I’ve been preaching through the Gospel of John at my Church and delivered a message on John 8:31-38 on Sunday. The title consists of Jesus’ watershed statement in v. 32: “The Truth Will Make You Free.” You can listen to the entire message at the Spotify Podcast or Apple Podcast linked below.
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The Light of the World — John 8:12-30
John 8:12, “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.’” This is the second of seven of Jesus’ famous “I am” sayings. The first one was in chapter 6, where he says, “I am the bread of life.” And now he’s revealing himself as the “light of the world”—meaning, he’s the light that illuminates the world. Light shines. It illuminates. It reveals. It helps you to see things that you otherwise would be unable to see. When Jesus says that he is the light, he is the great revealer of…
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How Should Preachers Deal with the Story of the Woman Caught in the Act of Adultery?
I have been preaching through the Gospel of John at my church, and on Sunday I reached John 7:53-8:11–the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Without question, this is one of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture, but it is also one of the most poorly attested in the Greek New Testament. No version of the story appears in any copy of John’s Gospel until the 5th century–about 400 years after the Gospel was written. Also the language and style of the Greek stands apart from the rest of the Gospel. Linguistically, it’s like a whole different world than the rest of John’s account.…
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Rivers of Living Water — John 7:25-52
How many people are thirsty spiritually? They know that something is wrong with the world. They know that something is wrong with themselves. They experience a kind of invisible thirst as a result. They need someone or something to slake their spiritual thirst, but they don’t know how to do it. [Listen to the whole sermon at the Spotify or Apple Podcasts links below.]
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The Rising Tension in Jerusalem — John 7:1-24
Have you ever been in a gathering where you should have been welcomed as a friend but were instead spurned as an intruder or even as an enemy? Sometimes that kind of rejection can be justified. If a murderer shows up at the funeral of his victim, he shouldn’t be surprised if the family and other mourners treat him like a pariah and ask him to leave. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m asking if you’ve ever found yourself at a place where you should have been welcomed but weren’t? The rejection was not due to anything wrong you had done. The people there just didn’t like you.…
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To Whom Shall We Go? – John 6:59-71
There is nothing new under the sun. The path to apostasy is sadly well-travelled and ancient. Do you know what it looks like? Do you have the will to avoid it when the temptation comes? [Listen to the whole sermon at the Spotify or Apple Podcasts links below.]
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Eating Jesus’ Flesh – John 6:52-58
It doesn’t matter who you are—Jew or Gentile—apart from grace, you won’t recognize Jesus as the only way of salvation. You will view His plan of salvation as a cynical effort to enslave you and ensnare you and to do you harm. And you will run and kick and scream and spit at anyone who tries to constrain you with this offer. Who can receive what Jesus offers when their hearts have been so darkened by sin? Who will come? How will they come? How will you come? [Listen to the rest on Apple Podcasts or Spotify below.]
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Who Can Come to Jesus – John 6:36-51
I recently listened to an old country song that I haven’t heard in a long time. It came out the year I graduated high school—Bonnie Rait’s ballad “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” It’s a beautiful melody with absolutely depressing lyrics. It’s a about a woman who keeps going back into the arms of a man that she knows doesn’t love her. And she says, “I can’t make you love me if you don’t You can’t make your heart feel something it won’t Here in the dark, in these final hours I will lay down my heart and I’ll feel the power But you won’t, no you won’t ‘Cause I…
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I Am the Bread of Life – John 6:22-35
What kind of Christianity is it that desires the fruit but not the root? Is it really Christian for someone to say, “I’ll take Jesus’ gifts—life, social order, morality, beauty, law, the western tradition and western culture—I’ll take all of these gifts from Jesus, but I don’t want Jesus.” What kind of Christianity is that? It’s the kind of “Christianity” that allows you to hate Jesus while insisting that you benefit from his gifts. Some people may call that Christianity by slapping the label “cultural” on the front of it, but might I suggest that such a thing is no Christianity at all. At best, it is a form of…
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Veiled in Flesh the Godhead See – John 6:1-21
I don’t know about you, but the older I’ve gotten, the more I have appreciated the gravity of Christmas. As a child, Christmas is all about the presents. It’s all focused on Santa Claus and Christmas morning. As you move into adolescence and young adulthood, you begin to have an appreciation for the entire season, the music, and the traditions. For many, nostalgia about childhood becomes a major part of the celebration. But the older you get the more you pile on experiences that make some of that wear thin. You have friends and family that go in and out of your life–sometimes through broken relationships and sometimes through death.…
