Bible study reading
Please prayerfully read through the following portions of ministry related to this lesson.
The religionists were trying their best to find fault with the Lord Jesus…They caught a sinful woman and brought her to the Lord Jesus. According to the law, such a sinful woman had to be stoned to death, but the religionists did not do it. They brought her to the Lord in an attempt to trap Him. They said, “Teacher, this woman has been caught committing adultery. Moses commanded us to stone such a person. What do You say?”…The Lord stood up and said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). The Lord seemed to be saying, “You may stone her to death, but someone must take the lead. No one is qualified to take the lead in this except the one who is without sin.”…This word pierced their conscience…Who is without sin? No one. Do not condemn others, for while you condemn others you are the same as they are…This incident manifests the Lord’s wisdom. The people came to condemn the sinful woman, but the Lord’s question convicted them of their own sinfulness. (Life-study of John, msg. 19, section 2)
The devil is the source of sin (8:44)…Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin (8:34). A slave is always under a certain bondage. Satan, the devil, has brought all humankind under the bondage of sin by imparting himself into man as the sinful nature that compels man to sin. It is impossible for anyone to free himself from such a slavery.
The Lord is qualified to forgive man’s sin and able to set him free from the slavery of sin (8:32-34). The Lord not only gives us life, but He also enters into us as our life. Satan’s subtlety was not only to cause us to do something wrong; it was to inject himself into us. Thus, sin is no longer merely objective, an outward wrongdoing. Sin is in the very subjective nature of our being. It is no longer outside of us; it is inside of us. It has even become our very self…Therefore, anything that is outside of our nature cannot help us in dealing with the sin that is in our nature. We need another life to come into us…We need another life, a stronger, richer, higher life, to set us free from this slavery. Only the Lord can be such a life, and He truly is such a life because He is the divine life. The divine life is higher than the human life. It is also higher than the satanic life. When this divine life comes into us it defeats the serpentine life and nature. (Life-study of John, msg. 19, section 3)
How does the Lord Jesus set us free from sin? He does it by coming into us as the light of life…When we received the Lord, He entered into us as our life. This indwelling life now shines within us. That is light. Gradually and spontaneously, this shining of the indwelling life sets us free. (Life-study of John, msg. 20, section 1)
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