EXPLORING JOHN'S GOSPEL
Chapter 8: John 8
The Woman Caught in Adultery
Read John 8:1-11.
Jesus gave a very good rule about when to criticize and condemn others.
Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone
(John 8:7).
Possibly Jesus wrote the sins that the men were guilty of. They were ashamed and left.
Jesus was the only one there who had not sinned. He did not condemn the woman. He saved her life and forgave her sins. He told her to and not to sin again. When God forgives us, we mustn’t keep on sinning.
For You to Do
1. Memorize John 8:7. Whenever you feel like criticizing someone, quote this verse to yourself.
2. Pray that those who ask God for forgiveness will stop sinning.
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Jesus the Light of the World
Read John 8:12-20.
Jesus then told the people that He was the Light of the world. The Bible often speaks of the things of sin as darkness. Jesus, like a bright light, shows us our sins and He shows us the way to heaven also. We cannot go to heaven unless our sins are forgiven. Verse 24 says that those who do not believe in Jesus will die in their sins.
For You to Do
3. Go back to the introduction that John wrote for his Good News and read again John 1:1-9.
4. Why did Jesus call Himself the Light of the World?
a) Because He is the true Light that will show us our sins and show us the way to heaven also.
b) Because He always taught during the day and not at night.
c) Because he gave everyone a lamp to use at night.
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You Cannot God Where I am Going
Read John 8:21-30.
Again Jesus talked to the people about His death as going where they could not follow Him. He had come from heaven and was going back to heaven. But first the Son of Man must be lifted up on a cross to die for the sins of the world. Remember how Jesus talked with Nicodemus about this back in chapter 3?
“I Am Who I Am” was the name that God used for Himself when Moses asked Him what His name was. It is Jesus’ death and resurrection that makes us believe that He is our Savior.
For You to Do
5. Read three times verses 23, 24, 28, and 29.
6. Whom did Jesus tell that the Son of Man must be lifted up, even as Moses had lifted up the bronze snake on the pole in the desert?
7. Read again John 3:14-21.
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Free Men and Slaves
Read John 8:31-47.
Jesus said that whoever sins is a slave of sin. A man who is a sinner cannot stop sinning even when he wants to. Many have confessed that they do not know why they do the things they do, but they cannot seem to keep from doing them. A slave always has a master, and a sinner is the slave of the devil. But if we obey Jesus’ teaching, He sets us free from sin and from the devil.
“If you obey my teaching you are really my disciples; you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free” (John 8:31, 32, and 36.
For You to Do
8. Memorize John 8:31, 32, and 36.
9. Pray for any of your friends who are slaves to sin that they might find freedom in Jesus.
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Jesus and Abraham
Read John 8:48-59.
Some of the people who heard Jesus say these things were offended. They said that they had never been slaves. They were descendents of Abraham and were born free. We do not like to think that we are slaves of Satan, but this is a fact until Jesus makes us free.
When the Jews again spoke of Abraham, Jesus told them that Abraham was glad that he was to see Jesus’ day. He said also, “Before Abraham was born, ‘I Am.’” When He used these words, “I Am,” in the present tense, He used the same words that God used in Exodus 3:14:
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14, KJV).
This made some of the leaders so angry that they tried to stone Jesus. But Jesus left the temple in safety because it was not God’s time for Him to die. It is true He came to die for our sins, but not before the time which God had set.
For You to Do
10. What did Jesus say about Himself and Abraham?
a) “Abraham was also my father.”
b) “I have never seen Abraham.”
c) “Before Abraham was born, ‘I Am.’”
Check Your Answers
4. a) Because He is the true Light that will show us our sins and show us the way to heaven also.
6. Nicodemus
10. c) “Before Abraham was born, ‘I Am.’”
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Go to John 9
