Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the GosPel, we are studying the event where the truth will set us free. This is found in the Book of John.
We're going to start reading in chapter eight, verse 31. And we're going to read all the way down to 39.
Verse 31 says so. Jesus said to the Jews who had.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth. And the truth will set you free.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: They answered him, we are offsprings of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: Truly, I say to you, Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The Son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham. Yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father. And you do what you have heard from your father.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: And they answered him, Abraham is our Father.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children. You would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me. A man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, if God were.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Your father, you would love me. For I came from God and I am here.
I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
You are of your father the devil. And your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth. Because there is no truth in him when he lies. He speaks out of his own character. For he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe in me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe in me?
Whoever is of God Hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: The JEwS answered him, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: Demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the Judge. Truly? Truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: The Jews said to him, no, we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: You are greater than our Father Abraham, who died. And the prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?
[00:04:02] Speaker B: Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of Whom you say, he is our God. But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. Your Father Abraham, Rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: So the JEwS said to him, you are not Yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, Truly, I.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Say to you, before Abraham was, I am.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: So they picked up stones to throw at him. But JesuS HiD himself and went out of the TeMple.
So in this Story, JeSUs is Again Continuing this Conversation with the PhArISEEs. From the Last eVent. WE started it.
And hE's Continuing to Share Who HE IS. In the very beginning, Jesus tells them. If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth and you will be set free. Their Answer was, They've never been Enslaved to anyone.
How will you set them free then? Is this True? Were the PHArISEes, the IsRaElites. Never Enslaved to Anyone?
[00:05:38] Speaker B: No, that was a Dream.
They have been enslaved by many nearby nations. As a DiRECT CONsEQuENCe of Their DiSOBEdIENCE. So they have been enslaved by many nearby nations. Just to read the Book Of Judges.
And later the Book of Isaiah and Jeremiah. They have been Enslaved as a Direct ConsEquence of their disobedience. Now they are under the dominion of the Roman Empire. But they are dreaming of being free. And they are fighting for freedom that they would never realize. And even more, Jesus Christ does not refer primarily. To this kind of national sovereignty that they were referring to. Jesus Christ said, the problem that you are not free is the sin. Because everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: As I look at this section, I wonder, in the Israelite history, were they slaves more years than they were free? Because it seems like they're constantly in slavery and in bondage.
So this is very ironic that they're coming, that we are of Abraham and we're free. Yeah, they're physically, at that time, being persecuted by the Romans. They might have known what Jesus was talking about. Like you said, Jesus is not here talking about physical slavery. He's talking about slavery to sin. And they might have said, well, we're free in Abraham, we are free. We're righteous, we're right.
So they might have been having that argument, which doesn't make it any better, by the way.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: We do the same.
We are selective with different events in our lives. We have that selective listening. We listen the words we want. We can skip through history to go all the way to Abraham or to someone who will give us the identity that we are looking for.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Down in verse 48, the Jews answered Jesus response, saying, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?
These are very serious accusations at the time. Was Jesus a Samaritan?
[00:08:11] Speaker B: No, he was from Galilee, was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth. He was not a Samaritan. But they were looking at Samaritans as worse than sinners and tax collectors. Yeah.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: This is like the biggest insult you could give.
And they might have looked at Jesus spending time with Samaritans, might have heard some of his teachings on the good Samaritan and linked him in with that. But right here they're making accusations that aren't even true.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: What I like in verses just above that verse you mentioned, verse 44, you are of your father, and your will is to do your father's desires.
Jesus Christ links their behavior to Satan's character.
And Jesus said, you are learning from him.
You are a Resemblance of his character in the same way Jesus himself resembled the Father.
So we see here a play of Two kind of relationships. Jesus and the Father, and the Pharisees and their father.
So practically, we have two role Models in the world. We have two Fathers, and we have to choose one intentionally. And this is why Jesus Christ taught us to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, and to pray this prayer every day.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: So you're saying this applies to everyone, not just the religious leaders who were leading people astray?
[00:10:06] Speaker B: Sure. And this is why this passage Is retained in the Bible. To be an example for all of us.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: Yeah, because our Father, our natural carnal Father, when we were born in sin, is the devil. But Jesus came that we may be free, set free from him and given a new father through baptism. We're born again into Christ's family. We're sons and daughters of God.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: Beautiful.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: It's not an adoption Process.
It's a becoming part of the family, a rebirth. Yeah.
And I love that concept that we can have a new father.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: And a new family and a new start in life. And that is the best illustration of God's grace. I see grace as the chance for the second start every day. It's an expression of God's character. And especially when we, through baptism, die to the old life and we are resurrected to a new life.
That is when new relationship with the Heavenly Father is being established.
[00:11:20] Speaker A: So what does this passage teach us about God?
[00:11:24] Speaker B: As Jesus said, God is our Father.
When we are exposed to the light, to the truth about who God is, and when we are exposed to the truth that if we live in sin, we are slaves to sin. That is, when we are called to make a choice. Who will be our Father?
Whose character do we want to look up at, to resemble, to embrace and develop?
[00:12:02] Speaker A: For me, I look at verse 39 through 41. The leaders say, Abraham's our FAthEr. Jesus says, if you were Abraham's children, you'd be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what AbrahAm did. You were doing the works your father did.
WHeN I look at this, God is willing to live in us and to dwell with us, so that the works that we do are not our own works, but they're works that come from God naturally. We might think that we're good. We might think that what we have, we have something to offer to the world. But it is only through God dwelling within us that there is good.
And this was Abraham. AbrahAM had God dwelling in him, and he did good. So as I see this, I see this relationship, that God is willing and able to change our character and to dwell within us.
How does this passage speak to us today, and what are we going to do about it?
[00:13:20] Speaker B: One line that spoke to me, and I like to emphasize it, in verse 58, Jesus Christ reveals his identity.
And in regard to his connection to Abraham, he said, truly, truly. He repeated this word truly to grab their aTtention. Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was I am. And this expression I am, in Greek, ego ame. It's a direct translation of a Hebrew name for God. With this name, God revealed himself to MoSes when he was talking to God at the burning bush.
When MoSes asked him, if they will ask me who sent you, God said, tell them that my name is I am.
Or the Long version, I am who I am.
And when the Jews, who knew very well the Old TeStament, heard Jesus Christ saying this expression, I am not, I was before Abraham. I was no, before Abraham. I am, they realized that he assumed a divine name.
He who exists by himself, that defines God's divinity. The best. So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus Christ hid himself. Or made himself invisible. Because his Hour has not come.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: Let's pray.
FAther God, we so often look at the pharisees and think we would do it better. But we're not that different. Unless we have been born again. Unless we have accepted the gift. Unless we invite Jesus into our heart. Our Father is the devil. Our Father is a liar. And our Father brings us into sin. But, Father, we thank you. That you have given the ability for us to start again.
To be born again. To have a new identity. To have a new father. To have a new ruler in our life. And we ask that you will dwell in our hearts that we might not sin against you. In Jesus name. Amen.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: Amen. There's.
