Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20051030.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part XXIV: The Path Of Truly Grasping All Of God's Revealed Truth
(John 8:12-32)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Can we ever be sure we have the right interpretation of a given Bible passage? That is a critically important question today:

(1) Jonathan Sarfati, in his book, Refuting Compromise, p. 32, reveals that the popular Christian apologist and astronomer, Hugh Ross claims: "There are several literal interpretations of Genesis 1.'" Dr. Sarfati notes Ross relies on 2 Peter 3:8 to give a longer timeline than a first reading of Genesis 1 suggests, for it states (KJV): "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day"! In a move that happens to reflect the stand of Clarence Darrow, the lawyer who represented the American Civil Liberties Union at the 1925 Scopes "monkey" trial (B. Davidheiser, Evolution and the Christian Faith, 1969, p. 94-95), Ross claims we should see the Genesis 1 "days" as long eras of many years in harmony with an evolutionary timeline!

Ross' stance leaves one looking to fallible human scientists and not the Holy Spirit to interpret the Genesis 1 timeline, a move that would delight the Scopes trial ACLU-backed lawyer himself!

(2) Hugh Ross is not alone in his view, either; influential Evangelical leaders Norman Geisler and James Dobson have written or touted books that claim the days in Genesis 1 are EITHER solar days OR long ages of time, cf. The Biblical Evangelist, March-April, 2000, p. 15; Answers In Genesis newsletter, September 2000, p. 1-2.

(3) This toleration of uncertainty about Bible interpretations and God's truth has caused even a prominent Evangelical pastor to be uncertain about the doctrine of salvation! When Joel Osteen, pastor of the Lakewood Church of Houston, Texas, the largest Evangelical church in the United States, was pressed by Larry King on his June 20, 2005 talk show to say whether a Muslim or a Jew who had not trusted in Christ could go to heaven, Osteen replied, "Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe here's what the Bible teaches . . . I spent a lot of time in India . . . I don't know about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don't know. I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know . . ." (cited in The Berean Call, July 2005, p. 8)

(4) With such uncertainty in the air on what constitutes the right Bible interpretation or God's truth, no wonder even some Christians have reacted to our Church ministry by saying: "You're too dogmatic!"

Well, CAN we KNOW for SURE WHAT the Bible teaches?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Even some Christians say I can NEVER be SURE I have the RIGHT interpretation' of a given Bible verse! Well, MUST I remain ignorant of some of the Bible's truths, or not? WHY?!"
  1. When Jesus claimed to be the light of the world in John 8:12, He clarified there that He revealed God's BIBLICAL truth that men might not walk in spiritual darkness, but have the light of life:
    1. As we learned, John 7:53-8:11 was added by another author after John had penned his Gospel, cf. Bruce M. Metzger, A Text. Com. on the Grk. N. T., 1971, p. 219-222; Jesus' words in John 8:12 thus respond to the John 7:52 claim by Jerusalem's religious leaders that the Old Testament did NOT show Messiah would be associated with Galilee.
    2. Thus, in effect, Jesus' response of John 8:12 affirmed He as the true Messiah and Son of God was the Great Light of the world that would shine forth out of Galilee as had been predicted in Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7!
    3. Well, in that Old Testament prophecy's context, in Isaiah 8:19-22, the Messiah is shown coming to give insight to those in Galilee who had turned from Scripture wickedly to seek insight from spirit mediums!
    4. Thus, Jesus' claim in John 8:12 in its actual Old Testament context shows Jesus clarified He revealed God's BIBLICAL truth in the flesh that men need not walk in darkness, but have God's light of life!
  2. In RESPONSE to Jesus' claim, many of His hearers showed they stayed in spiritual DARKNESS REGARDLESS if Jesus was that life-giving Source, for they REFUSED to TRUST in Him, 8:13-27:
    1. Many who did not trust in Jesus repeatedly countered His words in John 8:13-22, 25-27 showing they were remaining in spiritual darkness regardless if He was God's Great Light of Biblical insight.
    2. Jesus accordingly declared His unbelieving hearers remained in sin for their failure to believe in Him, John 8:23-24.
  3. However, in John 8:28-30, SOME of His hearers placed at least a TOKEN faith in Jesus; He then told them HOW they could SURELY UNDERSTAND the TRUTH He spoke to them, 8:31-32:
    1. Speaking to those who placed a token faith in Him, Jesus promised that were they to "continue" (KJV) in His word, they would be His disciples, and would know the sin-liberating truth, Jn. 8:31-32, 34-36.
    2. To discern WHAT is involved in this process of gaining spiritual insight, we view Jesus' words in John 8:31-32 in detail as follows:
      1. The verb "continue" (KJV) ["hold" NIV or "abide" ESV] is from meinayte in the Greek text, and this verb in such a context is later clarified by Jesus in a similar context in John 15:7, 10 to mean obeying Christ's words, U. B. S. Greek N. T., 1966 ed., p. 357, 390-391; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to John 15:4.
      2. So, as a result of obeying Jesus' words, those who believed in Him would "know" (KJV, NIV, ESV) or understand the truth:
        1. The verb, "know" is written in the middle voice, meaning the disciple who heeded Christ's words would participate in the results of his insight, which results would be important for the welfare of the one gaining the insight, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T., p. 357; Zondervan's The Analytical Grk. Lex., p. 81; Dana & Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Grk. N. T., 1957, p. 157.
        2. In the John 8 context, what the one coming to such knowledge would gain to his benefit would be liberation from sin, 8:32b!
        3. Now, the word "know" is from ginosko in the Greek text, a verb meaning in this context of gaining the awareness that the blind folk in the context did not have -- the awareness that Jesus was from God and would return to Him, cf. John 8:18-19, 27.
      3. In summary, Jesus taught that WERE His hearers who had begun to shows at least a token faith in Him to come to the point of HEEDING His words and BELIEVE IN Him for salvation from sin (cf. John 8:24 with 8:12), for their own benefit, they would become Christ's TRUE disciples in UNDERSTANDING for their OWN EXPERIENTIAL BLESSING what Christ meant in His words regarding His coming from and also returning to the Father!
      4. Since Jesus directed such commands to "abide" (meinayte) or heed His words to His truly believing disciples in John 15:1-10, we can broaden this application to US CHRISTIANS as follows: were we who truly believe in Christ actually to HEED His words in our Christian lives, we would ALSO EXPERIENTIALLY UNDERSTAND His Biblical truth to our great BLESSING!
Application: In order FULLY to GRASP ALL of God's Bible truths, (1) may we TRUST in Jesus as Savior from sin; (2) then, as His TRUE disciples, may we by God's power HEED what we KNOW His Word tells us (Gal. 5:16, 1 John 2:3), and (3) He will give us FULL UNDERSTANDING of ALL His Scripture truths!

Lesson: The Bible truth Jesus EMBODIED is UNDERSTANDABLE for ALL who (1) trust in Him for salvation and (2) who OBEY what they KNOW Scripture directs of them in their lives. (3) God will SURELY give them UNDERSTANDING on ALL His Biblical truth, John 16:13.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 (1) In our introduction, we told how the pastor of the largest Evangelical Church in our country had said on the Larry King Live show he was not sure if faith in Christ was necessary to go to heaven.

Yet, if we submit to the Bible so as to let it clarify the issue, we see Scripture DOGMATICALLY clears up all uncertainty expressed by Reverend Joel Osteen in John 3:36 KJV where it asserts: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him."

(2) Also, in our introduction, we told how Christian apologist and astronomer, Hugh Ross says there are several literal interpretations of Genesis 1, and that one of them lets him take "day" in Genesis 1 to be an age of millions of years; that lets Ross teach God used evolution to create in harmony with a long timeline. Like the ACLU-backed lawyer at the Scopes "monkey" Trial of decades ago, Ross happens to use 2 Peter 3:8 to make the word, "day" in Genesis 1 be an age of millions of years to harmonize Genesis 1 with a timeline of long eras.

(a) Yet, Scripture itself DOGMATICALLY eliminates all but one interpretation here: the Hebrew text's word for "night" in Genesis 1:5 (layil or laylah ) is combined with the word, "day" (yom) there, which combination appears 53 times elsewhere in the Old Testament, and every one of those other times it "unambiguously means the dark portion of a 24-hour cycle." (Ibid., Sarfati, p. 82) Since the daylight is called "Day" by God in Genesis 1:5 (KJV), and together the "Night" and "Day" there are said respectively to constitute "an evening" and "a morning," the "first day" in Genesis 1:5 KJV can only be a solar day.

(b) Then, the same words "evening" and "morning" are used to depict the other 5 days in Genesis 1, so all of them must be solar days!

(c) As for 2 Peter 3:8, Peter used a figure of speech known as a simile where he makes logical sense ONLY if a "day" there does NOT EQUAL "a thousand years," and all to convey the idea that God is very long-suffering with sinful, unbelieving men, cf. 2 Peter 3:9!

There is ONE right interpretation of Genesis 1's timeline, one where its "days" are 6 solar days of special divine creation!



So, if we TRUST in Christ and HEED His WORD on even INTERPRETING ITSELF, we will UNDERSTAND the Bible!