Jesus Christ is "the ___________________ of the world" (John 8:12). As we learned in John 3:19-21, there are those who hate the Light and there are those who come to the Light. There are those who "walk in darkness" (John 8:12) and there are those who have "the light of _____________" (John 8:12). As we study John chapters 8 and 9 we will learn more about the children of darkness and the children of light (compare Ephesians 5:8 and 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5).
1A. A GUILTY WOMAN IS ACCUSED (John 8:1-11).
1B. The Guilty One (John
8:1-5).
2B. The Guilty Ones (John
8:6-11).
2A. THE TEACHING OF JESUS INFURIATES THE JEWS (John 8:12-59).
1B. Angered Because He
Claimed to be the Light of the World (John 8:12-20).
2B. Angered Because He Said
They Would Die in Their Sins (John 8:21-29).
3B. Angered Because He Told
Them They Were Slaves (John 8:30-36).
4B. Angered Because He Told
Them Who Their Real Father Was (John 8:37-47).
5B. Angered Because He
Claimed to be Greater Than Abraham (John 8:48-59).
3A. A BLIND MAN IS HEALED (John 9:1-41).
1B. The Healing Miracle (John
9:1-7).
2B. The Healed Man's
Testimony (John 9:8-34).
3B. The Need For Spiritual
Sight (John 9:35-41).
One day as Jesus was teaching in the temple, the Jewish leaders brought unto Him a woman taken in ________________________ (John 8:3). This means that she had sexual relations with someone who was not her husband. Did these Jews know for sure that this woman was guilty of adultery or did they just think that she might be guilty (John 8:4)? __________________________________________________ Was this woman guilty of breaking one of the 10 Commandments (see Exodus 20:12-16)? _______ According to the law of Moses what should be done to a person who is found guilty of adultery (see John 8:5; Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22,24)? _____________________________________________ Guilty lawbreakers deserve DEATH!
These Jews were trying to trap Jesus (John 8:6). They were after Him! They wanted to lead Him into a trap that He could not get out of! Here is how the trap worked: If Jesus said, "She should not be stoned," then He would be going against and contradicting the law of Moses. On the other hand, if Jesus said, "She should be stoned," then He would lose favor with the people because they considered Jesus to be a friend of sinners (compare Matthew 11:19). Note: He might also be accused of promoting a policy contrary to Rome because only Rome could execute the death sentence. This is why the Jews could not put Christ to death themselves. Rome had to do it (see John 18:31).
These Jews thought they finally had Christ caught! But as we shall soon see, they fell right into their own trap!
The Jews were eagerly awaiting Christ's answer so that they could accuse Him. After making them wait a few moments (John 8:6) Jesus finally gave His answer. What did He tell those who had brought this woman (see John 8:7)?
a. "She should be stoned."
b. "She should not be stoned."
c. "She did not do anything worthy of death."
d. Jesus told them who should throw the first stone.
According to Jesus, who should throw the first stone (John 8:7)?______________________________ Was the first stone ever thrown (John 8:8-9)? _______ Were any of these people "without sin"? ______ They were ALL sinners and they all knew it! And because of their sin they were all worthy of death! Instead of looking at this sinful woman, Jesus made these Jews look at their own lives. People can often see sin in the lives of others but they are blind to the sin in their own life. Sins are like headlights on a car--those of others always seem more glaring than our own.
It is true that this woman was a lawbreaker, but so were the men who caught her and brought her to Jesus. In John 7:19 this is what Jesus told the Jews: "none of you _______________________ the law." Who is the only perfect and righteous Person (John 7:18)? ______________
According to Romans 3:10, how many righteous people are there? _________________ How many are there that do good and sin not (Romans 3:12)? ______________ How many GUILTY ONES are there in God's sight (Romans 3:19)? ___________________________ Are these guilty ones worthy of death (Romans 1:32)? _______ How many have sinned (Romans 3:23)? _______ Why did Jesus Christ come into the world (1 Timothy 1:15)? ____________________________________________
Finally after the accusers had all left, Jesus was alone with the woman. Did the Lord Jesus accuse and condemn this guilty woman (John 8:10-11)? ___________ Did Jesus come into the world to condemn or to save (John 3:17)? ______________ Did Jesus tell this woman to go and sin some more (John 8:11)? __________ Instead He said, "Go, and sin __________________ (John 8:11).
Can you find the verse in John chapter 8 (near the first part of the chapter) where Jesus claims to be the LIGHT OF THE WORLD? Verse ______ This verse teaches that there are two groups of people in the world:
those who walk in D__________________________
those who follow Jesus and who have the __________________ of ________________
Did the Pharisees believe that Jesus was speaking the truth when He claimed to be the LIGHT OF THE WORLD (John 8:13)? __________ Jesus bore witness of Himself (He pointed to Himself and told people who He really was), but Who else bore witness of Him (John 8:18)? ___________________________________ Did the Pharisees know the Father (John 8:19)?________ Did they know the Son (John 8:19)? ______
Even though His enemies were after Him, were they able at this time to lay their hands on Him (John 8:20)? __________ Why not (John 8:20)? ___________________________________________________ Later Jesus would let His enemies lay their hands upon Him, but not yet!
John 8:12 is one of the great "I AM" verses in the Gospel of John. We have already looked at another "I AM" verse found in John 6:35. As we continue through the Gospel of John we will come across others (for example, John 10:9; 10:11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1). The words "I AM" were very important to the Jews. In the Old Testament the LORD (Jehovah) revealed Himself to Moses in a very special way. What Name did God give to Himself (Exodus 3:13-14)? _____________________ The God of the Old Testament (JEHOVAH) was known as the great "I AM"! This will help us later to understand Jesus' words in John 8:58!
In John 8:21 Jesus repeats the puzzling statement that He had made in John 7:33-34. Jesus was going to go back to heaven to be with His Father and He said, "where I go, ye _______________ come" (John 8:21). Instead of going to heaven, Jesus said, "Ye shall die in your ____________ (John 8:21). It is a terrible and frightful thing to think about people dying when they are UNSAVED and UNDER GOD'S WRATH. Sin is the very thing that SEPARATES people from God (Isaiah 59:2), and when people die in their sins they will be separated from God FOREVER!
The Jews did not understand what Jesus meant when He said, "Where I go, ye cannot come" (John 8:22). They did not think that He was talking about committing suicide ("Will He kill Himself?") but they did not know what He meant. They were in the dark (compare John 8:12). They did not understand Jesus' words about heaven because they were "from B _______________ (from below)"--John 8:23. They were part of the devil's world system and thus they were BLINDED to spiritual truth (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). "They understood _________" (John 8:27).
There is hope for those who are BLIND. There is hope for those who are IN THEIR SINS. But if these people refuse to do one thing then there is no hope at all. What is the one thing that a person must do so that he will not die in his sins (John 8:24)?_______________________________________ Jesus said, "if ye believe not that I AM . . ." A person must believe that Jesus is the great I AM (compare Exodus 3:14). Note: In John 8:24 the King James Bible says, "if ye believe not that I am he" but the word "he" is in italics which means that it is not part of the original Greek text. A better translation would be this: "if ye believe not that I AM." The same is true for John 8:28.
What a person believes about Jesus Christ is very important!. WHO DO YOU BELIEVE JESUS CHRIST REALLY IS? This question is so important that it makes the difference between heaven and hell!
|
1) |
What will happen to those who "believe not" (John 8:24)? ____________________________________________ |
|
2) |
What will happen to those who "believe" (Acts 10:43--and note that the word "remission" means "forgiveness")? ____________________________________________ |
In John 8:30 we are told that many of the Jews ______________________________ on Him. Did Jesus get all excited about this new group of believers? Did He say, "This is wonderful! Look at all the new followers I now have!"? No, Jesus did not receive these believers with open arms. Instead He carefully told them what is required in order to be a true follower and a true disciple of Himself: "If ye ______________________ in My Word, then are ye my _________________________ indeed" (John 8:31). TRUE DISCIPLES are those who CONTINUE in Jesus' Word. These are the ones who will know the truth and these are the ones that will be set free (John 8:32).
It is possible for a person to believe for only a short time. We learn about such people in Luke 8:13. Did these people receive the word with joy? ________ Did they believe? ______ But they only believed for a _______________ (for a time) and later when things got rough and tough they fall __________________ Their faith was not the kind of faith that CONTINUED. God wants people to "_______________________ in the faith" (Colossians 1:23) and to keep trusting Jesus Christ to the very end (Hebrews 3:6,14)! TEMPORARY FAITH is no good! God is looking for a FAITH THAT LASTS!
When Jesus spoke about being FREE the Jews thought that they were already free (John 8:32-33). They were puzzled, "Why do we need to be made free if we are already free? Certainly we are not slaves!"
Once again these people were in the dark! They failed to understand the terrible slavery and bondage that they were in: "whosoever committeth ________ is the servant (slave) of ______" (John 8:34). Who is the only One that can set a person free from the slavery of sin (John 8:36)?_______________________________
Every person in the world is a SLAVE. Every person is either a SLAVE OF SIN or a SLAVE OF JESUS CHRIST. Before a person is saved he is a servant or slave of ________ (Romans 6:17). When a person is saved he is set free from sin and he becomes a servant or slave to ____________ (Romans 6:22). What MASTER do you serve? Do you serve SIN, SELF and SATAN or do you serve THE SAVIOUR? The person who is really FREE is the person who is free from sin and free to serve the Saviour!
The Jews were very proud of the fact that Abraham was their father (John 8:33). Abraham was the father of the Jews and they knew that they had physically descended from him. Jesus knew this too: "I know that ye are ________________________ seed (children, descendants)" (John 8:37). He knew that they were Abraham's physical children, but He also knew that they were not Abraham's spiritual children.
There is a saying which says, "LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON." This means that the child bears the resemblance of the father. These Jews claimed that Abraham was their father but they were acting quite UNLIKE Abraham. Jesus told them, "if ye were Abraham's ________________, ye would do the works of Abraham" (John 8:39).
In what way did these Jews act (John 8:40)? _____________________________________ Did Abraham ever act in this way (John 8:40)?______ In Genesis 18 we learn about the time when 3 men visited Abraham (one of them was the LORD Jesus Christ in His pre-incarnate form and the other two were angels). How did Abraham treat these special visitors? Did he try to kill them or did he treat them very well (Genesis 18:1-8)? ____________________________________________
Jesus said to these unbelieving Jews, "Ye do the deeds of your_____________" (John 8:41). These Jews thought that __________ was their Father (John 8:41). But Jesus told them that if God were really their Father then what would be true (John 8:42)? They would _____________________________________ WHO WAS THEIR REAL SPIRITUAL FATHER (John 8:44)? ________________________ God's Word teaches us that there are two groups of people in the world: 1) the children of ____________ 2) the children of the _________________ (see 1 John 3:10).
What are two things that you learn about the devil in John 8:44? _______________________________________________________________________ In what ways did these Jews resemble their spiritual Father? ______________________________________________
One of the biggest problems these Jews had was the problem of UNBELIEF (see John 8:24,45,46). This was another great difference between them and Abraham. The Bible tells us that "Abraham _________________________ God" (Genesis 15:6) but these Jews did not! Instead they believed the devil's lies!
In John 8:46 Jesus gave a mighty challenge to His enemies: "Which of you convinceth (convicteth) Me of sin?" In other words, "Which of you can find Me guilty of sin?" This was something that none of His enemies could do! Jesus could convict His enemies of sin (John 8:7-9) but they could not convict Him of sin! He lived a perfect life and Himself said, "for I do __________________ those things that _______________ Him (the Father)" (John 8:29).
The only SINLESS Man who ever lived stood before these Jews and spoke the TRUTH to them, but did they BELIEVE (John 8:46)? _______ If God were really their Father then they would hear ______________________________ (John 8:47) but because God was not their Father they did not hear and they did not believe.
If a person does not love Jesus Christ (John 8:42) and does not hear and believe God's Word (John 8:47), then he is not a child of God. Are you a child of God? How does a person become a child of God (John 1:12)? __________________________________________________
In John 8:48 the Jews attacked Jesus with wicked words and they said two terrible things about Him:
1) They called Him a S_______________________ The Jews hated the Samaritans and this was one of the worst things a person could be called. To a Jew there was no greater insult than to be called a SAMARITAN!
2) They said He had a devil or a demon. They thus accused Him of being DEMON POSSESSED! Was this true (John 8:49)? _____ Do people ever call you names or insult you with words or say cruel things about you? Remember, Jesus Christ has experienced this very same thing! He knows what we go through (Hebrews 4:15-16)!
In John 8:51 Jesus made another statement that puzzled the Jews: "If a man keep My saying (if a man does what I say), he shall never see ________________" If a person does what Jesus Christ says HE WILL NEVER DIE (compare John 11:26)! How can this be? Death means SEPARATION. When an unsaved person dies he is separated from God because of his sins. Jesus was saying that a believer will never be separated from God. The believer has ETERNAL LIFE and this life will never be taken away.
Again the Jews did not understand what Jesus meant (John 8:52). They knew that Abraham was dead and that the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, etc.) were dead. "All of these great men are dead but Jesus is talking about somebody who NEVER DIES. Is He claiming to be greater than Abraham and all the prophets?" (Compare John 8:53--"Art thou __________________________ than our father Abraham?").
They asked a good question and Jesus wanted to show them that He was indeed GREATER than Abraham! Jesus said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56). This statement startled the Jews. They could hardly believe their ears! They thought, "Was Jesus saying that He had actually seen Abraham?" (John 8:57). Abraham lived on earth about 2000 years before Christ came to this world. When Jesus spoke these words He was only about 30+ years old and the Jews were correct when they said, "Thou art not yet ______________ years old" (John 8:57). But they needed to understand that the life of Jesus did not begin when He was born in Bethlehem! That is when He became a MAN, but as God He existed long before Bethlehem. As a man he was only about 33 years old, but as God He was the ETERNAL ONE who had no beginning! He was the eternal Son of God.
What would you do today if someone came up to you and claimed to be over 2000 years old? You would probably think that he was joking or else that he was crazy! And yet, this is exactly what Jesus claimed: "BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, ____ ________" (John 8:58). He could have said, "BEFORE ADAM WAS, I AM!" He could have said, "BEFORE THE WORLD EVER WAS, I AM." Compare John 17:5,24. He is the great eternal God! He is the great I AM (Exodus 3:14)!
What did the Jews think of this remarkable claim (John
8:59)? ___________________________________________________
Were they able to do to Jesus what they wanted to do (John 8:59 and compare Luke 4:28-30)?
_________ HAVE YOU PUT YOUR FAITH AND TRUST IN THIS GREAT ETERNAL GOD? Those who have not
done this are in trouble (John 8:24)!
How long had this man been blind (John 9:1)? _______________ Read John 9:2-3. Why was this man blind? Was it his parents' fault? ________Was it his own fault? _______ God had a wonderful purpose in allowing this man to be blind from birth (John 9:3). Perhaps you have a physical problem or difficulty. Perhaps you have even had this from birth, Instead of complaining about it or feeling sorry for yourself, you need to remember that God has a plan and purpose for everything. He makes no mistakes! Instead of blaming everyone for our problems, let's thank God that He can do a great work in our lives no matter who we are or what we are like!
The interesting way in which Jesus healed this blind man is described in John 9:6-7. On what day did this miracle take place (John 9:14)? _________________________________________
The neighbors of this man could hardly believe the change that had taken place (John 9:8). The blind beggar could now see! Some were so amazed that they figured that it must not be the same man (John 9:9). Did the blind man tell them exactly what had happened (John 9:10-12)? _____ Did he tell the same story to the Pharisees (John 9:15)? ________
This miracle then caused a division among the people (even as we saw in John chapter 7). Read John 9:16 and notice the two differing opinions about Jesus:
Some thought that He must not be of __________ because He did not keep the _______________________ . To find out what Jesus thought about the Jews' foolish ideas about the Sabbath Day, read Mark 3:1-5.
Others said, "How can a man that is a _____________________ do such _______________________"
They then turned to the blind man and asked him what he thought (John 9:17). He believed that Jesus must be a good man: "He is a ________________________ (John 9:17).
The unbelieving Jews then checked with the man's parents to see if this miracle had really taken place. What did they learn (John 9:18-21)? ________________________________________________________ What would happen to any person who said that Jesus was the Christ or the Messiah (John 9:22)? __________________________________________________________________
The Jews again called the blind man and they told him exactly what they wanted him to say: "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a ___________________" (John 9:24). They wanted the blind man to agree with them that Jesus was a SINNER! They should have said, "WE ARE THE SINNERS AND JESUS IS THE SAVIOUR!"
The blind man's testimony is found in John 9:25: "I WAS ___________________NOW I _______" Once I was blind but now I can see! Could the Jews deny this testimony? _______ Could they argue against it? ______ We never need to argue with people to convince them that Jesus is the true Saviour. All we need to do is SHOW THEM A CHANGED LIFE! This is something that they cannot deny!
An unbeliever once came to a miner's town to give a lecture. The night he spoke he noticed the presence of a most intent listener. The man was still wearing his rough, grimy miner's garments, and the massive frame and scarcely concealed muscles bespoke a man of unusual physical strength. The unbeliever ended his message by saying, "Now I'm sure that I have convinced all of you that Christianity is a myth and that Jesus Christ is not God." The atheist had hardly finished speaking when the miner rose slowly to his feet. "Sir," he said, "I'm only a working man and I don't know your fancy word 'myth,' but these people know me! They know that until three years ago I was the toughest man in town. I had a miserable home. I neglected my wife and children. I cursed, swore, drank and whoever withstood me soon felt my fist. Then someone came along and told me of the love of God to poor sinners. He gave me a glimpse of Christ Jesus dying on Calvary's Cross for lost wretches like me. I believed those things that you now deny. I have been a changed man as all these people know." How can you argue against a changed life? The unbeliever had nothing to say to the miner!
Did the blind man think that Jesus was a sinner (John 9:30-32)? ________ Did the blind man think that Jesus was "of God" (John 9:33)? _________ Because the blind man sided with Jesus, what did the Jews do to him? Did they cast him out of the synagogue (John 9:34 and compare verse 22)? _________
Who found the man who had been cast out (John 9:35)? ____________ This man had been CAST OUT by men, but he needed to know that those who come to Jesus will never be C___________ O________ (John 6:37). Jesus knew that this blind man needed to understand that He was more than just a Prophet (see verse 17). Who did Jesus claim to be (John 9:35-37)? __________________________________________ Did the blind man believe this (John 9:38)? ________
Read carefully the words Jesus spoke in John 9:39. As we read John chapter 9 we discover that this blind man could see very well, not only physically but also spiritually. He saw who Jesus Christ really was and he believed in his heart! On the other hand, the unbelieving Jews could not see very well at all! They were blinded to who Jesus Christ really was and they were blind to their own spiritual condition (their sinfulness before God). What do you think is the worst kind of blindness: physical or spiritual? _______________________ Which would you rather be: a blind man who knows Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour or an unsaved man who has excellent vision and does not even need glasses? _______________________________________________ Did the unbelieving Jews REMAIN in the darkness of sin or did they come to the LIGHT OF THE WORLD (John 9:41)?_____________________________________________
|
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound; --John Newton |
Back to THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
Back to SUNDAY SCHOOL MATERIALS & HELPFUL
BIBLE STUDIES