The Great Invitation part 2

I'll take your Bible this morning. Turn with me to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. We started in John chapter 8 last week and we're going to continue in our verses and we'll look at verse 12 through 20. John chapter 8 verses 12 through 20. Now like I said last week we started in chapter 8. We looked at verses 1 through 11 and we dealt with that famous passage where the woman was caught in the very act of adultery. Now you remember we discussed the whole debate surrounding the authenticity of these verses.

We did explore in a general sense the questions of authenticity that some pose concerning these verses but our stance is to accept these verses as part of the written word of God. There are no theological contradictions within these verses. This story mimics many stories in the ministry of Jesus. There are many sources that say that this is authentic so we accept these verses. Verses 1 through 11 is part of the written word of God and we learn that our motive must be right and how we deal with people. Very powerful message. I think that it spoke to many of you. Now this morning we will be back at the Feast of the Tabernacles.

Really verses 1 through 11 didn't mention the Feast of the Tabernacles although we saw that Jesus went back up to the temple but this morning we will be back at the feast and what I mean is if we look at the timeline we will be right after the Feast of the Tabernacles. It could very well be that Jesus was on the same day that he dealt with a woman that was called in the act of adultery. Verse 1 states that it was very early in the morning when he went back to the temple and it was very early in the morning when that event took place. So it could be that this falls on the very same day right after that last day of the Feast of the Tabernacles.

Now remember that this is a great event in the life of the Jews. It was an event where all of the people would have journeyed to Jerusalem to celebrate and this is where Jesus is revealing himself as one, the one, the Messiah pictured in the very feast itself. Now we've had four messages where Jesus is teaching at the feast. The first was the timing of Jesus verses 1 through 14 in chapter 7. The second was Jesus authoritative teaching. Remember his claims of being Christ verses 14 through 24. The third message was their reactions chapter 7 verses 25 through 36 and the fourth was the great invitation verses 37 through 52.

Like I said earlier we will continue with this same teaching. Jesus at the temple at the end of this great celebration revealing himself in two ways. Not just in what he taught but revealing himself in the very feast itself. The feast was a picture of the Messiah and Jesus is and was that promised Messiah. Now this morning's message will be I call it a part two. A part two because I'm going to borrow the title from the previous verses that dealt with this this teaching there at the feast and that is the great invitation from chapter 7 verse 37 through 52.

Now remember that great invitation there in verse 37 Jesus gives this broad invitation by saying if any man is thirsty let him come to me and drink. There's that great invitation and this will really be a part two to that message continuing in that same theme of inviting law centers to come unto himself. So you see the title of the message and the main truths that we will explore and study this morning. The great invitation part two. We will see the setting out of verse 12 and verse 20. We will see the invitation to come out of verse 12.

We will see their claims of a false witness verse 13 through 18 and their claims of illegitimacy of claims of illegitimacy in verse 19. We see a similar pattern Jesus preaching and teaching truth revealing himself and those religious leaders attacking him accusing him rejecting him. It's really a pattern which sadly has developed all through this gospel. So let's read these verses together being verse 12 on down to verse 20.

"Again therefore Jesus spoke to them saying I am the light of the world he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life the Pharisees therefore said to him you are bearing witness of yourself your witness is not true Jesus answered and said to them even if I bear witness of myself my witness is true for I know where I come from and where I'm going but you do not know where I come from or where I am going you people 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 he who sent me even in your law even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true I am who I am he who bears witness of myself and the father who sent me bears witness of me." Verse 19 "And 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." Now you see our main truths and we're going to start off with truth number one the setting we're going to look at the setting now there are two verses that help us with the setting verse 12 which is at the beginning of our text are our verses and verse 20 which is at the end now remember that setting or context is very important it helps us understand the true meaning of what is being taught and we need to see that there are two things about the setting I want you to see first the connection to the very end of chapter seven the connection here to the end of chapter seven go back to verse 12 again therefore Jesus spoke to them saying I want us to see that all of the translations use the word again and this phrase this statement is the same in all of the translations again therefore Jesus spoke to them that is the very same phrase in all of the translations and this is a clear connection to the events in chapter seven where Jesus is teaching at the feast now this clear connection in the language is evidence for some that the first 11 verses are inserted or out of place you see there's some of that textual evidence that some cite but what I want you to see is there is a connection between verse 12 and the end of chapter seven where Jesus is teaching about if any man thirst let him come to me and drink so that is part of that setting those are tied together and you will see that develop as we continue in the verses second I want you to see the physical setting look at verse 20 these words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple John the apostle John gives us the physical setting after he records this interaction with the religious leaders notice that he was at the temple but he was at the treasury now what is the treasury this is the court of the women the treasury was located in the court of the women and it was in the temple complex and it was where the treasury boxes were located you might say it like this the offering plates the offering boxes that's where they were located there were 13 treasury boxes located in the court of the women and each box was marked to designate what the offerings were used for these boxes were called shofar chests which meant they were shaped like shofars or shaped like trumpets so that is the physical setting when he mentions that he was there in the treasury that tells us that he was there in the court of the women now this would have been a very busy place where both men and women were engaged in their worship and it was a very suitable place for Jesus to teach the crowds and to reveal himself not only through his teaching but through the celebration as it pictured him so this was a very busy place another interesting note here is that the sanhedrin would have been very close if you know the construction of the temple complex the sanhedrin met in a room nearby the court of the women and they literally wouldn't have been able to hear all the activity there in that court so what do we see this is the setting this is obviously connected to what he had been teaching in chapter seven it's tied together and Jesus is there with the great crowds both men and women continuing to teach just like he did in chapter seven now you know me i always want to make application i always want to draw out of the text not twisting the text not pulling something out of the verses that are not there but there's always something that we can learn i think we can see in this setting that Jesus goes to a particular place where he could engage the most people it wasn't just the men that he engaged but it was the men and the women and being that it was there with the treasury boxes it would have been a very high traffic area why because he wanted to preach and he wanted to teach who the people he wanted to take the truth to the people is that that what we see in chapter eight verse one Jesus went to the mount of olives he went away that intermission and early in the morning he comes back to the temple and all the people were coming to him Jesus had it in his heart to take the truth to the people so for you for me for us we must see that somehow some way we must take the word of God to the people we must be a witness of the truth mean we must tell lost sinners about christ we must minister to those around us there are a wide variety of needs in the lives of the people that we come in contact with and we must take the truth to the people no doubt meaning need to be converted no doubt many are lost that we come in contact with and they need to hear the gospel no doubt there are some who are christian that we come in contact with and they need ministering to as well so just like Jesus wanted to take the truth to the people we should desire to take the truth to the people and I believe from the bottom of my heart that the church must be about going out into the world to touch people second I want us to see the invitation to come this invitation to come there in verse 12 go back and look at the verse this is a very famous passage you're probably familiar with it he says I am the light of the world and he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life now before we divide the text there are two observations that I want us to make from the verse first this is a very similar this is a very similar verse to what we see in chapter seven verse 37 we will see just how similar when we break down the verse but I want you to see it's very similar to verse 37 second this is the second of the great and famous I am statements that Jesus makes in John's gospel you might not remember but the first I am statement was made in chapter six verse 35 remember that this is just after Jesus had changed the little boy's lunch he had uh uh taken that lunch and God had blessed it and it had miraculously increased and remember with the backdrop of that miracle behind him he stood up and he said I am the bread of life no doubt those Jews knew that he was speaking of a heavenly bread he was speaking of a bread that came down from heaven and they would have thought about the bread that came down there in the desert the manna from heaven so I want you to see those observations out of the this verse there's several things out of this verse that I want us to see first notice Jesus great claim Jesus and his great claim look at the beginning of verse 12 I am the light of the world here Jesus makes a claim to be God by saying I am the light of the world now all the translations that we study together say the same thing Jesus is making a great claim which would have been very clear and very bold to the Jews who were listening to him teach and his claims were obvious for two reasons this great claim first in what was seen at the feast of the tabernacles that great celebration now let me explain this during the feast of the tabernacles every evening uh there in the court of the women where Jesus was teaching there were these huge these giant lamp stands which were lit every evening multiple writings tell us that the lamps were so bright that every home in Jerusalem could see the light now question what is the significance of these lamps these lamps were to be a reminder to the Jews that God had led the people of Israel through the desert how at night by a pillar of fire we see that in exodus 13 starting in verse 21 and this was a great celebration of remembrance the the Levitical musicians would have played men would have danced into the night with torches singing songs of praise and some sources say that this went on every night except for the night of the Sabbath and they were remembering what God had done for them when they left Egyptian slavery and how God led them in the wilderness he led them through a pillar of fire and the scripture says that that pillar of fire lit up the entire encampment so when Jesus stood up and he made this great claim I am the light of the world in the backdrop was this picture of the light of the being the light of the lamp stands being lit up there at the feast every night and the second the second reason it was so obvious was what the Old Testament teaches so many verses that speak about God God the Father being as light Psalm 27 verse 1 you don't have to write these down but I mention them to you so that you will know how numerous they are Psalm 37 6 Psalm 44 3 Psalm 56 13 119 verses 1 through 5 139 verse 12 passages and proverbs passages in Ezekiel passages in Isaiah passages in Malachi all speak about God being light so in light so the light of God of the glory of God was understood by these Jews God being light and they understood how God led them through this pillar this fire by night and when Jesus is making this great claim it would have been very bold of the Jews and obvious that he was claiming to be God because in their minds was the feast of the celebration and what the Old Testament taught one of the Bible commentators I read the new American commentary says Jesus' words of announcement in this context would have sounded like an outrageous claim to the ears of the Pharisees he went beyond the usual religious assertions of enlightenment and actually claimed to be the luminary itself he is claiming to be the light of God you see that great claim second Jesus invitation to follow look at the second portion of verse 12 I am the light of the world he who follows me now previously in chapter seven verse 37 Jesus said if any man is thirsty let him come to me and drink this was an overt bold invitation to come here Jesus' invitation is less direct but this teaching here is a continuation of what he has been teaching this word follows is used two ways in the gospel of John first it is used to describe the crowds that followed him in a general sense and second this word is used to describe more specifically the true disciples who would follow him so here we hear an echo of the previous verse come to me and drink and now he's saying come to me follow me I am the light of the world so there's this invitation to come third I want us to see the promise of life look at the last part of verse 12 I am the light of the world he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life here Jesus makes definitive statements he who follows me shall not walk in darkness these individuals have left darkness they have left sin they have left the world they have left the prince of this world for what for the light of Christ and notice there is a possession here they shall have the light of life just as Christ is light in life these individuals who follow Christ possess both light and life now I want to remind you I want to remind you of verse 38 in chapter 7 he says these followers the true followers they believe as the scriptures say that's the problem with the crowds many of the crowds did not want to believe the way Jesus said they had to believe so what he is talking of here he is talking of those who are true disciples they have a promise of life they shall not walk in darkness and they shall possess the light of Christ so here in verse 12 it seems as if Jesus not only builds from chapter 7 verse 35 but he adds to his teaching he ups the stakes he ups the stakes he makes definitive declarations as to his deity and issues an invitation to the crowds to come and to follow him as the promised one it is important to see what Jesus is saying he is saying in chapter 7 verse 35 that he is that water that was poured out at the feast and here in chapter 8 verse 12 he is saying that he is the light of the world he is basically saying I am what the feast speaks about now an application I want to ask you a question do you see him as the promised one do you see him as deity god in the flesh or do you see him as a religious symbol do you see him as a good person do you see him as one that is far off with no power or no control or no influence over your life you see there are a lot of people in our and our quote unquote Christian culture that is the way they see Jesus they acknowledge him maybe as the son of god but he has no power he has no authority he has no control over their life they are still thirsty and they are still walking in darkness but I remind you of the promised life that we learned about those who walk with Christ do not walk in darkness and those who walk with Christ possess light and possess life and do you see Christ like we've learned about Christ just in these two verses and do you possess Christ like the scripture describes him and do you possess Christ the way we've learned in verse 38 of chapter 7 because he says he who believes in me as the scripture said and that's what we're learning and again I'm afraid there are many people they profess Christ but listen their lives tell us that they're thirsty because they thirst after so many things of the world and they walk in darkness but not us who are truly born again Christians let's move on let's look at truth number three I want us to see their claims of a false witness their claims of a false witness we'll cover a few more verses in this main truth we'll start in verse 13 and go down to verse 18 the Pharisees therefore said to him here's their rebuttal here's their argument you are bearing witness of yourself your witness is not true and Jesus answered and said to them even if I bear witness of myself my witness is true for I know where I come from or where I came from and where I am going but you do not know where I come from or where I'm going you people judge according to the flesh and I'm not judging anyone but even if I do judge my judgment is true for I am not alone in it but I am and he who sent me even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true I am he who bears witness of myself and the father who sent me bears witness of me here we see the Pharisees they begin to debate again here's that pattern they are giving him this rebuttal to his teaching this is that back and forth that we should be familiar with but I want us to see they are claiming that Jesus is a false witness four things that we'll look at quickly out of these verses first they are attacking him as a singular witness they are attacking him by accusing him of being a singular witness verse 13 the Pharisees therefore said to him you are a bearing witness of yourself your witness is not true now we have seen this before in John's gospel this might sound familiar to you maybe you have a hard time remembering but in chapter 5 verse 31 Jesus brings up this issue of John Jesus brings up this issue of this witness and the authenticity of his witness the Pharisees are attacking him according to the Old Testament law according to numbers 3530 Deuteronomy 17 6 Deuteronomy 19 15 legal matters had to be established by more than one witness you see so they were coming to him based on the Old Testament scripture saying you have a singular witness and they were attacking him on that basis I ran across the list this week John MacArthur gives of the witnesses to Jesus authenticity this comes from John's gospel and they prove that his witness is authentic the first witness is John the Baptist chapter 1 verse 7 and 8 the 12 disciples chapter 1 verse 49 and chapter 6 verse 69 the Samaritan woman chapter 4 verse 39 Martha chapter 11 verse 27 those who witnessed his raising Lazarus from the dead in chapter 12 verse 17 the works of Jesus chapter 5 verse 36 and chapter 10 verse 25 the scriptures themselves in chapter 5 verse 39 and the father himself all of these are direct witnesses to his deity you see now with all of that said let me go back to the verse the Pharisees therefore said to him you are bearing witness of yourself your witness is not true they are coming in him and attacking him saying that he was a singular witness when actually they did not see that there were many witnesses that bore witness to his authenticity second I want us to see their origin their origin when I say their origin both Jesus and the leaders this comes out of verse 14 and here in verse 14 is really a repeat of what we see Jesus declaring earlier chapter 5 verse 19 through 30 and verse 36 through 37 Jesus makes the same statements but in a slightly different way slightly different words he is saying that he can uh that he can offer a true witness concerning himself because he knows his unique origin and his unique destination now I want to use this word unique on purpose what does this mean this word unique means the only one of its kind his origin and his destination is the only one of its kind he came from the father and he's going back to the father he is unique and they were ignorant of his origin and they were ignorant of his destination they misunderstood who he was but notice that Jesus he points out their origin in their destination what does he say even if I bear witness to myself my witness is true for I know where I've come from and where I'm going but you do not know where I come from or where I am going and so he is explaining his origin and he goes on to point out their origin and where they were headed then third notice their judgment their judgment verse 15 through 17 you people judge according to the flesh I'm not judging anyone but even if I do judge my judgment is true for I'm not alone in it but I and he who sent me even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true here in verse 15 we see that they judged according to the flesh according to their carnal nature human or fleshly standards were used by the Pharisees they had their preconceived opinions and their prejudices that they always used when they judged Jesus verse 16 and 17 Jesus goes back to the validity of his witness and he uses the law to prove himself as valid and then last or fourth his witness verse 18 I am who he who bears witness to myself and the father who sent me bears witness of me simply in verse 18 he is saying that his witness and the father's witness is sufficient to establish his position according to the law and we see that in deuteronomy 17 verse 6 now here we see the same debate that is gone on in chapter 5 verse 19 through 30 but with slightly different words but yet it's the same debate now remember what was going on in the debate in chapter 5 Jesus said heal the crippled man by the pool at bestita and they began to lambast Jesus and attack Jesus as a false witness and again they're doing the same thing they're claiming him as a false witness now what can we learn here this morning what can we learn from these verses we must see that there always have been and there always will be those who attack the authenticity of Christ they attack the authenticity of his deity and you know what's sad it's sad because many times it will prove some for who they are what I mean is there always some who might profess Christ and profess Christianity but yet when these types of attacks come it will prove them because they will fall on the wrong side what's the right side he is Christ he is the Messiah he is the one pictured in the Feast of the Tabernacles he is the one pictured in all of the Old Testament and we must understand that the lost world will always deny the authenticity of Christ it shouldn't surprise us why should it surprise us when lost men attack the things of God why should it surprise us when lost politicians attack Christianity attack the word of God and attack the church why it should not because this is exactly what is going on right here in these verses they claim that he was a false witness and they attacked him continuously and then the last truth truth number four their claims of illegitimacy just one verse verse 19 and so they were saying to him where is your father notice the transition same language starting in verse 13 down to verse 18 and now they say where is your father Jesus answered you know neither me nor my father if you knew me you would know my father also here in verse 19 we see that the leader simply moved on to another point of attack they had tried to discredit Jesus by saying that he was a false witness and now they're claiming illegitimacy and we will see how first they wanted to see Jesus earthly father that's why they said that where is your father they wanted to see Joseph they wanted to try to prove that Jesus had an earthly father and his name was Joseph remember that all along he is claiming that God is his father of course we know that Joseph was not his physical father we know that his father was God the father in Luke chapter one starting in verse 31 what do we see is the angel of God is speaking to Mary he says and behold you will conceive in your wound and you will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David God the father was Jesus actual father so what they are doing is they're saying bring us your father because they are trying to discredit him as an illegitimate witness claiming that father the father was his father second Jesus states they're ignorance you know neither me nor my father if you knew me you would know my father also Jesus states here that they were totally ignorant of both him and the father the fact that they had rejected Jesus was proof that they did not know the father Matthew 11 verse 27 states all things have been handed over to me by my father it's just Jesus speaking and no one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him so what do we see you cannot know God the father unless you know God the son and you cannot know the promised messiah unless you know the father truly as he is the two are inseparable but Jesus is stating they're ignorance here we see the religious leadership's total failure in two ways first they did not know Jesus was the messiah they rejected him and second they did not know God the father as their father they claimed to worship the one true God but all the while they did not and what do we see it was total failure it wasn't that they worship God the father but yet they missed the messiah because to miss the messiah proved that they did not worship the one true God and we must see that we have people just like this all around us we must see that there are people who worship a god of their own imagination they worship a Jesus that is not found in the bible they worship a god that they have contrived that they have created because what does Jesus say earlier in chapter seven verse 38 he who believes in me as the scriptures said that was the religious leadership's mistake that's where they missed it they didn't worship God according to the scriptures and there are people who claim to be Christian but yet they do not worship God according to the scriptures and we must see that although people might have the right words they might have the right actions they might do the right things they still might not know God or his son Jesus now as we move away from the text what do we see we see the title of the message this great invitation we see this great invitation this is a continuation of what we see in chapter seven verse 37 what does he say on the last day of the feast the greatest day Jesus stood up and he cried if any man is thirsty let him come to me and drink and now what does he say he stood up again and he says I am the light of the world and he who follows me shall not walk in darkness this is a continuation of this great invitation now as I close the message I want to really point out to you the results of possessing this Jesus two passages refer to this passage several times verse 38 of chapter seven he who believes in me as the scriptures said see that was the downfall of many in the crowds was it not that was the downfall of the great crowds in john chapter six they refused to follow Jesus by his standards they refused to believe in Jesus according to the word of God and that is a result listen of true biblical belief believing in God believing in the father believing in Jesus according to the scriptures that's the result of possessing Christ you will agree with the word of God you will accept the word of God you will digest the word of God and live your life by the word of God and then the second result comes out of verse 12 in chapter 8 I am the light of the world he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall live or have the light of life true bible Christians do not walk in darkness they leave sin they leave the world they leave the enemy and they possess the very light of Christ Christ himself who is life that is proper biblical response and the results of accepting and believing in Jesus according to this great invitation and I pray and I hope that you possess what we've learned here in these verses I hope that you have experienced this great great invitation now as I close I will tell you a story which will illustrate this I had the privilege this week of bumping into an old friend one that I would have called a Christian brother years ago and in the course of the conversation he made mention of his own choices he made the comment that I had gone through difficulty in my Christian journey and I went one way and he had difficulty in his Christian journey and he went the other an indictment from his own lips from his own mouth and what was he proclaiming what was he saying he was proclaiming by his own lips and proclaiming by his own life and his own actions that he did not follow Christ according to the scriptures he was proclaiming that he did not possess the light of the world life in Christ and just simply he said there is a great difference between the way you've lived and the way I've lived now why do I tell you that story Jesus issues this great invitation but we see all through the scripture that some come but they don't possess Christ but yet some do come and some do and listen they walk with Christ they possess Christ they have the light of Christ and their thirst is quenched perfect no struggles yes trials and difficulties of course but they persevere because Christ is in them and they are in Christ Lord Jesus thank you for this message the truths from these verses thank you for what we're learning and have learned