Welcome to the Defender Bible Study, a weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. This podcast is ministry of Lifeline Children's Services where we believe that defending the fatherless begins by being rooted in God's word.

Welcome to the Defender Bible Study Podcast. Today is Monday, March 2025. My name is Chris Johnson. I serve as the senior director of church partnerships and external advocacy for Lifeline Children's Services. Well, this week we're continuing our study, through the book of John, looking at the life of Christ, and we're gonna wrap up John chapter number eight by looking at verses 48 through 59.

As we've seen in John chapter seven and verse number eight, Jesus of course is there in Jerusalem. This is early in his ministry, but his ministry is fully launched now, and he is confronting those that would speak against him. He's confronting the religious leaders. It's during the time of the celebration of the Feast of Boots or the Feast of Tabernacles, which was a time of remembrance for the children of Israel. And Jesus is kind of at a place where He just feels that it is time for confrontation.

It was necessary for Him to speak against the evil that was being done, to speak against those that were oppressing, using religion to oppress the people, and ultimately proclaim Himself as the Messiah, as the Son of God, proclaim Himself to be one with God. In the verses that we looked at last week, of course, we saw that strong charge that he gives and ultimately tells these religious leaders, you are of your father, the devil. You're not of my father, you're of a different father because you are, he is the father of lies and your lies continue to show the fruit of who you are and your connection to the father of lies. So a few things though to notice about Jesus, when Jesus felt it was the time and appropriate place to confront sin, to confront evil, to confront religious leaders, He didn't do it just to argue. He didn't do it just to try to prove his point.

It wasn't his debate, his arguing, his confrontation was not so that he could be puffed up and so that it could be proven that he is right, but he did so with the intent of drawing people to himself. He wanted to proclaim to those around who would be hearing his words. He wanted to proclaim to them who he was as the Messiah, and so he wanted to draw them to himself. I believe he even had a desire and he wanted to see these religious leaders trust Him as Savior as well. Of course, we know that some did, a few did, very few.

He He He would anytime that Jesus had a confrontation, it was with the desire to draw people to Himself. Now when we think about debate and confrontation and and going back and forth, you know, usually it's two opposing views that are coming against each other, and they have two different perspectives on reality, two different understandings of what the truth is. Of course, we know that Jesus is the body of all truth. He is truth. And so those that were coming to debate Him, they were believing a lie, walking in a lie.

And so they were rejecting the truth and they wanted to push forth their perspective and their point. A couple of things that can cause this, one is just an unwillingness to be swayed. There were those that just had a desire to They were not gonna be swayed. They were gonna prove They weren't gonna prove their point, whether it was right or wrong or what. They wanted to prove their point and keep their control, keep their place of notoriety, keep their place of elevation in the community and especially in the religious community.

And then there were some that were just simply blinded. They were blinded and they couldn't see the truth. There were some, I believe, that just were trying to protect their They knew that it wasn't right. They knew that the position they were taking was self serving, but they wanted to protect that position that they had gotten. And so we see this debate oftentimes with Jesus and the religious leaders.

But what happens in a debate is when you have the two opposing viewpoints, and sometimes when it's not a healthy debate, those that know that they don't have a good argument, they know that theirs is not the truth, that theirs is not the right perspective, they begin to kinda diverse into and divert into verbal attacks. It turns into not just an argument of their their side, but they start calling names and attacking verbally. When that's not successful, sometimes that even leads attacks and physical abuse and those kind of things to try again to try to conform people to your perspective. And we're gonna see this right here with these religious leaders. They walk through these very things where they start off just trying to kind of, they're stating there what they believe or what they say that they think is true, but then they, when they have no argument and they're confronted with the truth, they revert to verbal attacks and then even ultimately, as we see at the end of this passage, pick up stones to to stone Jesus.

So let's read the passage together, and then we're gonna walk through it. One of the things I want you be listened for and looking for is you're gonna see a pattern in this passage. Throughout this passage, there's three different times that the that the religious leaders come up against Jesus and they present a lie. They come forward with a lie that ultimately is is blasphemous. They present a lie.

Jesus responds with the truth. He responds with what is true and what is right. So how do you confront the lie? Confront it with the truth, And then he always follows it up with an invitation, an invitation for them to to receive him and to join him. So let's be listening to that as we read the passage together and then we'll talk towards some.

Beginning verse 48 of John eight, 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 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.

The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our friend Abraham who died and the prophets died? Who do you make out yourself out to be?

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. 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 say to you, before Abraham was, I am. So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. So let's again look and think through this passage of this, or this pattern of debate that occurs.

First of all, we see right there in verse 48, they start right off with a lie. And again, they've been making their arguments, their arguments don't carry weight, so they've even jumping right into a racial slur, at least that was their intent, to use it as a racial slur in calling Jesus a Samaritan. They said, you're a Samaritan and you have a demon. And that was that was their argument. That was their argument against Jesus was that he was a Samaritan and had a demon.

Of course, they knew that he was not a Samaritan. They knew where he came from. They knew that he was born in the city of Bethlehem. He was a full Jew. They knew his family, but it was just again an attack to at the truth, an attack.

And they didn't have any any legs to stand on in their defense and in their debate, so they switched to just these verbal attacks for what they thought would be just a horrible thing to say that he was a Samaritan, and I mean, Samaritans were hated by the Jews, and then also that he had a demon. And of course, Jesus hears their lie, hears that blasphemy and confronts it directly with the truth. I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. He goes on to say here that he's like, I don't even seek my own glory. There's only one who seeks glory and he's the judge and that's our heavenly father.

The one that you claim to serve, the one that you claim to follow, the one that you claim to know. So they present the lie, you're a Samaritan and a devil. He presents the truth that he is not possessed by a demon and that he is not even about his own glory. That again would have been right right in the face of those religious leaders because they were all about patting themselves on the back, right? They were all about puffing each other up and talking about the and and getting their their own glory for all the things, the good things that they had done.

But Jesus says, hey, I'm not here for my own glory. I'm not here to elevate myself. I'm here to do the will of the father. I'm here to honor the father and in honoring the father and in living and fulfilling my mission that he to which he has called me, fulfilling the plan that he has has for my life, then I am honoring the Father and He is honoring me, and me walking in this truth, and me proclaiming myself as the Messiah and me showing that I'm the Messiah, it brings glory and honor to the Father. So they hit Him with a lie, He's a Samaritan, has a demon, He proclaims the truth.

He doesn't have a demon and that he's there to bring glory to the father. He's doing the will of the father. But then he offers to them in verse number 51, truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. So there's this invitation. He's making this statement, but there's an invitation to them.

If you will believe that I am who I said I am, if you will place your trust in me as the Messiah, as the savior, then you too can have eternal life. You too can can know eternal life and you don't have to face death. Now, of course, he was speaking of a spiritual life and and not having to face spiritual death, but they twisted it again because they couldn't understand, they couldn't perceive, they were they were so focused on their response that they weren't willing to listen and receive the truth that he said. So what's the next pattern? They come right back with another lie.

They hit him again with another lie. The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died as did the prophets, yet you say if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham who died and the prophets who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?

So again, they hit him with a thing. You again, you you definitely have a demon now because there's no way that you're gonna say that you can help people to never die when Abraham who is the one that we revere, he's the one who is our spiritual father, Abraham died and the prophets die or you say that you're better than them, Again, these these attacks are coming at him. And what's Jesus' response? He hits him with the truth. Again, he hits him with the truth.

Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me in whom you say he is our God, but you've 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. So He, again, Jesus is saying, again, He's making this connection to the Father.

And again, he's putting it kind of on their shoulders. You claim to know the father, but yet you're not even receiving the one who the father sent. You claim to to know all the things about God's word and all the the the the prophets and all the different prophecies that were given, but yet you're not even able to recognize that I am the fulfillment of those prophecies, that I am the one that Abraham spoke of, that I'm the one that the prophet spoke of, and that I am here to honor and glorify my father. The lie, the truth, and then we see the invitation again. He says here in verse 56, your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day.

He saw it and was glad. And he's speaking here, he's reminding them that, hey, Abraham Abraham looked forward to the coming Messiah. One of the things that we know about Abraham, it says over and over to our scripture that he he he believed that his faith is what was counted as righteousness. His belief is what counted as righteousness. What did he believe?

He believed that God would send the Messiah to be the savior of the world. Everything that Abraham did was looking forward to that. We know in the the story of Abraham where it is told even in that great chapter of faith, Hebrews 11. And it talks about the fact that that Abraham looked for a city. I mean, just he left Ur not knowing where he was going, just following God.

And then when when God promised him a son, he by faith had to believe that that was gonna happen. When God gave him a son, he had to by faith be willing to sacrifice that son. It says that the Bible tells us that he he was willing to sacrifice because he had such strong faith that he knew that even if if his life if his son's life was lost that God would either raise him up or something would happen that God was going to keep his word and God was gonna fulfill his promise. And so that's the kind of faith that Abraham had. It says in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 13, right in the middle of kind of talking about Abraham on both sides of this verse, it says, these all died in faith not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.

Abraham was able to see the promises of God and see them come to pass through his eyes of faith. So much greater faith than what these religious leaders had. Again, these religious leaders had read all the prophecies. They knew all the things to be looking for and to be expecting, but yet when they came, they weren't ready because they didn't have the faith to believe. And so Jesus is saying to them, the first time he offered them eternal life through him, now he is offering them the opportunity to have faith, to see and to trust him as the Messiah.

And what's their response? Once again, they stepped right in front of him, him again as a lie. So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old and have you not seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly truly I say it unto you before Abraham was, I am. They again hit right back.

You're you're you're crazy. You're you're not old enough to have seen Abraham. You don't know anything about Abraham. And Jesus, man, hits them with the truth that really ticks them off. This was the this was what this is what really pushed him over the edge.

He said, before Abraham was, I am. They knew exactly what he was saying when he said I am. When he said I am, he was claiming to be God himself. Because if you remember back, even all the way back to the days of Moses, where Moses said, who should I tell them to send me? And what did God say?

You tell them that I am has sent you. I am is the God who always has been, He always will be. He he is always in the present. He always I am. He is everything.

He is the the summation of everything. He is the one by whom all things exist and consist. And Jesus claimed, he says, I am who I am. Man, this just made them so mad and his response to their lie is that he claimed to be I am and their response to the truth is that they pick up stones to kill him. Now Jesus knew that there was gonna come a time where he would lay down his life.

There was gonna come a time where the religious leaders would kill him and he would he would allow that to happen. He would lay down his life, but he knows that this is not the time. There is still more ministry to be done. There is still more work to be done. So instead of continuing to argue, instead of continuing to debate, Jesus slides away.

Says that he hid himself and went out of the temple. Jesus removed himself from the situation. And so, man, what what truth we gain from this? This is what the world does so often today. When we, the world comes at us with the lies, with the attacks of the enemy, and and we've gotta be as people of God, we've gotta make sure that we stand firm in truth, that we stand boldly in the truth, but that we do so not with a desire to make them look bad or not with a desire to win an argument, but we stand in truth with a desire to point people to the hope of the truth.

We stand in truth with a desire to bring people to a place of conversion, a place of placing their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. So how do we do that? What are some takeaways that we can take with us today as we reference this passage? Three things I want us to take away. First of all, know that power is in the truth.

Power is in the truth. It's not our opinions, it's not our arguments that are gonna sway others or bring them to salvation. It's the truth of God's word and only the truth of God's word that can bring a man or woman to a place of salvation. And so we can't stand in our strength, we can't stand in our power, we can't put our faith in our, opinions or our arguments, we've gotta put our faith in the word of God. Jesus had said just a few verses earlier than there in the time we looked at last week, John eight thirty two, you shall know the truth and it's the truth that will set you free.

So as his followers, may we know the truth. May we stand firm in the truth, not our own truth, not the world's truth, but the truth that is the word of God as defined by God's word. May we stand firm in that truth, know it and stand firm in it. Power is in the truth. The second thing is that many will reject.

We can present the truth, we can present great arguments, but many people are going to reject it, reject the truth. And I'll say this, it's sad to say, but especially the religious. Sometimes it's easier to to bring a person who's who's who claims to be atheist or agnostic or someone who doesn't know anything about the Lord, it's easier to bring them to a place of salvation than it is sometimes a religious person who is placing their faith in their own deeds and what they think that they have achieved or what they think that they're in the process of achieving. Many we're going to reject, but that doesn't cause us to stop. That shouldn't cause us to stop proclaiming the truth.

That couldn't shouldn't cause us to shy away from the truth. Why do people reject? Why do they reject? I think it's important for us to know why they reject so that we can get to the heart of the argument, we can get to the heart of the issue. Some reject just because of a lack of knowledge.

They just simply don't know. They've never been shown. Some reject because of a lack of discernment. They can't spiritually discern these things. They say, I've gotta have empirical physical evidence in order to believe.

And so they have a lack of spiritual discernment. Some reject because of a lack of faith. They've got all the head knowledge, they know the truth, but they don't get to the place of placing faith in the truth. They can't move from knowledge to relationship. They can't make that shift.

Man, these these religious leaders knew everything to be expected, and they should've this should've been a no brainer. Should've been easy for them, but they didn't have the faith to believe. Some reject because of a lack of surrender. Man, they just wanna hold on to what they have. They wanna hold on to their own power.

They wanna hold on to their own strength. They wanna hold on to their own devices. They're not willing to surrender their lives. They're not willing to give up what they think they have attained or what they think that they enjoy or think they have to have. They're not willing to surrender to the Lord.

And then some reject it because of a lack of humility. They just don't believe they need a savior. They think that they're okay. Their desire is to trust in themselves and trust in their own work. So power is in the truth, many will reject.

But here's the good news, God can still change the heart. God is still changing hearts. Many will be saved. And while these religious leaders rejected, as Jesus preached and proclaimed this message, there were some religious leaders that did believe. But man, you see the poor, the weak, the rejected, the lonely, they came to him in flocks.

They received the truth. So as the gospel went forth, the gospel was received. And as we proclaim the truth, as we rest in the power of the truth of God's word, the power of the gospel, many are gonna reject it. But man, there's gonna be some that God's gonna change their hearts, and they're gonna come to him in faith, and we're gonna see, lives change. We're gonna see eternities fixed for for the glory of God.

So let's be faithful. Let's be faithful to preach and proclaim the truth. Let's be faithful to stand in that truth, and let's let God use us to bring people to himself. Well, let's go to Lord in prayer together this week, and let's pray. We're praying specifically for in Hong Kong, and children that are needing a family that need to be adopted.

So, let's go to the Lord together and let's pray. Dear heavenly Father God, we thank you so much for the truth of your word. We thank you for the example that is given to us by Jesus as he stood firm in truth and did not allow even the religious leaders to sway him from that. Lord, even though they wanted to kill him, they wanted to come against him. He stood firm and strong the reality and the truth of your word, and he fulfilled the mission to which you had called him.

And because of that, Lord, many came to faith, and even we today continue to proclaim that message and see people come to faith in you. God, we continue to pray for just the ministry of Lifeline. We pray that you will continue to use us to equip the body of Christ to manifest the gospel to vulnerable children. And Lord, we think especially this week of vulnerable children in Hong Kong who need a family. Lord, who are left as orphans without a home.

And you say that you set the lonely in families. And so God, we pray for those children. We pray that they would know your love and care, that they would that you would hold them close to yourself. We pray for the workers that are surrounding them, that they would be open to receive those that that desire to adopt these children, that they would be open to, to carry well for these children. And then Lord, we pray for the families that are currently in process, those that are waiting to bring their children home.

Then also, we pray that you would raise up more families. We pray that you would raise up more families that would see, the need for these children to have a forever family, that they would answer the call, that you've placed on their life to adopt and bring these children home. God, it's an honor and a privilege and a joy to be a part of your work. I pray that as we continue to seek the well-being of the most vulnerable among us, God, that we'd be faithful to share what they need more than anything, the truth of your word. And we pray, God, that you will draw many to yourself, and we'll give you all the praise and glory.

It's in Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Thanks again for joining us for the Defender Bible Study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the Defender Bible Study to make it easier for more people to find. For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child.

You can email us directly at info@lifelinechild.org. We look forward to seeing you again next week for the Defender Bible study.