him to the Sanhedrin, and the Pharisees asked, why have you not brought him? They said, but no one ever spoke like he did. They couldn't make head nor tail of him. He told them, don't bother, I'm going away anyway. The Pharisees thereupon denounced these officers, do you see? They said, uh, are you also led astray? Hath any of the rulers believed on him or of the Pharisees? No, of course they hadn't. And who are you little scum? You don't know the scriptures like we do, and you're cursed anyway. Uh, do you see? And in your ignorance, do you see, you ought to be asking, well, have the rulers believed on him and follow their example? We haven't believed. And now they come, uh, in front of Nicodemus, uh, to face Nicodemus. Nicodemus said, no, but gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen, does our law condemn anybody before for it first hear him? Why didn't you invite him to come himself and tell us about himself? To which their response was, are you also of Galilee? Arise, uh, and look and see that is in scripture. No prophet comes from Galilee. Well, perhaps, if that is the right reading of the some of the manuscripts, if that's right, they were in their haste overlooking things. Certain prom- prophets had come from Galilee, Jonah among them. But perhaps it should read, arise and look and see that the prophet doesn't come from Galilee, meaning the Messiah. But then Jesus hadn't come from Galilee. But yes, he's been walking in Galilee. Now, isn't that curious? If the Pharisees had asked him politely to come and they could interview him, they would have found out he was born in Bethlehem. The fact that he was in Galilee, most of the time, made them think, well, here is evidence enough he's not the Messiah. Why was he in Galilee? Well, because these selfsame Pharisees would have killed him if he came down to Judea. It was their own hatred that kept him in Galilee. Notice the principle involved. So very often, men manufacture by their own rejection of Christ the very grounds upon which they reject him. It was their own hostility that kept him in Galilee, as the beginning of the chapter has shown us. But we must move on a pace now and consider chapter eight. And I'm going to suggest to you, for time's sake any rate, without much proof and evidence, that there are five major parts to this chapter eight. In this chapter eight, Christ will pronounce a claim, announce himself as the light of the world. Verse twelve: He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Let us ponder that statement a moment and its implications. I am the light of the world. He that followeth me. Oh, pray notice it. Not now just he that believes on me. He is the light of the world that sheds light on our path. He's on the move, and we must be on the move as well. This was the Feast of Tabernacles, when they looked backward to what their fathers had experienced in the wilderness, when they came out of Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land, and God had provided them with water out of the rock. He'd done it twice, but more than that, so that they might find their way across the wilderness. God not only gave them a tabernacle, but his presence in it was a, a, a, a s- a cloud of glory by day and the fire by night. The light went with them to mark out the way. So now our Lord is claiming, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness. The light is there not to be merely surveyed. It's a light that guides us by shining light on our path. As you see, that raises the question, where is the path going to? He that followeth me. Notice therefore that in this passage, eight chapter twelve, uh, 8 verse twelve onward. The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest witness of thyself, thy witness is not true. Jesus answered and said unto them, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true, for I know where I came from and whither I go, but you know not whence I come nor whither I go. So what is all that about? Well, they said to him, when he said, I am the light of the world, they said, but listen, that's just you saying that, you see. Your witness is not, and here we shall have to slightly adjust the English translation, your witness is not valid. Anybody can get up on his hind legs and say, I'm the light of the world. That doesn't make his claim valid. And you stand there and say, I'm the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. Um, but your witness isn't valid. You're just the one that says it. And our Lord's reply was twofold. We must attempt to, to, to see the point of the first thi- the first, uh, argument he uses. Verse fourteen, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is valid. Why? For I know where I come from and whither I go. What's the logic of that, gentlemen? Well, normally you would want somebody's witness in human affairs, uh, if he says something, well, do, what witness can you call to corroborate your witness? There are occasions when it is perfectly sensible to believe the witness of one solitary man. The analogy that I, I make up myself to help myself grasp it is this. Eh, you'll say. In uh, medieval times, people didn't know about Australia, you see. Well, it is debatable whether that's helped us to know about Australia or not, but the people then didn't know of Australia. And I come from such a part of the world where a very big house in the middle of the town has four big bay windows, you see, built about the sixteen hundreds and something. And uh, uh, uh, uh, beneath each bay window is plaster work, you see, full of symbols. And on these four bay windows, on the, on underneath the window, on the four bays, are represented the four continents of the world. The town is Ipswich, of course. Dear souls, they were very good artists, but they only knew of four continents. So they had the four continents of the Earth. Australia and all that stuff hadn't been discovered then, of course, you see. Now consider this following situation. Eh, in those far off days, you could confidently assert that if you stood facing the sun at midday, you could be absolutely certain, as a law of nature, the sun would have got up on your left hand and would eventually go down on your right hand. Yes? True of Ulster, of course. But suppose in those medieval times, a gentleman had appeared, who knows from where, and he said, oh, but gentlemen, i- i- in the land I come from, if you stand facing the sun at midday, you can be absolutely sure the sun got up on your right hand and went down on your left. Absolutely contrary to what the, the, the primitives of Ipswich believed, you see, and thought they knew from experience. Of course, the man came from Australia or New Zealand or somewhere. Now the question arises, would the primitives of Ipswich have been right to believe him. Even though he's the only one that could witness to this. Of course, if they disputed him and said, no, no, you're, you're the only one that says this, and it's a, that sounds a, that sounds absurd to us, and it can't be true from all our, goes against all our experience, and it ain't true, can't be true, and we're not going to believe you because you're the only one we've ever, we've ever met that said it. He could reply, but gentlemen, I know where I come from. And whither I'm going back. Oh, how marvelous to hear the words of our Lord. I'm the light of life, says he. You follow me and I will light your path. Lord, where are you going to? I'm going to heaven, says he, and to the Father. But how do I know that there is a heaven to go to? You're the only one that says so? And Christ would say, but I know where I come from and whither I'm going. Yes. We're on the move. He's the light of life. We have to follow him. How do we know there's a heaven to go to? So he goes on to discuss in more detail that in one sense he's the only one that bears witness, and yet in another sense, he's not alone. He bears witness, and the fathers bear witness, and we can come back to that in a moment. But now, uh, verse twenty one: He therefore, uh, said again unto them, I go away, and you shall seek me, and you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come. So we notice now in chapter eight the going away section. In many, uh, details similar to the one we had in chapter seven. But now you will notice that the, in this, uh, chapter eight, the going away paragraph contains more information than its counterpart in chapter seven did. I'm going away, he said, and you shall, uh, and you shall seek me, and you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come. The Jews therefore said, will he kill himself that he saith, whither I go, you cannot come? He said unto them, ye are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you that you should die in your sins, for except you believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins. We notice now not only therefore he's going away, but the two different orders. You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. So now we n- need not only to be sure that there is a heaven to go to, and he lights our way through life, but, gentlemen, how do you make the transition from this world to that world, if we are from ab- beneath, he is from above. He's going the way to that other world. You shall seek me, he said to his contemporaries, and not find me. And moreover, where I am, you cannot come. You shall die in your sin. What is the transition? How do you get from this world to that world? From this temporary to that eternal. You say you take off from Earth, and then, you know, there's home for little children above the bright blue sky. You go up far enough into the bright blue sky, and you'll come to it. Well, it ain't blue out there. It's the darkest night. How far up do you have to go to get to heaven? Ah. It isn't just a question of, of getting out of this world of space to some other space, is it? Notice the condition. Unless you believe that I am. Verse twenty four: except you believe that I am, you shall die in your sins. That is a very profound claim. We must grasp what it means. That I am. I am what? No, not I am what. It's I am. This, most scholars nowadays think, is a translation of phrases that you find in Isaiah the prophet, where God says, I am. Jews say, there's no God beside me. I am, and all versions, uh, uh, have it, I am he. The Hebrew, ani hu. I he. Ani hu. From everlasting to everlasting, ani hu, says God through Isaiah. I he. When the Jews translated that into Greek in Alexandria or elsewhere, and came across this phrase, ani hu, I he. Hebrew idiom, of course. They translated it in Greek, ego i me, I am. Title of God. There's none beside him. He is the eternal, from everlasting to everlasting. Anihu. He is the eternal God. And Jesus Christ is saying to his contemporaries here on earth, I am the light of this world, follow me. I know where I came from, and the Father bears witness to me, and I'm leading you to where I came from. The way across is the belief that I, Jesus, I. He is the eternal. And the transition is made as we believe in him that he is indeed not merely a good teacher. He is the I am. Incarnate. This is eternal life. That they might know God and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. Fail to believe that I am, says Christ, you shall die in your sins. Where I am, you never can come. That is the transition. That's difficult for a Jew to take, wasn't it? This is claiming deity. You'll see. Verse twenty five, they said therefore to him, who art thou? Jesus said, altogether what I say unto you. You must take me literally. I am. I am he. I am. I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. Howbeit he that sent me is true. And the things which I have heard from him, these I speak into the world. They perceived not that he spake to them of the Father. Jesus therefore said, when ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am. Here it comes again. And that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father has taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I do always the things that are pleasing to him. So where on earth can we come to know that Jesus is the I am? Well, there is a place on earth where God solves the problem that we began with in chapter seven. The world hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil. But if because you reject that testimony that your works are evil, you reject him. He's going back to heaven. You will die in your sins. And where he comes, you never can go. How can I be brought to see and to believe that his claim is true, that the Father is with him and in him? Well, there is a place on earth, gentlemen, where you can meet God as a sinner and be unafraid, and know that Jesus Christ is God's son. And that, of course, is Calvary and its consequences. When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that lifting up with all its tremendous meaning of his sacrifice for sin, but all its subsequent happening, the burial, the resurrection, and ascension. Then shall you know. This is how the trad- tra- transition is made. But there's more than that, isn't it? When he said these things, many believed on him, but he said to those Jews that believed on him, if you continue in my words, you are truly my disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. When they objected, but we have never been in bondage to anybody, we're Abraham's seed. How do you mean, what do you mean what you you we shall be free? Christ said, I was speaking of the practice of sin, gentlemen. For whoever commits sin practices sin constantly, is a slave of sin. And the slave doesn't abide in the house forever. The son abides. Now, that could be true of a Roman household, for instance. The slaves, they moved around the house, they served their masters, they didn't necessarily stay in the house forever. When it pleased the master, he sold them to somebody else. The freeborn son ab- uh, abid- abode in the house. There's a story in Genesis like that, isn't there? Abram had two sons, one of the slave woman, and he was a slave boy. His name was Ishmael. He stayed in Abram's home here on earth a while, but he wasn't allowed to continue, and in the end he was sent out. The true freeborn son of Abram stayed in the house, didn't he, and inherited all that was his father's. And here is Christ saying, oh, it's marvelous. You start the journey as you begin to follow the light down life's pathway. How do you know there is a heaven that at the end of the road? Says Christ, I know where I came from, and I know where I'm going to. Well, when it comes to how do I make the transition? You make the transition when you temporary creatures of the dust believe that I am the eternal I am that I am. And believing and receiving him. Yes, you will make the transition to eternity. In fact, in one sense, you've already made it. And what will life be like that? Won't we there? Well, you're in training, says he. That you see, if you shall continue in my word, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Freeborn sons of God in the Father's house, eternally. There is long argument, and let us skip over that for the moment. There is long argument now with the Jews, who are offended by his statement. They claim to be Abram's seed, says Christ, but if you were Abram's seed, you would do the works of Abraham. But you seek to kill me, don't you? Abraham didn't do that. But, uh, I said we weren't born of fornication, we have one father, even God. Speaking like true Jews, because in Hosea the prophet, God talks about Israel, Mother Israel, having had children by her lovers, the false gods. Children of persecution, per- children of prostitution. We weren't born of fornication, they say. We have one father, even God. That's very odd, says Christ, because if God were your father, you would love me, for I came forth from God. So they got angry as he told them straight, you are of your father, the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning and stood not in the truth. Do you see? He is a liar and the father of it. When God said if they took the fruit, they will surely die, Satan came along and said, no, that's a lie, that's not true. You will not surely die. Believing his lie, it led to their spiritual death. And it wasn't one mo- uh, one generation more, but it led to the first murder. So So the the que- question of parentage, therefore, is to the fore. Having then exposed them, they turned on him, and they said to him, section chapter five of eight, the Jews answered and said unto him, say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil? Now, if you accuse somebody i- in that time of being a Samaritan, you were, among other things, casting doubt on his parentage. Was he a full, true born, blue blooded, or whatever color the blood is, Jew? Or was he of doubtful parentage by having, uh, mixed up with Gentiles like the Samaritans were. Do you see? They were accusing him, therefore, of being of uncertain parentage, not a genuine Jew, and of having a demon. Our Lord answered them, of course, in great detail, but let us notice, um, his, uh, final claim. Uh, Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abram was, I am. Not before Abram was, I was, but before Abram was, I am. And because he is thus, he can say in verse fifty one, verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my word, he shall never see death. He is the eternal. Before Abraham was, he was. In the beginning was the Word, says John chapter one. He is the great I am that I am of eternity. Now, when he says you will never see death, he doesn't say you won't see dying. The majority of the Lord's people will see dying, the process of dying. It could be sudden, it could be long drawn out, virtually painless or painful. But what a believer will never see is death, what death means. It's not just the cessation of life on this earth. It's what lies beyond it. That is death. It is called in scripture the second death. No believer shall ever see it, not to all eternity. To pass into the present of the eternal, not into some vague, impersonal atmosphere, Brahm, as the Hindus say, but to a personal God, forever personal, in the person of Jesus Christ, his son. And so you may care to put the two claims side by side. They stand in history, don't they? Side by side, we have to make up our mind which to believe. Said the serpent to Eve, said the devil to Eve, did God say that if you eat, you shall surely die? Fancy that. Tut, tut. I may tell you, my dear, you will not die. Eat it, woman, you won't die. Well, that's what he says. And here stands our Lord, he that keepeth my word shall not see death. Well, one of them's telling a lie, isn't he? And you'll have to make up your mind which is which. Eat the fruit, my dear woman, independent of God. Don't be bothered by what he said, and you shall not die. Oh, what a story has followed that lie. Here stands the eternal, lifted up, crucified, dead and buried, risen again and ascended into heaven. He that keepeth my word shall not see death. He is the light of life, therefore. He is the light of the world. We that follow him shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. Uh, if you want to start that journey, where would you begin? Well, textual critics or no textual critics, let me tell you a story. He he he came into the temple in the morning, and they brought a woman taken in adultery. And they said, teacher, Moses in the law commanded that such should be stoned. What do you say? Now this story, because of its contents, has been frequently named the story about the woman taken in adultery. Gentlemen, that is a side issue. The real purpose of the story, or at least the occasion of the, of the story, is as we're told here, verse six. and this they said, tempting him, that they might have whereof to accuse him. The woman taken in adultery, in her case, was merely a thing that they were citing as a possible means of finding some ground for accusing him. And the story comes to its tremendous climax when his would-be accusers turn round and file out. It's the story how Christ overcame and exposed the sinfulness of his would-be accusers. What the story is about, that they took a woman taken in adultery and composed their question was only a means to their end. They were hoping to have some ground for accusing him. How would they accuse him? Well, if he said, yes, go do that, Moses commanded it in the law, uh, therefore stone the woman. They would have run off to Pilate and said to Pilate, this Jesus, you know, is encouraging people to take the law in their hands and execute people, whereas the Romans gave the Jews many freedoms but withdrew from them the right to take life. They would have had to get Pilate to do it, so that if Jesus was, was encouraging the people to execute, uh, say this woman or anybody else to take their lives, they would be br- he would be breaking Roman law and be in trouble. So that way round, they would have accused him. If he said, no, don't stone her, they would have gone to the people and said, well, there you are. He makes out, he he's he keeps Moses' law, but he doesn't, does he? They're faced with this case, and Moses said stone her, and he said, no, you don't have to stone her, and you see, he's a fraud. He isn't the Messiah. They thought they had him both ways. What would he do about, then, the guilt of sin? Notice they're not asking him whether he thinks adultery is wrong or whether he thinks it's right, or we've been too harsh and we should have regarded it as a very small thing, like the moderns do. No, they're not asking about that. They're asking, should the sentence of the law of Moses be carried out? Eh? What will he say? Regarding Moses and his law. When they put the question to him, we're told he bowed down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And many have been the theories, people felt in their hearts absolutely convinced that their, their theory was right, they can tell you what he wrote. Well, that's all fanciful, you say. Well, yes. Well, when other people have been fanciful, I don't see why I shouldn't be fanciful if I want to be. Saturday afternoon, why not be fanciful? Only what I'm going to say, I didn't think it up, and in fact it isn't fanciful. I'm just going to quote you the Old Testament. Moses and the law. Where did he get the law from? But when God appeared on Mount Sinai and said to Moses to bring up two tables of stone. And God, uh, enunciated his law. And gave the tablets to Moses, written with the finger of God. And Christ wrote, stooped down and wrote with his finger on the ground. But anyway, Moses scarce got hold of the, of the tablets. But what, uh, they heard a noise in the camp, and God said, you better get down quickly, Moses, for the people have corrupted their way upon the earth. And to their horror, when Moses got down, they'd made a golden calf and broken the very first commandment in the law, and the whole basis of the law. Thou shall have no other god but me. They'd made a golden calf and were worshiping what they said was Jehovah under an idolatrous form. And God said to Moses, Moses, stand out of the way, and I- I- I- I'll destroy the lot of them and make of you another nation. No, says Moses, no, no, God, no, no. If you destroy them, you must destroy me too. I refuse to be distinguished from them. So he went down the mountain and he growed- ground the old golden calf to bits and spread it on water and made them drink the nonsense stuff. And discipline there was. But then through Moses' intercession, you know the long story. Through his many intercessions, God had mercy on the people. Called Moses up the mountain the second time with two new tablets. And said, Moses, write on them the law. And they too were written, so it is said, with the finger of God. And in giving him the law written the second time on the tablets, God pronounced the name of the Lord, merciful, forgiving sin. Do you remember the passage? Yes. The tables of the law written twice. Once written in the finger of God, broken by Israel, and that they'd made false gods. Are you aware what Hosea and company would call that kind of thing when Israel departed from the true and living God and started idolatry? Do you know what, uh, how the prophets regarded it? They regarded it as sheer adultery, spiritual adultery. Read Hosea if you need any further proof. But God, faced with the nation's adultery and the breaking of the law through Moses' intercession, had mercy on them, forgave them, wrote the tablets again, and condescended to come and dwell with them when they made the tabernacle and lead them to their promised land. Moses in the law commanded that women like this should be stoned. What do you say? He bow down and wrote with his finger on the ground. Writing the first time. And when he lifted up himself, they were all gone, beginning from the oldest to the youngest. I feel like calling after them. Gentlemen, don't be daft. You go now. You're admitting you're sinners, aren't you? Come back! Face him out with it. They didn't, did they? They were standing in front of him who is the light of the world. They were standing in front of him who is the lawgiver incarnate. He that is without sin. Cast the first stone at her. They slunk out, they dared face him, for he would have exposed them. So he, he, uh, so for the first time he, he, he, uh, he wrote the law, sat up, said he was without sin, cast the first stone at her, stooped down and wrote again. They went out. When he'd written the second time, he came up and said, where are thine accusers? Hath no man condemned you to death, that is? She said, no man. He said, therefore, uh, I- neither do I condemn you. That is, he's not saying that adultery is right. He's saying, I don't condemn you to suffer the penalty of death. How could he say it? When he was the lawgiver incarnate. No, how did he forgive Israel and write the tablet? He could say it because in a year or two's time, he was to be lifted up, as this very chapter says, and himself pay the penalty of that woman's sin. That's where we begin, gentlemen. When we begin to follow the light and stand long enough to let the light expose us, and in repentance and faith cast ourselves on the mercies of Christ, who being God incarnate, the lawgiver incarnate, is a God of all mercy who died that we might be forgiven. Then do we begin the journey following the light of this world as he casts light on our journey. Assured that there is a heaven to go to because he tells us he knows where he comes from and whether he's going. And find the transition from this world to the next in him, who is the I am. And meanwhile prepared to remain in his word, that it might progressively set us free from the practice of sin. I'm assured that if we have come to believe in him and follow him thus, we shall not see death, but shall abide in the Father's house, freeborn sons of God for all eternity. That's chapters seven and eight very roughly said, crudely said, but I hope enough said to show you that these chapters are, both of them, answers to the problem of God's strategy in sending his son into the world to be our savior. And in both those chapters, seven and eight, there is the going away. It was not merely what he said and taught, important though that was, but right from the very beginning, the announcement that he would be going away. And what that going away was about. It was to make possible that the Holy Spirit should come. For later in this gospel, the Lord Jesus said, I have to go away, for if I don't go away, the Holy Spirit will not come. So the going away was not an accident. It wasn't a question of making the best we can of it now the Jews have crucified him. He was always going away anyway. Going away would make it possible for the Spirit to come. Christ is God's last word. He isn't God's last testimony. The last and final testimony is the Holy Spirit, of course. Bringing satisfaction to those that believe on the Lord Jesus. Yes? But then, of course, the going away in chapter eight, as we follow the light of this world on our pathway, with the assurance to begin with that he that, uh, that to them that are in Christ Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation. We have met the I am at the burning bush of Calvary and have known his forgiveness, who has written the law twice. First, writing it on tablets of stone, and then, as Christians would say, writing the new covenant on tablets of the heart, leading us home to glory, giving us the status of sons and educating us as we continue in his word to become in behavior true practical sons of God as we learn how to behave, coming one day to take us to the Father's house. That, roughly put, is how I conceive of chapters seven and eight. You say, but what do nine and ten have to say about the topic? Well, I am to be given, I think the official estimate is about fifteen minutes or twenty, and then you are to be allowed to, uh, question me and, uh, to set about me and pull me limb from limb. Meanwhile, one man rubbing his hands with glee. Eh, meanwhile, let's take a break.