Read: John 8:1-30
The
eighth chapter of John starts with a story about a woman caught in
adultery. The Pharisees were using this
situation to try to trap Jesus. The Old
Testament laws teach that stoning was the punishment for this type of sin. Jesus simply told them that any man who had
never sinned could enact the legal punishment of executing her, but that He
would not condemn the woman but rather told her to “sin no more” (v. 11). Jesus
makes an important statement in v. 12: “I am the light of the world”. This fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy of
the coming of the “light” of salvation (Ex. 25:37, Lev. 24:2, Isa. 9:2). The Pharisees questioned the validity of
Jesus testimony about Himself (v. 13).
They misunderstood and doubted Jesus’ identity as the Son of God. They just didn’t understand where He came
from or where He was going (v. 14). They
didn’t know Jesus or His Father (v. 19).
Jesus replies that His testimony is valid because it is supported by two
witnesses (Himself and the Father), which meets the requirement of the Old
Testament law. Jesus stresses that the
Father is known through the Son (v. 19).
Jesus warning to the Pharisees can be applied to us today – if we do not
believe that Jesus is the Son of God then we will die in our sins (v. 24).
JOURNALING AND PRAYER
1. In this passage we see a woman’s sin and moral
failure exposed in front of everyone.
Has something like this ever happened to you – where your sin was
exposed and you were embarrassed about it?
Are you following His instructions by not committing that sin
anymore?
2. Jesus is the Light of the world (v. 12) and the
only way to Salvation (v. 24). As
society becomes more tolerant we must be clear that Jesus is the only way. Other faiths and religions do not lead to
eternal life. We must be pure in this
area. We must live as light and have
nothing to do with darkness and false religions. Below you will find a list of things that are
not of Christ, they are occult and demonic in nature.
- Ask the Lord to show you any areas that you have been involved in
- Check off these areas
- Pray a prayer, confessing your involvement, admitting that this is sin.
- Thank the Lord for His forgiveness.
- Ask the Lord to show you what you can do today in order to flee from this sort of behaviour in the future. For example, what movies do you need to destroy? What environments do you need to avoid? What music do you need to destroy? Etc.
- Ouija Board/Magic Eight Ball
- Bloody Mary
- Occult Games
- Spells or Curses
- Superstitions
- Spirit Guides
- Fortune-telling/Tarot Cards/Palm Reading
- Out-of-Body Experience
- Mental Telepathy/Control
- Silva Mind Control
- Automatic Writing
- Jehovah’s Witness
- New Age
- Freemasonry
- Mormonism
- Yoga
- Levitation (floating)
- Witchcraft/Satanism/Wicca
- Hypnosis
- Horoscopes/Astrology
- Blood Pacts
- Trying to contact the dead
- Crystals/Good Luck Charms/artifacts
- Occult Movies / TV
- Satanic Music
- Mysticism
- Transcendental Meditation
- Church of Scientology
- Native American Spirit Worship
- Islam
- Hinduism
- Buddhism
- Water Witching
- Other involvement with books or activities associated with other religions/cults
