John 8 (2)

John chapter 8 please. Now we read the full chapter last evening. I don't think we'll be doing that tonight.

I want to try and be sure to wrap up in good time. The chapter begins with that occasion when the opposers, those that were after the Lord Jesus, desiring that he be put to death, sought to find a legal basis on which they could charge him and find a reason within their legal parameters to see him found guilty and put to death. And they brought that woman that was taken in adultery and sought to trip him up.

And we looked at that last night, hopefully saw something of its relevance to us here today as well. And then from there down from verses 12, pretty well we wrapped up I think last night at verse 27 or there. And the Lord Jesus gave us that second I am that is recorded in John's gospel.

I am the light of the world. We saw how that would relate to the very woman who had been taken in adultery. Now that she would follow him, we see as well then the relevance of it to us today and even a basis for preaching the gospel for those that are just lost in this world in the darkness of this age without a savior.

How it should speak to their hearts too. Then we looked at the record of Christ. If you've got the outline there in front of you under the heading I am the light of the world.

He bore witness of himself so the religious leaders thought. And then he brought it down to show the distinction in destinies. Where he was going, they could not come.

And then he showed that the basis for even that argument was based on the fact that there was a distinction in their origins. He was from above, they were from beneath, they were of the world, he was not of the world. And the conclusion of that really I take it is the overriding theme if you would for the rest of the chapter.

That if a person refuses to recognize, to believe the distinction both in origins of persons he compared to all men and thus the destiny that is before them, they will die in their sins. The consequence of refusing to believe the distinction. So let's begin reading just from that note from verse 24 and we'll read to the close of the chapter.

I said therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins for if you believe not that I am if you believe not that I am the eternal, the son of the father, ye shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. He has constantly said things that speak of his relationship with the father.

So therefore he's the son of the father, the eternal son of the eternal father. And not only has spoken that way but he has demonstrated it in the works, the miracles that he has done. Verse 26.

I have many things to say and to judge of you but he that sent me is true and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. And so that statement really carries with it a tremendous sense of mercy. We saw last night that it really echoes what the Savior said to Nicodemus in chapter 3 and verse 17 where he says that God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.

And so the Lord Jesus speaks to those men and says I've got a lot to say and I could judge you at this point but it isn't happening. It's not the will of the father at this point in this first advent in the he that sent me is true and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. So just in a summary statement the Lord tells us that he was there for the blessing of men not their condemnation.

Verse 27. They understood not that he spake to them of the father. So it seems from John's comment then not just in their dark unbelief but there is a sincere or genuine maybe I should put it because sincerity I don't think is on their part there is a genuine misunderstanding of what he's saying.

But we're going to see tonight that what was introduced in chapter 7 17 is going to be revisited by the Lord. Why don't they understand and hopefully we'll be able to get a feel for that. Let's read then from verse 28 to the end.

Then said Jesus unto them when you have lifted up the son of man then shall you know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself but as my father has taught me I speak these things and he that sent me is with me. The father has not left me alone for I do always those things that please him. As he spake these words many believed on him.

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him if you continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered him we be Abraham's see and were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou you shall be made free. Jesus answered them verily verily I say unto you whosoever commits sin is a servant of sin and the servant abideth not in the house forever but the son abideth ever.

If the son therefore shall make you free you ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham's seed but ye seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my father and you do that which you have seen with your father.

They answered and said unto him Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them if ye were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham but now ye seek to kill me a man that has told you the truth which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham you do the deeds of your father.

Then said they to him we be not born we have one father even God. Jesus saith unto them if God were your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of myself but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech even because you cannot hear my word.

Ye of your father the devil and the loss of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of that is out from his own for he is a liar and the father of it.

Because I tell you the truth you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of sin and if I say the truth why do you not believe me. He that is of God hearth God's words ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God.

Then answered the Jews and said unto him say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil a demon. Jesus said unto them I have not a devil but I honor my father and ye do dishonor me. And I seek not mine own glory there is one that seeketh and judges.

Verily verily I say unto you if a man keep my saying he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him now we know that thou hast a devil Abraham is dead and the prophets and now sayest of a man keep my saying he will never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham which is dead and the prophets are dead whom makest thou thyself.

Jesus answered if I honor myself my honor is nothing it is my father that honoreth me of whom you say that he is your God. Yet ye have not known him but I know him and if I should say I know him not I shall be a liar like unto you but I know him and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad.

Then said the Jews unto him thou art not yet 50 years old and hast thou seen Abraham. Jesus said unto them verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by.

Again as we have mentioned earlier the other evenings is one of those chapters that we have those little portions and I wouldn't call them tidbits because they're very significant parts but there are those verses that have become well well used we're not gonna say overused just well used we're familiar with them but it's nice when you have the occasion then to look at the overall context in the setting where they're found and to get even a better feel perhaps than what we might have had in the past as to how relevant they were to the occasion and that would enhance our appreciation even the more of the Lord Jesus. So if we pick up then on the outline if you have it there in front of you verse 37 to 47 behavior demonstrates distinct relations. The Lord Jesus had spoken of the distinction and destinies where I am there you cannot come.

He has been very clear about the distinction in origins I'm from above you are from beneath you're of this world I'm not of this world and now we're going to be seeing how the behavior of the individual demonstrates the distinct relationship in which they are found and that takes us down at least to try and divide it up to verse 47. The principle as we've said of John 7 17 will be revisited introduced at least in verses 30 to 32 but there are other mentions of it. Genuine freedom is declared by the Lord Jesus what it really means to be free and then in the third section there verses 37 to 47 natural roots and spiritual realities.

What they claimed as to their standing and the spiritual reality of their that the Lord Jesus would identify. Then that closing section that we often think about is a real cause for worship 48 to 59 it's the what I would refer to simply just for reference tonight the final exchange in the temple and there is the subject of being demon possessed or divine in origin and then that last section Abraham's joy Abraham's joy in the great I am. They understood not verse 27 that he spoke to them of the father.

Verse 28 still I must confess in some good measure puzzles me. Then he said unto them when you have lifted up the son of man and we appreciate that that expression lifted up as the Lord Jesus even uses he spoke to Nicodemus in chapter three about the serpent being lifted up even so much the son of man be lifted up it is referring particularly then to the cross and the savior says when you've lifted me up then you'll know that I am dropping the he as we know it's added by the translators to try and make it a good grammatical English sentence but he is implying something will become particularly evident when the crucifixion takes place to what extent these individuals any of them listening to him that day might enter into the blessing of that may seem a little I'm uncertain about it but we know the likes of a Roman centurion who oversaw the crucifixion the actual hanging of the Lord Jesus on that cross he will stand and viewing that scene will say truly this was a righteous man truly this is the son of God so there was that man as to the religious leaders I confess I am still a little bit puzzled the expression may then as well sweep in as John 13 does when you know we read there the Lord's Day morning Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he would go to the father and the term our initially takes in his willing submission to the evil desires of men to put him to death but it also from John 13 obviously takes in the resurrection and the ascension to heaven so there might be a sense and when the Lord Jesus said this when you have lifted me up then you'll know that I am that the aftermath of crucifixion his resurrection and his eventual ascension might even be the means of persuading some to actually genuinely acknowledge who he was because we do know that in the book of the acts that there were a number of priests who finally after all to use expression after all was said and done did acknowledge with faith who he was and that he was their Lord so there might be something of that in that verse 29 and he that sent me is with me the father has not left me alone for I do always those things that please him this behavior demonstrates distinct relations as distinct as their origin and destinies were the Lord Jesus can very clearly time and time again speak about his behavior being consistent with what the father has purpose for him to do so that he can say in summary I do always those things that please him so what the savior was doing very aptly and completely was demonstrating his relationship with God in heaven he was the son the eternal son of the eternal father and it says there in verse 30 as he spake these words many believed on him you know you wish you could just leave the period there and conclude wow isn't that something but you'll know as we had was it back there in chapter 7 that there was those that observed things that he was saying and he had done and there was a sense of believing but that's kind of left dubious just like at the close of chapter 2 when he was at the Passover and it says that many believed on him but he didn't commit himself to them because he knew what was in man so there was that as we suggested perhaps this logical faith that really didn't carry with it wakening of sin the sense of repentance and then finding rest by faith in the Lord Jesus so when it says here many believed on him look at how the Lord Jesus responded to them and again distinction in relationship was demonstrated or defined by behavior and so he said in verse 34 31 rather then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him if ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed so they could believe something that he was saying or doing at the moment and maybe make some sense of acknowledgement but the reality of it was going to be seen from that point on and how they lived and this is a as I was suggesting as the revisiting of the principle of chapter 7 verse 17 I'm just going to turn back and read it if any man will do his the will that's of the man that sent or rather of sent him he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak out of myself whether I'm self-sourced sourced in my messages or whether I'm speaking in harmony with God who he professed to have sent him and so the same idea now unfolds he says if you continue in my words not God's words but my words then it will be evident that you are truly a disciple of me so the relationship would be demonstrated by their behavior what's he say after that and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free I would take it in the immediate setting and the persons that he's speaking to then that that would introduce the idea that you'd be totally free from any pharisaical influence of unjust imposition of law plus whatever they would add to the law you would be free from it all but as he'll demonstrate you'll be free from the power of sin and this is what and as again we've said at different times the Lord knew where every conversation where every exchange was going because soon as he introduces this subject of freedom wham does it ever open up an extension of the debate if you would want to use a term of one or the other some would use the term argument their response immediately verse 33 we be abraham seed we are the offspring of abraham and we're never in bondage to any man how sayest thou he shall be made free in my bible that i often use just for some preliminary work when studying a passage and um i don't care what kind of a pen i have in my hand i'm i feel free to write in that one with any old ink i don't do that in my good bible um i have written over this verse how soon we forget how soon we forget either they were willfully distorting their history or they were truly at the moment demonstrating that expression how soon we forget because they had been in bondage in egypt abraham seed they had been under the bondage of babylon when they were taken into captivity and there may be others you can talk about the assyrians or whatever i would just kind of lump that i guess into the babylonian idea but there were those portions of their history that the old testament scriptures had recorded and where were they living at that time they were living under the domination of rome as a people how soon we forget we've never been in bondage we're abraham seed we're free jesus answered them verse 34 truly truly or very rarely i send you whoever commits sin is the bond slave of sin now from a human perspective as i said the lord jesus knew where every conversation was going so he had introduced the idea of the truth of god setting a person free and if you allow me to put it this way they took the bait i think they grabbed hold of that one and they swung the door wide open and he went from you might say genealogical freedom to spiritual bondage he might have tried to claim freedom as the seed of abraham but now he goes right to the point the person that commits sin is the bond slave of sin in verse 35 he picks up an analogy and he says the servant abides not in the house forever but the son abides ever and claiming to be abraham seed they were implying then they had freedom as those that were occupants of the house of abraham but he said no we're not talking about where your genetic roots are we're talking about spiritual things and sin makes a person a slave and you might think yourself to be in this privileged house but if we're going to put you in the house we put you there in the analogy as the slave not as a free person because you're not a son is what he was really saying so i personally would take it though my bible and i think probably most king james versions the editors put a capital on the word son in verse 35 um i'm not sure that that was necessary as i was saying and we've got an analogy they're slaves in the house there's a son in the house and the two things are absolutely polar opposites the slave could be done with in at any time terminated in whatever way whether put to death for for disobedience and rebellion or just dismissed and sent away to another or sold to somebody but the son of the family he's there secure in the house then he just jumps from the analogy to the son i think we can obviously say that in verse 36 if he makes you free then you are free indeed isn't that tremendous um the son would have the authority in that house to make the slave free free from sin truly truly free verse 37 then as we continue into this last part of this section when we look at natural roots and spiritual realities he says so i know you are abraham's seed that's there's no question about your genealogy but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you and again that falls under that same principle of if they do the will of god then they will know that his teaching was from god but he says so i know where you come from but you seek to kill me why does that because you haven't received my word you've given it no place you've dismissed what i teach which is from god and you persist in disobedience to the revealed will of god of the old testament law with the ambition of putting me to death verse 38 i speak that what i have seen with my father and you do that which is seen with your father i know where you come by by genetic roots but what you're doing demonstrates the relationship that you're truly in you are doing the things that you have seen with your father hasn't told them who that is yet verse 39 39 the answer instead of that abraham is our father how many times as if you could almost hear them saying like a parent going after the child how many times i have to tell you abraham is our father jesus said to them if you were abraham's children you would do the works of abraham he says you're what you're the way the way you're reacting to me is demonstrating that you have no relationship not genetically but spiritually with abraham you remember how the book of romans in chapter 4 tells us that he is the father of all them that believe life by faith in christ stands in distinction to those who know nothing of christ it's really to speak to our own hearts as we look at the circumstance of this chapter if you were abraham's children you would do the works of abraham but now you seek to kill me verse 40 a man that has told you the truth which i have heard from actually the word of there could even be rendered by god beside god and it's just a a word that gives us this little glimpse into the the very um uh place of the lord jesus in the father's at the father's side from the very side of the father of god in heaven he has heard and he has spoken those things that people hear just another little uh emphatic statement as to his uniqueness his behavior demonstrating the distinct relationship in which he was verse 40 i have told you the truth i have heard this did not abraham what you're doing verse 41 you do the deeds of your father then they said to him we be not born of fornication we have one father even god now we when i say we often generally the statement we be not born of fornication may very well have been a slam from them regarding the roots humanly speaking of the lord jesus mary being unmarried still not joined to joseph when it was obvious that she was bearing a child so they may have been a this may have been a slam as to his earthly beginnings but yet i appreciated what mr barns a commentator uh said of this when we see the the juxtaposition as it were where it stands relative to the next comment uh this may very well have actually been a spiritual statement on their part we're not born of fornication we have one father and this time they're not claiming relation to abraham they're going right straight to god if they were saying about the lord jesus that you were born of fornication that you were illegitimate and that yet they switch over and go to a spiritual relationship on their part the two things don't add up it may very well be as some have suggested in particular mr barns when you go back into the old testament there are several times when idol worship by particularly than the people of israel is equated with an illegitimate birth relationship it's equated with fornication rather than genuine relationship and so when they said we're not we don't have a standing that is linked to uh illegitimate worship of idols or whatever we actually are related to god as father it's genuine they were trying to persuade the lord with this claim so that's just a thought to consider in the context to my mind it makes sense but jesus said in the number 42 god if god were your father you would love me i can ask myself as i would ask you tonight dear soul do you have love for the lord jesus you say boy i wish i loved him more well that's not the question though is it is there a genuine sense of affection for him is god your father he says then why don't you love me um an amazing thing when by the indwelling of the holy spirit an individual that once was lost to god suddenly knows god as father um i don't know if i've ever mentioned this here before but it was a um a very distinct experience for me i had maybe been saved i'm going to say two days or so and i was 21 years old when i was saved so this might help lend some relevance to this comment 21 uh if you'd known me in those few years before god saved me you would have had no thought or recognition that i came from a christian family so about two days after i remember saying good night to my mother and father and going up to the bedroom and getting down beside the bed and the first word that came out of my mouth was father and i remember now it's still quite vivid my head actually snapped up from the bed where i was bowed and it's like i was asking myself what did you just say because in contrast our contrast to that a few months before when engaged in the the the obsession of my life at that time dirt bikes motocross racing and i'd gone off the track after an impact with another motorcycle and had broken my leg very severely and when i dropped the motorcycle and then fell onto the ground and realized what had happened to my leg i lay on my back looking at a clear blue sky and i said oh god no and i wasn't cursing i wasn't swearing i wasn't i was speaking to the one i knew who was in heaven but all i knew him was as god and i realized that he had intervened in my life in that incident but that night two days or so approximately after coming to no crisis i bowed at the bed and i started to pray the first word that came out of my mouth was father and it shook me and i have my word i actually know god is my father the lord jesus said if god were your father you'd love me i proceeded forth and came from god neither came i of myself it wasn't just of my own volition he sent me so there's this tremendous harmony of the eternal father with the eternal son and the commission is given and the mission if you would unfolds and he sent out sent out to as we said there back in chapter 1 and verse 18 that tremendous truth the son in the bosom of the father he has declared him to make god known in the very person of the son a man moving amongst men so verse 43 why do you not understand my speech and this is that principle the lord jesus keeps coming back to it because if these men will not receive his word they're going to be lost forever why don't you re understand my speech because you cannot hear my words why because you're not obeying the word of god what god has revealed they refused we'll kill this man nicodemus stands up with legal defense and says we can't do it you can't put a man to death until you hear him they dismiss it they try to trap him says you can't hear me because you do not have the word abiding in you verse 44 the natural roots and spiritual realities you are of your father the devil and that word devil then there is not the same what they will charge him as being possessed of a demon this is that word diabolos which is the slanderer the treacherous one the deceiver you are of your father the devil and the loss of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning and a vote not in the truth a murderer from the beginning how how was that well we know that by his treachery by his deceit in his uh first approaching eve and all that unfolded that day in the fall in the garden he brought man into first spiritual death separated from god and then eventually as the chapters unfold in genesis adam died all because of satan the treacherous one the one who's a slanderer who really slandered god right from the get-go hath god said he says you're of your father the devil from the beginning a murderer he bowed not in the truth because there's no truth in him when he speaks a lie he speaks from himself the lord jesus has said i'm not speaking from myself i my message isn't self sourced i get it from the father but satan everything he ever says is from him why because he is the father of lies he is a liar and the father of it because i tell you the truth verse 45 you believe me not which of you convinces me of sin and if i say the truth why do you not believe me he that is of god hears god's words so those that had placed faith in god will continue to be noted as ones who respond who hear and respond to god's words now i don't say that i don't and in this context the lord jesus is not saying it for the sense of there are times when a believer may have what we would maybe call gray times in their experience it's not so definitively black and white but this is the way he's speaking now black and white behavior defines or demonstrates the distinct relationship in which you're found natural roots don't surprise don't um aren't sufficient spiritual realities are seen in the behavior and the allegiance if you would of the individual and the lord jesus is just saying you're either of god or you're of satan which place are you found in so the last section you need to spend several minutes with this it's precious verses 48 to 59 the final exchange in the temple chapter seven that we looked at lord's day and monday evening as we saw took place by and large over at least eight days what we've been looking at here takes place over just several hours um it was coming up to the feast of tabernacles in and so they would make their journey up to arrive there for the commencement of it so did they go up a day early i would assume so and then there was the seven days of the feast and that great day the eighth day that's added on when everything would be summed up as it were and they would disperse so there could have been maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of possibly nine days in chapter seven so all that's recorded there what we've been looking at in chapter eight as they say just covers really several hours early in the morning he came into the temple the people came to him he sat down and he taught they brought in early that morning the woman without the man as we looked at last night caught in the act of adultery tried to use her as a trap to ensnare the lord jesus and then unfolds this conversation just a matter of hours tremendous things that were said in a chapter really that's even longer than that of chapter seven so it begins at the close then answered the jews and said unto him say we not well are we not doing well and saying you are a samaritan and hast a demon to say he was a samaritan was probably about as low as you could go it was a claim then he was in a sense a half-breed as far as jew and gentile mixture would go it was to say that he had no claim to being in a relationship with god as he had been speaking and that he really had no spiritual standing at all but not only that he was possessed by a demon jesus answered remember last night we quoted as has been the handed on over how many voices bill lavery's father the lord jesus didn't necessarily answer the question he answered the questioner did we not say well you are a samaritan has the demon and he said i have not a demon he didn't even touch the samaritan thing it wasn't part of the argument whatsoever i honor my father and you do dishonor me by their very statement the lord jesus says you dishonor me because my life honors the father so he's digging again deep into the consciousness of those that charge him demon possessed or divine in origin i seek not my own glory verse 50 which is there is one that seeks and judges and i would just simply put it this way that the lord jesus knew that the father was seeking ways to honor the son he honors the father and god the father seeks to glorify the son and if there's any judgment to take place because he's already said earlier i judge no man this wasn't the time for him to condemn men it was his time to hopefully deliver some to save some but there is one who could judge rightfully even at the time i you know he seeks my glory and he has every privilege and right to judge verse 51 truly truly i say unto you if a man keeps my saying he shall never see death so he had already addressed that tremendous truth of receiving his word receive freedom from sin and now he's saying keep my word never see death oh i would have to confess i think if i was standing in the audience that day i would have what really never see death then said the jews unto him now we know this is this is all we need to hear you have a demon abraham is dead and the prophets and i'll say as if a man keep my saying he shall never taste of death they said and he had said never see death so there's got to be some little uh you know good play on words there i i don't have a sufficient suggestion to give it this time but they basically are saying you must be demon because abraham look at him the prophets look at them faithful ones patriarch of old faithful servants of the lord they died what are you saying verse 53 art thou greater than our father abraham which is dead and the prophets are dead whom makest thou thyself now back in verse 25 they simply said who art thou but now that question might have sort of uh been cloaked with the idea of um an accusation but now in in their hatred it just spews out who do you make yourself to be who makest thou thyself who how can you talk like this jesus answered if i honor myself my honor is nothing it is my father that honors me of whom you say that he is your god and this then is going to lead us into as what we've seen for the last section abraham's joy in the great i am this final exchange in the temple the lord jesus earlier on had said to them very clearly if you believe not that i am you shall die in your sins and now as he perceives this day is going to come to a close this exchange with these men who desperately are lost in their darkness he will give them one more as it were opportunity to waken up and it'll come back to that same great truth he is the eternal one verse 55 you have not known him that is the one that he calls his father which you have said is your god you have not known him i know him and if i should say i don't know him i shall be a liar like unto you but i know him and keep his saying there's another statement about this behavior that demonstrates distinct relationships and then he goes on to say your father abraham rejoiced to see my day and then he says and he saw it and was glad now i think we do well to go back to genesis chapter 22 and look what i think becomes quite apparent is to be the occasion of which the lord jesus is referring to genesis chapter 22 your father abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad so there may be in those two phrases the thought of he rejoiced in anticipation to see it but yet in reality he did see it and rejoiced and so when we look at genesis chapter 22 that tremendous story of abraham taking isaac up into the mountain just while we're there let's for connection read verse two and he said take now thy son thine only son isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which i will tell thee of so it's the region is called the land of moriah and yet there is one specific mountain which god says to abraham i will identify for you uh i assume then as you have arrived to the area we know how it unfolds then abraham taking isaac up putting him in the altar the angel the lord intervening and then we get to the lifting up of his eyes verse 13 seeing the ram caught takes the ram and offers it instead of his son now verse 14 and abraham called the name of that place jehovah jireh as it is said to this day in the mount of the lord it shall be seen my the margin of my bible gives a another translation for jehovah diary the lord will see or provide and you can see why abraham would perhaps have phrased it that way the lord will provide remember what he said to isaac as they were going up the mountain the lord will provide himself a lamb isaac's on the altar the lord the angel lord intervenes he finds a ram the ram is not the lamb there are two different creatures so i think by that point we can say abraham is beginning to realize there's a lot more to this story than first met the eye if you would that ram met the need here and now but there was more to the story the lord will provide himself a lamb so he called it jehovah jireh you know we use that expression when talking about a necessary need a need being necessarily met by someone and you give the task to somebody because and we use the expression he or she will see to it and it's not like we're saying they'll stand back and look at what was expected of them they will see to it they will undertake the responsibility whatever the delegation is and they'll get it done so when the translation is put the lord will see it's not just the lord is standing back and having a look at what abraham needed at the moment or what mankind will need in the future he will see to it he will provide for that need god shall provide himself a lamb and so it was said to that day verse 14 says in the mount of the lord it shall come to be seen but it's interesting the greek translation of the old testament called the septuagint has rendered it this way in the mount the lord was seen we know that quite commonly quotations in the new testament whether even in the gospel records or at the pen of the apostles that the septuagint was commonly used and not just direct quotations from the hebrew text so on the one hand the hebrew text seems to suggest there was something to look forward to the lord will see and provide will meet the need and yet the septuagint writers and you know generally speaking it seems that that the lord guided them we're not talking inspiration but guided them as they translated and they got the thought the lord was seen in the mount the lord was actually seen the lord jesus said abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw and was glad seems that abraham then saw through that experience in god's intervention and provision the lord jesus said he actually saw me in it all and abraham didn't just stand back and go well that's pretty impressive no he rejoiced saw my day and he rejoiced he saw the as it were a panorama so quickly given to him and whatever to whatever extent that there was the coming of the christ of the messiah and the provision that would be made in him the lord will provide himself a lamb we could some scholars are quite adamant render that he's saying he will give himself to be the lamb great distinction from a ram and a thicket the lord jesus said to those people that day listen you claim abraham as your father you are his seed you claim to behave as did abraham you've denied your standing in him you have no spiritual relationship with god as your father abraham that you claim to be associated with saw me and rejoiced and how did they react then said the jews unto him they were not yet 50 years old and hast thou seen abraham jesus said unto them truly truly i see into you before abraham was and there's that this time you notice the english translators and editors don't add the word he in italics because they know that without any question the sense of it is here the claim to deity before abraham was i am the great jehovah jehovah jira god shall be seen in the mount was seen in the mountain god will provide himself from the mount it is interesting that the place where the lord jesus is standing as he speaks this is in the precincts of the temple and that temple as we know from the chronicles remember david saw the vision at onan's uh threshing floor there the lord revealed himself there he purchased the threshing floor area and then it was designated to solomon to build the temple there and the chronicle says very distinctly it was in mount moriah as i said the way we read genesis 22 it's the land of moriah but it was one specific mountain the lord wasn't leaving it up to abraham he was going to tell him exactly where to go and i think without being real adamant or dogmatic when we read of solomon's intent then to begin construction of the temple on mount moriah specifically it's the same place same place and the lord jesus stands in that very spot and tells them about what abraham had done so many years and generations before right in that vicinity will they believe it or will they refuse it it's not just what abraham did but what is revealed of me the lord was seen and that of course is lord uppercase jehovah was seen before abraham ever existed i am i am jehovah i am eternal i am the one that you should have been looking for and recognize on this very day did they understand then well you know back there in verse um 24 was it 25 they said who art thou and i said i am he whom you've seen from the beginning and i have he has just said to them if you believe not that i am you'll die in your sins there might have been some misunderstanding at that point of the exchange but there's no question now then took they up stones to cast at him they knew exactly what he was saying in those words so the english editors have made obvious there's no question about the statement i am that's the statement of deity their reaction confirms that they believe he has said it leviticus would demand of them under the law to take up stones because he is blaspheming and stone him to death you know i couldn't help but think i wonder if the stones were there handy because some had been delivered for the woman that they had brought in the morning and what the lord jesus had delivered that woman from they were ready then to use on him and see him stoned to death but as we have read those different times chapter 7 and in chapter 8 his hour was not yet come jesus hid himself there's a sense of the miraculous here i don't see how else we can look at it hid himself and went out of the temple left that the confines of the temple setting went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by he had done that the brow of the hill back at his first visit to nazareth after his public ministry had commenced remember they tried to push him over says he just passed through the midst and went away it's not his time and so all that was determined by men was dismissed by christ he gave him revelation in his word he slipped away and left them to their own selves and they have to answer from what they've heard abraham a lot of joy those men were filled with hatred tonight if you're saved you got a lot to be thankful for a lot to be thankful for um if god were your father he said he'd love me he'd love me and whatever little flame has been kindled in our hearts we have to be quick to realize it's really of the lord it's his doing it's our good it's our blessing and so we can with abraham in some measure say i saw his day saw his day abraham looked forward saw it we look backwards and have seen it and it's the means whereby we rejoice let's pray