Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction

A.     The Savior And the Pharisees (8:12-59)

1.

The Light of the World (8:12-20)

/a)        /The Pharisees’ Challenge—/Your bear witness of Yourself, Your witness is not true (13,19a)/

1)        That Jesus serves as His own witness, therefore making His testimony unacceptable (v.13)

*/“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established./"

(Deuteronomy 19:15, NKJV) *

(a)      /Their Hardheartedness Shows Us Another Reality/.

When Jesus is loved, followed and trusted, He becomes light.

But when He is neglected, He becomes darkness.

(b)      The Wilderness Cloud produced the same effect (Ex.14:19-20)

2)        That He cannot show them His Father (v.19a)

(a)      If you want knowledge of God you can only find it through Him (John 14:6., 9; Col.1:16)   

 

/b)        /Jesus’ Correction—/I am the Light of the world those who follow Me will not walk in darkness (8:12, 14-18, 19b) /

1)        The Feast of Tabernacles (booths).

(a)      First Ceremony: /The pouring out of the water/ (7:37-39)

(b)      Second Ceremony: /The Illumination of the temple/

 

In the center of the treasury four great torches were set up.

Some accounts say that the torches were as high as the highest walls of the temple and that the torches were as high as the highest walls of the temple and at the top of these golden candelabra were great bowls holding sixty-five liters of oil.

There was a ladder for each candelabrum, and in the evening priests would carry the oil up to the top, where they would light the protruding wicks.

The flames that leap out of these torches illumined the whole temple and much of Jerusalem.

The light illuminated the temple area and the people gathered to sing praises and dance.

The light reminded the Jewish people of how God was with them in their wanderings in the wilderness in a pillar of cloud, which turned to fire at night.

2)        *The Cloud In The Wilderness **(Num.

9:15-23).*

(a)      /The Cloud Symbolized God’s Presence (Exodus 13:21-22)./

The presence of God had once filled the Holy of Holies where Christ is now standing!

(b)      /The Cloud Protected His People//./

At this time temperatures could reach 140 or 150 degrees at day, & at night can fall below freezing.

(c)      /The Cloud Guided His People//./

Walking in the light is a matter of following Christ (1 John 1:5-7).

1.

The world is in darkness, a symbol of evil, sin, and ignorance (Matt.

4:16; John 3:19).

2.         “Light” in the Bible is a symbol of God and His holiness (Acts 9:3; 1 John 1:5).

3.         When Jesus said, Whoever follows Me, He meant whoever believes and obeys Him (John 10:4-5, 27; 12:26; 21:19-20, 22).

Jesus was speaking of salvation.

4.         Following Christ is a matter of faithful submission and obedience.

When the joy & the power leave & confusion and weariness set in, lay everything before God and submit.

5.

Ephesians 5:8-14; Philippians 2:14-15; Matt.13:43; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 22:5

6.         “follows” in 8:12 means to “continue and keep on continuing” (John 12:46)    

3)        Jesus says His claims are validated by two witnesses (v.14-17)

(a)      The testimony of Jesus bears Witness (v.18a)

(b)      The testimony of the Father bears witness (v.18b)

4)        Jesus says His accusers cannot know the Father, because they don’t know Him (v.19b)

      

/c)         /It Wasn’t His Time—/No one laid hands on him for his hour had not yet come (v.20)/

 

2.

Dying in Your Sins, or Abiding in Christ (8:21-32)

/a)        /Jesus’ Claims—/Four Claims From Jesus (v.21, 23-24, 25b-26, 28-29)/

1)        He is going away, they will die in their sins, unable to go where He goes (v.21).

/There Are Two Ways To Die According To The Bible/.

q      You may die in the lord: /"Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord… ” (Revelation 14:13, NKJV) /

q      You may die in your sins: to die with the burden of one’s sin upon oneself and, as a result, to be forced to bear the penalty of sin, which is spiritual death (Rom.6:23)

2)        He is from above, they are from below (v.23-24)

(a)      The Pharisees were Spiritually blinded (2Cor.4:4;

Eph.2:1-3).

(b)      But our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20)

(c)      A warning of the fires of Hell (Heb.10:26-31)!

 

3)        He is the Messiah sent from God (v.25b-26)

4)        He will be crucified (v.28-29)

(a)      Three Times “lifted up” is used (3:14-15; 8:28-29; 12:32)

(b)      Many Jews believed On Jesus after His death & ascension, realizing that the One whom they rejected was truly the Messiah (Acts 2:36, 37, 41)

(c)      Looking at the cross is where you will find life!

/b)        /The Confusion—/Will He kill Himself… Who are You…?

They did not understand (v.22,25a, 27)/

1)        The Pharisees do not understand when Jesus says they cannot follow Him (v.22)

(a)      The Jews believe that suicide caused a person to occupy the worst place in hell.

In essence they were saying, “He says we cannot follow Him?

He must be going to Hell then!

And he’s right—we wont be following Him there

2)        “Tell us who You are” (v.25a, 27).

(a)      1 Corinthians 2:14

/c)         /The Path to Freedom—/Many believed in Him (v.30-32)./

1)        A Disciple Is One Who Abides In His Word (V.31)

(a)      /True Discipleship Means: /abiding in His Word (i.e.) welcoming it, being at home with it & living it so continually that it becomes part of the your life, a permanent influence of every area of life, leading to holiness.

1.

Abiding begins with being students of the Word of God (Matt.4:4;

Col.3:16; 2Tim.2:15).

2.         Abiding Continues with the obeying of the Word of God (2 John 9; Rev.2:26; James 1:22) prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

*James 4:17* to one who knows /the /right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

*Luke 6:46-48*  “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?  “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

*Ezekiel 33:31* “They come to you as people come, and sit before you /as /My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires /expressed /by their mouth, /and /their heart goes after their gain.

3.         Samson was meant to be a deliverer but became a slave because he did not abide.

a.         His Birth (Judges 13:1-6, 24-25)      

b.

His Tragedy (Judges 16:20-21)

/ /

2)        The Result of Abiding: Knowing The Truth Shall Make You Free (V.32)

(a)      Romans (6:3,6,9,16) we ought to know we have been set free from sin!

     * *

3.       Freedom or Slavery (8:33-47)

/a)        /The Confusion—/The Jews feel they are free because Abraham was their father (v.33)/    

1)        Jesus was speaking spiritually, they were thinking physically.

2)        All throughout history the Jews had been slaves, in Egypt, Babylon, under the dominion of the Philistines, the Greeks, and now the Romans, they were slaves but would not admit it.

(a)      The first step to spiritual freedom is to recognize our slavery & that we have no power to liberate ourselves.

People today don’t like to be told they are enslaved.

3)        Samson imagined he was the freest of men, & yet he was the greatest slave (Judges 16:20)

(a)      In Samson’s increasing immersion of the world, his sin robbed him of his sensibilities.

(b)      Our lives might be on Shifting Sand & we don’t realize it!

(c)      The path to freedom lies in obeying the Word of God

 

4)        Being Set Free (Salvation) Takes A Personal Surrender To Christ (Philippians 3:3-10).

(a)      A reliance on other things is what prevents people from making a personal surrender to Christ.

Paul thought he had privileges and achievements by his:

1.         Advantages of birth

2.         Accomplishment’s by Self-effort

Thought-how many people think they are acceptable to God because they –