December 2, 2018
Hymn 342 - Jesus came from heaven
Prayer
Saul was an angry man and he was going around killing Christians. Last time we started talking about his conversion. Saul’s conversion is mentioned three times in the Bible and all of them are in Acts. We get more details in the other massages.
Saul had heard the gospel message before. He was there when Steven told the gospel before he got stoned; but he didn’t understand the marvels of the gospel yet.
Acts 9:1-9
So Saul gets permission to bind Christians in Damascus and bring them back to Jerusalem. He was traveling in the middle of the day when a bright light suddenly shines from the sky. Now this light had to be really bright considering that it was the middle of the day and it made Saul go blind. In all of this Saul heard a voice and the voice was calling him. It called him twice. Then it asked him a question, “why are you persecuting Me?“. Something must have clicked right then for Saul. These people he was killing were God’s people; they were doing what God wanted. They weren’t disobeying Him and persecuting them was persecuting the Lord. How do you answer a question like the one God asked him? Well, Saul answers Him with another question. He asks “who art thou Lord?“. He calls Him Lord; his heart is changing. Back then Lord was used when you are talking to or about your master. God tells him that He is Jesus the one he’s persecuting. The one he hates.
What an effect this first meeting with the Lord had on Saul. By the end of the conversation he was a changed man. The rest of Acts goes on to tell what he did serving the Lord.
John 8:1-32
In this eighth chapter of John the people are rejecting the words of the Lord Jesus, and in chapter nine it’s His works that are rejected.
Jesus went to Mount Olives for the night, and then got up early in the morning. He communed with His Father. This is important for us to see because we can also commune with the same Father through the Spirit. Lots of people must have been intrigued by Him. They were at the temple early to hear Him.
Verse twelve is a key verse in this chapter. This is a world of darkness. Jesus was here to shed light (truth) and expose man. The Lord manifested light that exposed the condition of man in darkness and revealed God in purity, and holiness. What a contrast.
The Scribes and the Pharisees showed up with a woman where Jesus was teaching and told Him that she was caught in the act of adultery. The “law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. Had God changed His mind? The law was right. God’s shining light showed God condemning man’s wrong ways. Jesus had to harmonize this. The Scribes and the Pharisees where still Moses’ people. They were trying to catch the Lord in a dilemma. If He answered yes they would catch Him there, and if He said no they would catch Him over there. But Jesus was clever. They knew the law said she was to be stoned, but this situation exposes them as well. If she was caught in the act like they said; it take two people. Where is the man? They set themselves up. They liked to impose commands on others and not themselves. If Jesus said yes, where was the grace and truth? If He said no, He seemed He had just passed by the commandments. Maybe it was the law Jesus stooped down to write on the ground showing them how they had also been condemned. Maybe He was giving them a chance to think about it. He told them to apply the law to themselves. The search light of truth was in full power on them. Jesus went back to writing on the ground. They had enough to think about with what He said.
The law in not the way to salvation, but it shows you your need for it. Who were they to enforce a law they couldn’t keep. Jesus was perfect and here to fulfill the law. Convicted, they left one by one. Our writers say why they probably left eldest to youngest was that the eldest had probably committed the most sin. Jesus was left alone, and He was the only one who could have cast a stone. He didn’t break the law and He didn’t apply it. He had grace. The woman must have seen that because she didn’t leave when she could have. The Scribes and the Pharisees didn’t see the grace or what the Lord had to offer. Jesus wasn’t accusing.
The light of life is something to ponder. Many people today are wondering in darkness. But we can see how this story magnifies the Lord.
Hymn 341 - Jesus bids us shine
Prayer