The words here are simple yet we often miss it. I am the light of the world and whoever follows me will not walk in darkness. Period, full stop. We can glean two very simple lessons here. Those that are not following Jesus are walking in darkness. Do we get that? They cannot see. They are blinded by the world and unfortunately by the apostate church that does not have any light themselves. We have so dumbed down salvation that most in church today are in all likelihood still not saved. This most recently can be traced back to Rick Warren, who has done more damage to the cause of Christ than anyone in the last century. How? First of all, his purpose driven church has served as a manual for up and coming preachers to create these cult of personality apostate churches. It taught them that they are the CEO and not the shepherd. It taught them that the sheep are irrelevant and could be blessedly subtracted without worry. Ten years after that he put out The Purpose Driven Life for the congregants and sold them on a nine word faux-salvation prayer that is essentially used to this day. Instead of being focused on the individual, they are focused on "growing the church." This is accomplished by sacrificing the actual gospel on the altar of church building expediency. So the altar calls today are performative, with church operatives sprinkled in the crowd to come forward and manipulate others to do the same. Sin may or may not be mentioned but it is not in a substantive manner after a sermon where sin was never mentioned and no one was really taught anything. It is selling community, not salvation and the result is a community of likeminded unsaved people who have been promised heaven for ten percent of the income and a SHAPE application to find their God ordained purpose servicing in the Parking Lot ministry. That is why the average time someone spends in a mega-church is three years. They figure out by then they have been hoodwinked and now in all likelihood, blame God, themselves, and the church. They remain in darkness because they have never come into the light. The other salient point here is that we judge according to our flesh. We judge according to our utter carnality. We use the bible to find excuses to support our pre-formed bias, as we saw in the woman caught in adultery and here when the Pharisees use the scripture about witnesses to try and dismiss God standing directly in their midst.
21 So he said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come." 22 So the Jews said, "Will he kill himself, since he says, 'Where I am going, you cannot come'?" 23 He said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins." 25 So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him." 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him." 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
An important point here is the final verse. Even though the established religious leaders of the day insisted that Jesus was not who He said He was, many believed in Him. Why? How? As He was saying these things. As He was teaching them and claiming who He was, many believed in Him. Despite the rulers of the day being opposed. This speaks to the immutable power of the words of Jesus. This speaks to the awesome power contained in His word. This speaks to the preeminence of scripture in our lives. It is why we do right to focus on the word and dismiss anything that does not submit itself to the word. We see one of the more pernicious branches of the apostate church is experiential Christianity. We see this highly promoted by the likes of Bethel Church who raises our own personal experience to the level of scripture as opposed to submitting our experience to the word for verity's sake. I tell the story all the time of when I was "slain on the spirit" at a prayer service years ago when I had just lost someone close to me. Years later as I grew in the word I realized this was an unbiblical practice so I had to examine what happened that night and had to bend my conclusions of my experience to the word of God. I was very emotional that night and had an emotional response, not a spiritual one. Did God minister to me nonetheless? Absolutely, but I was not slain, because the bible says I was not slain. That is what we are supposed to do with our experiences. Hold them up to the light of God's word and test everything. People used to ask me when I preached why I would use 30+ scriptures. My answer was simple. There is nothing I am going to say that will set anyone free or make anyone believe. Only God's word has that power.
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 33 They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?" 34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave[b] to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father."
The first point here is the word abide. We are called to abide in His word. To live in His word. Why? Because as I just said, only His word has the power to set anyone free. This freedom first is in regards to salvation but His word is not a one trick pony. The world is constantly trying to lie to us and it finds a very willing partner in our wickedly deceitful hearts. Only the word can free us from these lies. Just the other day I did a review of an interview with Jesus Culture's worship leader Kim Walker-Smith, from Bethel Church originally. In it I discussed and played her testimony that she always told the impressionable youth that would attend the Jesus Culture events. In it, she is whisked away to the throne room in a waking visitation from Jesus and meets the Father, face to face. It is only because of how poorly she was taught and her deceitful heart that she did not properly dismiss this as impossible. The bible makes it very clear that no one can see the Father and live - period. She could have been set free from this lie if she abided in His word. Instead she has recounted this fairy tale to thousands upon thousands of kids. So, the question for all of use today is does His word truly find any place within us? Or do we use it to manipulate and confirm the bias we already have? I recently did a podcast on Kenneth Copeland's grandson who wanted his congregation to pay for his private jet plane. He leveraged 2Timothy 3:16-17:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God[a] may be complete, equipped for every good work. - 2Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
He focused solely on the second half of the verse and claimed the luxury jet was so that he would be "equipped." This is of course absurd as the verse is clearly speaking about the bible equipping us but he had no place for the word of God within him. There is a vast difference between teaching the word of God, abiding in it, and using it for your own carnal ends.
39 They answered him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 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. 41 You are doing the works your father did." They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father-- even God." 42 Jesus said to them, "If God were 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. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 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. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God."
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