Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm19991103.htm

JOHN: TRIUMPHING IN LIFE'S MOST CRITICAL ISSUE
Part III: Presentation Of The Messenger Of Salvation
C. Christ's Credentials Revealed In Confrontations With Men
10. Christ's Credentials Seen In Contrasting How He Related To His Enemies And They Toward Him
(John 8:13-58)
  1. Introduction
    1. The way one relates to another with whom he disagrees reveals the degree of righteousness in his heart.
    2. Hence, in John 8:13-58, we can tell from the conflict between Jesus and His enemies who was upright!
    3. Since godly people will act as Jesus did according to 1 John 2:6 and the ungodly like Satan according to John 8:44, this passage reveals how we can tell who is upright and who is not upright in conflicts today:
  2. Christ's Credentials Seen In Contrasting How He Related To His Enemies And They Toward Him:
    1. The Pharisees questioned the credibility of Jesus' testimony of Himself simply because He testified of Himself, revealing a "guilty until innocent" attitude of lovelessness toward Christ, Jn. 8:13. In righteous contrast, Jesus pointed out that His testimony was true because He testified of what He knew of Himself where His enemies did not have that knowledge and thus were making a godless judgment, Jn. 8:14-20.
    2. When Jesus claimed He would go away from His enemies (to heaven), they said to themselves that He would kill Himself in a sinful suicide, Jn. 8:21-22. This loveless slander (cf. also 8:48) was met by Jesus' claim that His opponents were sinful (Jn. 8:21) and would die in their sins separate from Him, 8:22-24. The fact that the Pharisees demonstrated lovelessness and slander reveal Jesus' charge of them was right!
    3. In the conversation, the Pharisees demonstrated ignorance of spiritual truths about which Jesus spoke, Jn. 8:25-30. Well, 1 Corinthians 14-15 shows that spiritual people discern all things where only the carnal are ignorant, revealing Jesus to be at least more upright than His spiritual opponent s in the Pharisees!
    4. The truths Jesus claimed to speak released men from sin where the Pharisees were held in bondage to the sins of hatred, murder and deceit as seen in their lovelessness and slander above, John 8:30-32, 33-45.
    5. Jesus challenged His enemies to finger sin in Himself where His enemies did not make such a challenge, showing they could not do so, Jn. 8:46. This indicates uprightness in Christ as opposed to His enemies.
    6. When the conflict became intense, the Pharisees attempted to kill Jesus, but Jesus miraculously hid Himself and went out of the temple by passing right through their midst, Jn. 8:54-5 8. This contrast in power meant Jesus acted by a more supernatural context than did His enemies, and that fact coupled by His relative uprightness in contrast to theirs indicates that Jesus told the truth as God's Son and promised Messiah!
Lesson: Christ was upright and His opponents' sinful for the conflict between them revealed these characteristics: (a) the Pharisees expressed HATE toward Jesus where He OBJECTIVELY charged His enemies with ignorance; (b) the Pharisees SLAND ERED Jesus where He OBJECTIVELY claimed they were in sin; (c) Jesus KNEW spiritual truths that the Pharisees obviously did NOT know, revealing godliness and carnality respectively; (d) Jesus spoke of RELEASE from sin's BONDAGE where His enemies seemed ENTAN GLED in BITTERNESS toward Him; (e) Jesus transparently CHALLENGED His opponents to define SIN in HIMSELF where His opponents DARED NOT make such a charge due to sin they apparently wished to conceal; (f) Jesus knew God's delivering POWER in His daily experi ences where His opponents LACKED it, showing with the other signs that Jesus was upright and His enemies were not so.

Application: We can tell who is upright and who is carnal in conflict as follows: (a) carnal people express hate and slander where the upright are objective and considerate; (b) carnal people show ignorance of spiritual trut hs where the godly discern all things; (c) godly people are not entangled in bitterness where the carnal can only be bitter; (d) godly people are not threatened by charges of sin where the ungodly dodge such exposure; (e) the godly experience God's powerful , supernatural help in life where the ungodly do not.