Continuing in our series exegeting the Gospel of John through the lens of discernment...

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John Chapter Eight

¹ but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴ they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" ⁶ This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷ And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." ⁸ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" ¹¹ She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."]]

As we start the eight chapter of John's gospel, we find the familiar story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. As we examine this in the light of discernment, we see two competing interests at play that still persist today. What we should be concerning ourselves with and what we prefer to distract ourselves with. Verse two makes it clear what Jesus wants our focus to be on when He sat down and taught them. There were no gemstones, gold dust, angel feathers or glory clouds. There were no signs that make you wonder as Bill Johnson likes to absurdly say. There were no bells and whistles. No grandiose sermon illustrations that divert our attention away from the only thing that matters - being taught by Jesus. And how does Jesus teach us today? Through His word. Not topically deciding what we want covered. Not interjecting our biases or politics into it. He sat down and taught them. This dynamic is sorely lacking in the church today as most people leave church entertained to the hilt but taught either very poorly or not at all. We get the smoke machines and emotionally driven worship songs about how great we are. We get the insistence that God wants us all rich beyond our dreams of avarice or healthy always and forever. We get the sideshow, the pomp, the circumstance. We get the braggadocios tales of "whoa" for what the church has done or thinks it has done. Then the little sermonette designed to not teach us anything substantive about God and Christ. Maybe a sermon on how significant we are or how to improve our marriage. Maybe some narcigesis about how that was really us in the Valley of Elah slaying our Goliath. But not "taught." Sure there may be scripture fragments designed to slap a patina of piety on what is otherwise coordinated quasi-religious indoctrination. The result is a church that is woefully uninformed about the actual teachings of Jesus Christ and what it should mean for us as His followers.

The contrast we see is that the Pharisees decide to test Him and what better way than to focus on someone else's sin. What better way than to make us feel self-righteous. To make us feel like "at least I am not them." We see this in parable of the publican and the Pharisee from Luke's gospel:

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed[a] thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." - Luke 18:9-14 (ESV)

The Pharisees were the false teachers of the age when Jesus walked the earth. They were no better than the tax collector in this parable and in many ways much worse because they had convinced themselves that their collective darkness was actually light. Jesus says, how deep is that darkness. The prideful stance of believing in our heart that at least we are not like extortioners, the unjust, or adulterers when that is exactly who we all are before a holy God. To avoid having to look at his own sin, he focused on the sins of the man praying beside them. So it was, so it still goes. That is what we see here in the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Does this minimize her sin? Of course not. Jesus' punch line was neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. We see this rampant in NAR preaching and teaching today. We are given a foil. Someone to look down on. Someone to hold in contempt to avoid holding ourselves in that same contempt. We are sold the evil leftists, or the sinners of the unsaved world, or those that might vote democrat. Or those that may choose to not vote at all. Or we are lured into hating the immigrant. They are all murders and rapists even though most are just trying to survive. We are told other groups are secretly eating our pets, and we buy it. Reposting and retweeting dehumanizing content designed to exalt ourselves as at least not being "them." Just look at how Jesus forces them to confront what? Their own sin. What we all need to be focused on. This is not about excusing sinful behavior but rather saying - neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. THAT is the gospel. Not, well, we really should stone this person.

¹² Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." ¹³ So the Pharisees said to him, "You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true." ¹⁴ Jesus answered, "Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. ¹⁶ Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father^[a] who sent me. ¹⁷ In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. ¹⁸ I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me." ¹⁹ They said to him therefore, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also." ²⁰ These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

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."

Why do you not understand what I say? Because you cannot bear to hear my word. Wow. This is what is happening every day in the apostate church system. Joel Osteen cites Romans 4 as if it says that we can speak things into existence despite it saying God speaks things into existence. He does this because he does not abide in the word, he does not understand it, and he cannot bear to hear it. The prosperity hucksters abuse the bible to fleece the flock, such as Robert Morris who claimed God will curse your money unless you give him 10% first because he does not abide in His word, he does not understand it, and he cannot bear to hear it. The four horsemen idiots of the demon slayer apocalypse (Saldivar, Signorelli, Savchuk and Pagani) all pretend Christians can be possessed by demons because they are so busy selling their grift, that they cannot bear to hear what God's word actually says. Bill Johnson teaches gold dust, gemstones, glory clouds and angel feathers as signs that make you wonder because he does not abide in the word and cannot bear to hear it. False prophets like Troy Black pretend God speaks in vague sentence fragments because he does not abide in His word and cannot bear to hear it. This is the exact definition of false teaching today. They are professional hucksters and liars because their father is the father of lies. That is his character, which means he only speaks lies. There is no truth. There is no abiding. It is also why they hate and rail against discernment ministries so much - because they cannot bear to hear the true word of God. Why? Because it exposes them as the liars they are.

⁴⁸ The Jews answered him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" ⁴⁹ Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." ⁵² 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.' ⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?" ⁵⁴ 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.'^{[c] 55} 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. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad." ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?"^{[d] 58} Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." ⁵⁹ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

I am going to make an interesting comparison to what we see rampant today in the apostate church. That is to reflexively refer to anything we dislike as demonic. Jesus is trying to explain to them who He is in relation to the Father but they were having none of it. Jesus represented a threat to their power and control here on earth over the false religion they had established. For that threat they accused Him of having a demon. We see this today as well. When Bicklegate first broke out, the defenders of IHOP, which is itself demonic, accused the victims of being tools of Satan. They accused the advocates for the victims of demonic activity. When Dr. Brown's accusation first emerged he sent a fundraising email claiming his ministry was under demonic attack. When we see false prophets and teachers try to answer their false teaching and that they clearly do not abide in the word, the accusation is always demonic influence. It is an intellectual and spiritual laziness that drives it because it is a useful foil to wield against righteous judgment that their followers can use to easily dismiss any charges. Instead of answering the charges, the easy answer is well, they must have a demon. We saw this when Heather Schott interviewed Dr. Brown to give him cover. The panel was constantly pretending that the issue was not about Dr. Brown and how he abused his position of spiritual authority with two different women but rather that it was a larger macro issue within the body of Christ due to demonic influence. Contrast the reaction of the religious leaders to the woman at the well. Jesus used words of knowledge to show who He was and said that He had the water that would result in her never thirsting. She believed the words of Jesus. Here he is telling the Pharisees if anyone keeps His word they will never see death and they did not believe. They could not bear to hear His words because they did not truly abide in the word of God. They used it to further their own carnality and the fiefdom they had established on this earth. This is why we see things like the Elder Accountability Team dismiss the Firefly conclusion that Dr. Brown committed clergy sexual abuse and shuffled him right back into ministry. They have a fiefdom here on earth. The Charismaniacal machine wanted Dr. Brown back in business and thus they could not bear to hear the word regarding ministerial disqualification. The bible says that and elder must not be open to the charge of debauchery and must be above reproach? Nah, that's for suckers. Like children plugging their ears and saying "nanana" I can't hear you, they would not bear to listen to what God's word has said. Just easier to leverage verse snippets, create an air of faux-piety and label dissent as a divisive or demonic spirit. As it was, so it goes"

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.