The Absolute Truth! – John 8:20-32 – Bible study

The Absolute Truth !

John 8:20-32

by Cooper Abrams

Introduction: John wrote his Gospel while at Ephesus in 90-95 AD makingit the last Gospel to be written. The Book covers no more thantwenty days in the life of Christ. Chapters 13-19, covers the eventsof only one day, the last twenty four hours of the Lord’s life.

The Gospel is not addressed to any particular cultural group,such a Matthew which was addressed to the Jews, or Mark,addressed for Romans, or Luke written to the Gentiles. John’sGospel was written to the world to declare that Jesus Christ is Godincarnate in man the Savior of the world and that men might believe onhim and be saved.

The key verse is John 20:31. “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

The Introduction to this message is lengthy, but I think youwill see the reason for this as the it develops. To understand thetext we must understand the context in which Jesus made thestatement.

Jesus had traveled to Jerusalem to attend one of the feasts ofthe Jews. (John 5) It is not clear which feast it was. There Jesushealed a man who had been born lame. The Jewish leaders wereangry because Jesus healed him on the Sabbath day (Saturday). They were so legalistic, they had perverted the Old Testament Lawof keeping the Sabbath day holy, the Fourth Commandment. A Jewcould not even pick up a stick on the Sabbath day. Jesus calledthem hypocrites and said they “strained at gnats and swallowedcamels “(Matt. 23:24).

They sought to kill him John 5:18, because He proclaimedthat He was God.

The Jesus left and journeyed north to Galilee, during thePassover, where He did many miracles all the while proclaimingHimself to be the Messiah God had promised. There He fed the fivethousand and in a great storm on the Sea of Galilee walked on thewater. He left and went to the other side of the Sea because thepeople pressed after him so. John 5:26, Jesus quite pointedly revealed their not so noble reason for following him. He said they followed Him, not for the message, but rather for the food He fed them. In verse 40, Jesus proclaimed that salvation was in believing in Him and that those who would believe He would raise up in thelast day.

This upset the Jews and they murmured against Him, when he said “I am the bread come down from Heaven (v41). They said “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph the carpenter? How is then he saith I came down from heaven.”

You see the miracles He performed, which they saw themselves, had to effect on their understanding of who Jesus was. He proclaimed He was the Messiah, and proved it by miracles and by the fulfilled prophecy of his life. Yet, most of them would not believe. Most of those following Him up to this time…left (v66).

Jesus turned to the twelve and ask them “Will ye also go away?”

Peter answered and said, “Lord to whom shall we go? thou hasth the word of eternal life. An we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God.”

Jesus’ disciples then journeyed to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Tabernacles and Jesus remained behind, but followed after they had left and He entered Jerusalem privately (John 7). Then Jesus went to the temple and began to teach the people. They people in v15, marvelled that Jesus taught and spoke as an educated Rabbi, yet he had not formal training.

In John 7:16-17, Jesus proclaimed His doctrine (teaching)was from God. He told them that those who did the will of Godwould know the doctrine. They would know if what He said wastruth. They accused Him of having a demon, still being angry thatHe healed the lame man on the Sabbath. Jesus passionatelyproclaimed again who He was….but they would not believe andsought to take Him by force.

The Jews had a practice that is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but came out of the Inter-Testament period, between the Old and New Testaments. They would take water from the Pool of Siloam for the first seven days of the feast and carry it to a silver basin by the altar of burnt offerings. This tradition probably began in the Inter-Testamental Period of the four hundred years between the Old and New Testaments.

In V37, on the eighth day of the feast Jesus stood in theTemple grounds and cried saying “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink, He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Jesus was referring to Isaiah 44:3-4, ” For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.” and other Old Testament Passages which presented the coming Messiah as fulfilling the spiritual thirst of Israel.

Verses 40-53. There was a great debate as to who Christ really was. Some said He was a prophet, some said He was the Christ and they did not come to a clear decision of who He was.

I fully believe that had the people believed on Jesus God would have saved them. However, as Paul stated in Acts 17:3, “Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ” Jesus still had to suffer and die for our sins. Even if the people had believed…the sinful, proud, unbelieving Jewishleaders would still have turned Him over to the Romans to becrucified.

In John 8, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, and the peoplecame again and He taught them. However, the scribes and thePharisee came also still seeking to discredit him and brought thewoman caught in adultery. You know the story, the tried to trickHim, into condemning the woman to be stoned which upheldJewish Law, but violated the Roman law. Jesus ask of the accusersof the woman “He that is without sin among you, let him cast thefirst stone.” By the way, there was one there who was without sin!

He said, when the accused in shame all left..”Neither do I condemnthee, go and sin no more.”

In John 8:12, Jesus proclaimed again, “I am the light of theworld, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness by shall havethe light of day.

The Pharisees immediately called Jesus a liar! (v13).

He continued the discourse with them as we read at the beginning ofthis message.

The Pharisees, scribes and Jewish leaders and many of thepeople refused to believe what Jesus was saying about Himself andwho He was.

I. He that Believeth on me Hath Everlasting Life. John 6:47

A. Truth stands alone. Whether it is believed or not it isfact.

ILLUS: Copernicus, Polish scholar, in the mid 1500’s studied theSun, Moon and planets. He studied showed the earth was roundand that it revolved around the Sun. March 5, 1616, the Popedecreed that his book, “On the Revolutions of the HeavenlySpheres” was to be banded and forbidden reading and this band wasnot lifted until the 19th Century. For almost 400 years the truthCopernicus discovered was banded in unbelief. Galileo understoodhis claims and because he defended the truth was in danger of losinghis life in the Catholic Inquisition. The fact was he studied theevidence and came to the truth….which was true whether the wholeworld rejected his statements or not. In the end, time proved him tobe right. In time all truth will be proved as true.

Proverbs 12:19 say, ” The lip of truth shall be establishedfor ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”

B. Jesus Christ said He was the Messiah, the Christ, theSon of God. He said that whosoever believed in Him would haveeternal life.

1. Jesus said in John 8:32, said to those that believedin Him, that they would know the truth and the truth would set themfree.

2. The world today is rejecting Jesus Christ as God,the Savior of the World. But it does not nullify the truth…thatyes He is who He said he was.

3. On that Sunday morning three days after Jesus hadbe crucified and died for the sins of the world….He arose! That tois truth….whether it is believed or not. Jesus won the victory oversin and death and proved who He truly was once and forever…JesusChrist as God incarnate in flesh. He was our only God and Savior.

C. The Bible says that there is not one righteous man onearth and that all men have sinned and come short of the gloryof God (Romans 3:10, 23)

1. There is ample evidence of this all around. Do youknow anyone who does not sin? Do you know anyone who hasnever committed some wrong act?

2. The answer is obvious…we do not know anyonewho has never sinned. Some might defend themselves and say,”Well, I have not sinned as much as so-n-so has.” That may betrue, but you have sinned and that one sin condemns us as sinners.

D. Romans 6:23, says the wages of sin is Death.

1. That is truth. Further, Heb. 9:27, says “It isappointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

2. A recent poll in US News and World Report,showed that 78% of those polled believe there is a heaven and 60%believe there is a hell.It is not interesting that there is an 18%difference in the number of those who believe in heaven and hell. That means that 18% of those who believe in heaven, do not thinkthere is a hell.

Out of all those who believe in an after life: 78% believe theyhave an excellent chance of going to heaven. Only 4% believe theyhave an excellent chance of going to hell.

There is nothing that a man allows within himself more thansin. There is nothing a man resents more than being reminded thathe is sinner. Jesus in John 7:7, said the world hated Him “because Itestify of it, that the works thereof are evil.”

3. However, believe it or not….God, who createdus all, says there is a hell. Jesus in Matt. 7:13-14 “Enter ye in atthe strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, thatleadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth untolife, and few there be that find it.”

II. Truth Sets Men Free (John 8:32).

ILLUS: Thirty nine members of the Heaven’s Gate of the heavens gatecult committed mass suicide in 1997 believing that there was aspaceship in the tail of the Hale-Bopp Comet that was coming for them They believed that must commit suicide in order to be released to this spaceship. “We have no hesitation to leave this place, to leave the bodies that we have,” said the charismatic cult leader Marshall Applewhite, one of those who died, said on the video. Do you believe that they believed they were going to be caught up after they killed themselves into this spaceship? Well, clearly they did. Most of the people were very intelligent people. Yet, they believed a lie. The truth was there was no space ship and aliens were not coming for them.

A. Truth frees us; lies enslave us. The Jews would notbelieve the truth, and thus were enslaved to the false beliefs theywere taught by their religious leaders.

1. John 8:13, the unbelievers proclaimed…”thy recordis not true.”

2. Yet, it was true…every word he said wastrue…and everyone who believed was set free from sin and deathand everyone that did not believe died condemned in their sins.

B. Verse 36 says “If the Son shall make you free, ye shallbe free indeed.”

1. Jesus was talking about being free from the influence and condemnation of sin (v34).

2. It is more that being free FROM something, it is being free unto something as well.

C. We are saved from sin, unto life. 1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.”

We all know Ephesians 2:8-9, but have we read verse 10? “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Conclusion:

1. Why does God want to save us? Have you ever thoughat this? Why did He not only tell us the truth, but went to the crossand bore our sins in His body and shed His blood for ourredemption?

Why did Jesus tell the Jews He was the Messiah? Did He show them evidence of who He was?

2. Why are there so many who oppose God’s truth and invent false things which nullifies truth and puts stumbling blocks in the way so that people are hindered from coming. Where do the doubts come from where truth is loving told? Why do men run to believe the lie?!

God wants to save us from sin and free us to a newproductive eternal life….yet Satan would hinder us and keep us fromGod by telling us a lie and distort truth….”hath God said.”

My friend where do you stand? Do you believe in Jesus Christ, that He is God’s Son and that being the sinner you are…He loved you anyway and died, shedding His blood on that Cross for you, that you by simple faith and trust in Him, might receive forgiveness for you sins and receive eternal life.

Right now you have the same choice those in Jesus’s day had. You can believe Him and be saved or reject Him and spend eternity in Hell. It is up to you. I know the mind of Jesus Christ and what He wants! He wants you to accept Him, and proved it by paying for you sins. Dear Friend His suffered grievously for you so you would not have to go to Hell. His desire for you is shown in His love. In Matthew 11:28, beckons all to “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

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