Page 73 - The Gospel of John - Student textbook

to do with Him. He has no desire for the things of God. By nature, his desires are only wicked continually. That’s
why God has to change the disposition of a person’s heart before he will ever respond to the Word of Christ. The
Spirit has to set him free!

44 You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from
the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks
from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not
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believe Me. Who among you can convict Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why don’t you believe Me? The one
who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.” The
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Jews responded to Him, “Aren’t we right in saying that You’re a Samaritan and have a demon?” “I do not
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have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor My Father and you dishonor Me. I do not seek My
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glory; the One who seeks it also judges. I assure you: If anyone keeps My word, he will never see death—
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ever!” Then the Jews said, “Now we know You have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. You
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say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste death—ever!’ Are You greater than our father Abraham
who died? Even the prophets died. Who do You pretend to be?” “If I glorify Myself,” Jesus answered, “My
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glory is nothing. My Father—you say about Him, ‘He is our God.’—He is the One who glorifies Me. You’ve
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never known Him, but I know Him. If I were to say I don’t know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know
Him, and I keep His word. Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day; he saw it and
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rejoiced.” The Jews replied, “You aren’t 50 years old yet, and You’ve seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them,
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“I assure you: Before Abraham was, I am.” At that, they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was
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hidden and went out of the temple complex.

Notice that the religious leaders picked up stones to throw at Jesus. They sought to stone Him because He said,
“Before Abraham was, I AM.” They immediately clearly understood what He was saying. They knew the Old
Testament where Moses asked God who should he tell Pharaoh who sent him. The Lord told him, “Tell them I
AM has sent you.” (Exodus 3:14) They knew that I AM is a special name for God which describes His eternal
nature. It is a word form of “to be” and means a state of “always being.” It describes God as never having a
beginning nor an ending; He is eternal. Jesus told them clearly that He was the I AM. The Pharisees immediately
rejected that claim and sought to stone him for blasphemy. Since it was not “his time,”, Jesus disappeared in
their midst, which again verified what He had just claimed.

John 9:1-41 (HCSB)

As He was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples questioned Him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this
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man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered.
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“[This came about] so that God’s works might be displayed in him.

The disciples were curious about the providential reason for the man’s affliction, and they sought two possible
options: either his sin was to
blame or his parents’ sin. Thus,
the disciples fell into a logical
fallacy called, the fallacy of the
false dilemma or the either/or
fallacy. This happens when
people say, “it’s either this or
it’s that,” when in fact there
may be a third option. There
are certain issues that can be
reduced, justly, to either/or
terms. For instance, God either
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