 I'm gonna start at verse 12 and I'm gonna read to verse 20 and I will be serious I promise you. I think verse 12 Jesus spoke to them again saying I am the light of the world he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. We're gonna be looking at that a little more in a moment even though I stopped their last time we were together but he goes on into verse 13 the Pharisees therefore said to him you bear witness of yourself your witness is not true and Jesus answered and sent to them even if I bear witness of myself my witness is true for I know where I came from and where I am going but you do not know where I come from and where I am going you judge according to the flesh I judge no one and yet if I do judge my judgment is true for I am not alone but I am with the father who sent me it is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true I am one who bears witness of myself and the father who sent me bears witness of me then they said to him where's your father Jesus answered you know neither me nor my father if you had known me you would have known my father also these words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple and no one laid hands on him for his hour had not yet come and so as we review just bringing you up to where we've been and using verse 12 as the foundation as we move into the rest of the verses tonight I've already mentioned to you that the gospel of John within the gospel of John Jesus made seven what are called seven I am statements seven I am statements and we've already looked at John 6 35 we're he said I am the bread of life and verse 12 here gave us a second what it's called the second I am statement where it says I am the light of the world now we're gonna use that as our foundation or our where we begin because we need to remember that in the Old Testament when he speaks concerning being the light of the world in the Old Testament the prophets use the symbol of light very often to represent Messiah you can see this for example in Isaiah in the Old Testament book of Isaiah chapter 9 verse 2 because in an Isaiah 9 verse 2 it reads the people walking in darkness have seen a great light and those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned and that was a scripture in Isaiah that would speak concerning the one who's to come the Messiah we know that because Matthew quoted that passage when he presented Jesus as Messiah if you take notes Matthew chapter 4 verses 13 through 17 reads leaving Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Napthali that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying the land of Zebulun and the land of Napthali by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned and from that time Jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand so Matthew took Isaiah's prophecy and applied it to Jesus as Messiah because the prophets use the symbol of light to represent Messiah and so that means that the scribes and the Pharisees would understand what Jesus was saying they would know that he was claiming to be the Messiah of Israel and that's what causes them to respond in the way that they do now Jesus had and I mentioned this before but I'm using this again as our foundation Jesus had had made it clear that humanity basically is divided into two categories those who walk in spiritual darkness and those who walk in spiritual light and so when you see the phrase walking in darkness as mentioned before walking in darkness speaks of those who are lost it speaks of living a life that is enslaved to sin walking in darkness sin is a way of life now this is something that the Apostle Paul gives us insight into and if you'd like for a moment to keep your place in John but turn to Ephesians chapter 4 I want to show you something Ephesians chapter 4 I want to develop my introduction of this passage by turning you to Ephesians 4 and looking at verses 17 through 19 so that we can see how Paul spoke concerning walking in the dark because Jesus has just said that we would not walk in darkness but would have the light of life and as I mentioned walking in darkness is another way of saying that we live in sin as a way of life a habitual way of life not that we that people who are saved don't sin but we don't continue in sin that isn't our way of life yes we fail yes we fall but it is not our continual way of life but the person who is unsaved their continual way of life is walking in darkness and Paul speaks of that here in Ephesians 4 17 through 19 Paul writes I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts having lost all sensitivity they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with the continual lust for more so he's describing the walk of darkness and he actually gives four characteristics of somebody who walks in darkness he says that they live in an imaginary world he says they lack knowledge of God's truth he said they are spiritually and morally callous and then finally he says they have voluntarily embraced the life without moral restraint and so with that in mind Paul was exhorting the church not to as he was saying not to walk as the Gentiles who walk in darkness in other words believers Christians are not to live like those who do not know God and I want to devout that notice verse 17 I'll spend a few minutes looking at it he says in verse 17 that they are to no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk he said in the futility of their mind the word futility speaks of that which is devoid of truth or that which is appropriate in other words those who do not know God live in an imaginary world that lacks purpose and hope look around you and you can see that in the society that we live in they live in an imaginary world Paul said the futility of her mind they live in with futility they don't have a truthfulness within them they live in an imaginary world and and that results in a lack of purpose it results in the lack of true hope it's a life that that the writer of Ecclesiastes would call a life of vanity in Ecclesiastes 114 I've seen all the works that are done under the Sun indeed all is vanity grasping for the wind and that is how people who don't know Christ live with futility in an imaginary world they don't have something that is true and solid substantive the person who doesn't know the Lord doesn't walk in realities appointees making and we see that very clearly today in verse 18 he speaks of them having their understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God so a second thing is because they live in futility they are without knowledge of the truth now that speaks of a willful hardening a surrendering to darkness it speaks of those who desire to remain in sin and there are those who who can't imagine a life other than the one that they already have I read a book once about had an illustration in it about a a rabbit that was kept in a cage it was one of those Goliath rabbits some of you have seen those before they're they're huge they call them Goliath for a reason the giant rabbits and this guy had it as a small bunny had it in a cage but the rabbit was a massive rabbit and it actually grew so large that its body took the whole cage and so it was just his little nose was just pressed against the the cage door and the guy felt pity for this rabbit so he took the rabbit and he went into into the woods where rabbits live naturally and opened up the cage door to let the rabbit out and I remember as I read this book how how he described the rabbit sniffing the air and then finally squeezing itself out of the small door for the cage there and and the guy said as I watched the rabbit he started looking around it was an unfamiliar area he stood out there just outside of the cage in front of him was all the freedom of the woods where it was natural for him to to live he said into my amazement that giant rabbit turned around and squeezed itself back into the cage it would not leave the cage because all that rabbit knew as reality was a cage that's all it knew and guess what that's how people can be too the only thing I know is what it's locked me in and so you hear the gospel and you say that's too good to be true and Paul said that's how the Gentiles live in an imaginary world in the futility of their minds their devoid of truth and their understanding he said is darkened they live in futility they're ignorant they're without truth there's a willful hardening within them they surrender themselves to the darkness they remain in sin he says in verse 18 that the result is they're alienated from the life of God the word alienated means to be cut off they're estranged from fellowship with God and intimacy with him you see without their sins being forgiven they live without God's presence they have no knowledge of him they don't know his goodness as a matter of fact their hostile against him in Romans 8 verse 7 it says the sinful mind is hostile to God it doesn't submit to God's law nor can it do so so they're in a constant state of of hostility of warfare he says a person who doesn't know the Lord and the result is that without God they remain alienated from him and spiritually blind he goes on in verses 18 into verse 19 and speaks of the hardening of their heart their past feeling so they become spiritually and morally callous they're hardened they're they're covered with calluses and and calluses make you unable to feel in other words they become insensitive they're spiritually dull their conscience does not bother them and how many people have we met or perhaps we were like with no conscience with no sense of doing something wrong we may have hurt somebody who didn't bother us at all we we felt that they deserved it they should we shouldn't treat them that way because look at what they are like or what they've done to us well that's what happens there's a hardening a callousness that takes place it makes us insensitive to feeling we were insensitive to pain and and Paul uses that in a spiritual sense and he says they're dull spiritually their conscience simply doesn't bother them they become indifferent to the conviction of the Holy Spirit it's like what he said in 1st Timothy 4 verse 2 where they speak lies in hypocrisy having their own conscience seared with a hot iron callousness develops over time it doesn't bother them anymore if you continue to sin sin just doesn't impact you the way that at one time did isn't that true it's true you did something that you were told not to do the first time you did it conscience bothered you you knew it was wrong could have hurt people could have hurt your parents could have hurt your friends could have hurt somebody you knew that you felt bad about it you did it then you did it again it was a little easier the second time then you did it again before you know it became a habit it became what you do our bodies sometimes tell us what we're doing is in good for us our bodies will tell us that our conscience does too I don't know about you I used to smoke and and that that's maybe surprising to some but I did I started smoking when I was seven or eight years old and so my mom used to give me a quarter to go to the store down the street to buy cigarettes and it you know she's she smoked a certain brand I won't mention the brand and I started just making my own notes at nine ten years old cigarettes were a quarter at that time and I'd go and buy a pack for myself seven eight years old and I kept smoking for many years but I can tell you this I smoked camels you know and they tasted like a camel I I don't but the first time I took a hit off a camel and actually inhaled my whole body said you know tanger will Robinson this is not a good thing for you to do you know anyway you can get used to things if you really want to can't you I got used to smoking I started smoking palmals and I don't want to be an advertisement for a bunch of cigarette brands but I they were normally unfiltered and I and I just one after I was a chain smoker especially when I was drinking I just one after another after another after another you become insensitive after while it doesn't bother you you get used to it seems true with alcohol you ever drink bourbon the first time you ever had bourbon bourbon whiskey whatever something hard you know what happened to your body first time you drank that burns after a while don't even notice it why because you become callous to it you become used to it in the world we call it getting sophisticated but in reality it's getting hardened it's becoming jaded first time you did something you knew you shouldn't do it was shame you were embarrassed didn't want people to know that after a while it became your lifestyle that sin that's what Paul says happens you become indifferent you become used to it he said that's how the world lives and that's absolutely true I'm gonna give you some ancient history it'll take me a moment I don't even know if there's anybody in here I'm pretty sure as I look out there are some now as I look out there I see some gray hair so there was a show that used to be it was called Ed Sullivan how many just I just want to know how many see a lot of you don't know ancient history let me give you a history lesson Ed Sullivan show was a big show you know when we grew up on television and you got her you got to remember that when we grew up you know we didn't have color TV until 62 or 63 we actually had to go to my aunt's house to watch color TV we didn't have color TV and a big TV was 19 inches it was a 19 inch color TV amazing and we went there to see the Beatles when they were on the Ed Sullivan show so ancient history but let me give you some things there used to be on television again this will be like no you're liar shut up there were sensors there were sensors who would determine the words that could be spoken on television did you know that there were sensors and they were called that sensors and they would determine which words could be spoken on television and what kinds of things could take place some of you have heard of Alvis Presley some of you have when Alvis Presley was on Ed Sullivan he was shown from the waist up because he shook his hips so if you saw him on TV all you saw was his waist up you didn't see his you didn't see that you just saw him from the top up you know because they thought that was provocative there was a group that I used to like you know fast forward a few years called the doors and the doors had a song called light my fire oh yeah that was about that was about dope that was about smoking marijuana light my fire anyway and in the song he says girl we couldn't get much higher and so what did they say they said higher the word higher cannot be used on TV he did it anyway never was invited back as I remember then you had another group another ancient song the Rolling Stones put out let's spend the night together but the censor said you cannot say spend the night together and so it's kind of I've seen this you know I've seen this where Mick Jagger the lead singer had to sing let's spend some time together and you'll see him I mean the the the camera takes a real close-up with him and he kind of rolls his eyes like are you kidding me I have to say let's spend some time together instead of let's spend the night together okay now the reason I say that is because this kind of thing today causes people to laugh why I'll tell you why because as a society we're callous we're callous we became callous we just don't realize it we think that we're that it was more we're more sophisticated no we're not we have gone down the word blush you don't use that word anymore why because nobody does there are the things that used to make you blush with embarrassment you're proud of now for doing we know that I won't go into this too much but look at the parades that we have today look at the people we applaud and say they're great because they're so brave what has happened guys exactly what the Bible says they are past feeling that's called walking in darkness that's called walking in darkness and what has happened is even the church has gotten used to the dark because if you stay in dark long enough your eyes kind of get used to it and after a while you begin to think that's normal when in fact we're supposed to be walking in the light our light is to shine so that people will see our good works and glorify our father who's in heaven that's the kind of life the believers to live see and so Jesus was speaking about that and Paul was speaking of that too the hardened hearts speaks of a lack of a sensitive conscience and we have we become insensitive towards right towards wrong and many people simply do what they please there is no sense of shame or guilt no remorse we think it's normal and and that is a sign that we're in the last days in second Timothy 3 verses 1 through 4 Paul said mark this there will be terrible times in the last days people will be lovers of themselves lovers of money boastful proud abusive disobedient to their parents ungrateful unholy without love unforgiving slanderous without self-control brutal not lovers of the good treacherous rash conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God that's today that's what we have that is the result of moral callousness and this is walking in the dark and finally in verse 19 Paul said they've given themselves over to licentiousness he says they embrace a life devoid of moral restraint a life given over to licentiousness speaks of sexual promiscuity by giving into a life of sin there's a callousness and a loss of ability as mentioned a moment ago to blush there's no understanding of simple modesty there's no developed sense of right or wrong without the word they define a code for themselves that accepts what pleases them and that's why sometimes even believers get upset at Bible studies because they're convicted because they choose to live a life that's really more celebrating dark than light and then they get upset at you because of that and so that's how it works in John 3 19 Jesus said this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil so Jesus is saying follow me if you follow me your life will be set apart in an obvious way and the quality of your life demonstrates your relationship to him and first John 2 verse 6 it says he who says he abides in him ought to himself also to walk just as he walked and so that's your introduction let's get into verse 13 back in John chapter 8 so as Jesus is speaking I'm the light of the world who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life the Pharisees therefore said to him you bear witness of yourself your witness is not true so they don't respond to what he is saying what they're actually doing is locking their attention on what would be called a technicality so they say you're bearing witness of yourself and that isn't permitted under the law of Moses in Deuteronomy 1915 one witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits he goes on to say by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established so they're saying you're bearing witness of yourself so your personal witness doesn't count well in verse 14 Jesus answered and said to them even if I bear witness of myself my witness is true for I know where I come from came from and where I'm going but you do not know where I come from and where I'm going you judge according to the flesh I judge no one and yet if I do judge my judgment is true for I'm not alone but I'm with the father who sent me it's also written in your law that the testimony of two is true I'm one who bears witness of myself and the father who sent me bears witness of me so he alludes to the law that I just read you how to Deuteronomy but he's making it very clear that his witness is sufficient why well because he says I'm in relationship with God I came from God I'm returning to God so you can't say this you can't say this kind of thing yourself because you don't have a relationship with God but Jesus is I can say that because I came from him and the second thing in verse 15 he's saying you're judging according to the flesh in other words you're using a carnal standard of judgment because he could be saying I because I appear to be only a man by appearances alone you think I'm only a man and again people still quite naturally use fleshly standards of judgment they do often judge based on outer appearance or what suits their particular opinion and and they don't have an outside standard that teaches them what is right and what is wrong you know that's what we believers have by the way we we have an outside testimony it's called the Bible and I don't know how long you've been a Christian you can fill that the answer in for yourself how long you've been a believer but I can tell you that when I got saved prior to come into Christ I had a moral code that had been established over the 20 years of life that I'd lived which included an information concerning the 10 commandments and things like that so there was a simple moral basis of my beliefs whether I was true to those beliefs is a different question but I had them so I knew it was wrong to steal I knew it was wrong to kill in things like that because the 10 commandments I I knew this was a moral standard and and my generation by the way by and large adhered to those things as being the rights and the wrongs of a society that's how you come to know what is true that's what you come to know what is right what is wrong that's how your conscience is informed you see your conscience can't save you it can accuse you or excuse you but it can't save you because your conscience is simply the the the ethics that you own that are based on the things you've learned through experience and through study and so your conscience may permit you to do things that the Bible forbids your conscience may permit you to live with someone why because we're in love and what does that piece of paper got to do with love your conscience permits that and so when somebody whose conscience doesn't because scripture teaches about fornication adultery and and sexual sin and all and we are informed by scriptures about that when we say but it's wrong for you to do that that's why people will get upset well what right do you have to judge me quiet because they're callous because they have taken upon themselves a moral code that resists what scripture teaches that's how it works and so people can become callous to the truth sometimes because they don't know it and sometimes because they simply reject it and so what happens is when you get saved and you begin to read the word you begin to develop a moral a moral standard and you no longer use fleshly standards of judgment and moral discernment is an important aspect of your spiritual maturity I can mention a moment ago it's an important part of society because unbridled tolerance results in moral anarchy so we need to have standards and and Jesus is saying well you're judging me according to the flesh but it goes on to say I judge no one the way you're judging me is with malice and ignorance I don't judge in that manner and yet verse 16 if I do judge my judgment is true for I'm not alone but I'm with the father who sent me so my judgments are in complete harmony with my father in John 5 30 he said I can of myself do nothing as I hear I judge my judgment is righteous why well because I do not seek my own will but the will of the father who sent me so you guys are judging me by a different standard you're not really looking at what scripture says concerning Messiah he moves on in verse 17 it's also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true I am one who bears witness of myself and the father who sent me bears witness of me so if you appeal to the law of Moses my words still remain true I have my witness and I have my father's witness and my father's witness matters my father has witnessed concerning me when you remember Mark chapter 9 verse 7 at the transfiguration it says a cloud came overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud saying this is my beloved son hear him that's a testimony of the father in John 5 37 Jesus said the father himself who sent me has testified of me so there's your testimony you require a testimony my father has testified concerning me well this is what gets them upset verse 19 where is your father they said to him Jesus answered you know neither me nor my father if you'd known me you would have known my father also and so as he's speaking there they ask and I'll look at this with you for a moment they ask him where's your father now that may be sarcasm simple sarcasm why and here's something you need to remember Jesus had the reputation of being born out of wedlock where is your father would be a kind of a snide thing to say because just remember what had happened his mother Mary had left Nazareth for a while visited her cousin Elizabeth she was betrothed to be married to Joseph and under Jewish law was recognized as his wife already though they hadn't consummated it with the ceremony or our intimacy but they regarded the betrothed woman as being married she had left and she had gone to visit her her cousin Elizabeth and had come back pregnant now when you think of Nazareth don't think of a big city think of a village there are commentators who say that the city of or the village of Nazareth may have had 60 people or so it wasn't a huge city by any means there weren't a lot of huge cities it was a small village 60 people some commentators say more than a hundred but many of them say less than a hundred so kind of think about that for a minute here and and ask yourself if you were in a village of around 60 to 100 people well don't they know your business they're gonna know your business because it's a small village you know so if you're in a small village they may say man you haven't been sleeping well and just how you know that what your lights on most of the night how do you know that you staring at my house yeah I'm not sleeping well either you know so you know everybody's business you really do you know and that's how it was and so so they knew Mary's not married and look at her you know she's she's gaining weight and that's a fact so that was inside the village gossip the village gossip yeah Mary Mary got pregnant out of wedlock you know later on she went on down to Bethlehem came back with a baby a couple years later they all knew they all knew but what had taken place so they're asking a question that's probably sarcastic and a little little snide if you will yeah who's your daddy that's what they're saying in John 841 they said to him we were not born of fornication we have one father God that gives you insight that how Jesus was treated and I love to say this at this time here whenever I talk about Mary and what happened in all of that keep this in mind she lived with that shame herself the woman an innocent woman lived with that shame for 33 years as Jesus was crucified at the age of 33 she lived with a shame for 33 years and you know what saved her reputation is resurrection that's what saved her her reputation now again today I realized that this is kind of like for some people to say well that's another one of those things that's so different today I get it and there there was a time when it was really an embarrassment wrong and even regarded by society as as a sin when someone would become pregnant out of wedlock of course it's different now right I mean you see birth announcements you know you know John Jones and Sylvia Smith announced the birth of their baby and and and there's no shame at all related to that during the time of Christ and even in my lifetime it was shameful and she lived under that reputation to the point where even later on in the same chapter they're gonna say we weren't born of fornication and that again was a way of slamming Jesus Christ to where is your father and Jesus answered in verse 19 you know who neither me nor my father if you'd known me you would have known my father also so Jesus makes it clear that the father is known only to those who receive Jesus and he says if you if you don't know me you don't know the father who sent me that's a very important point by the way to know Jesus is to know the father and in 1st John 2 23 whoever denies the son does not have the father either he who acknowledges the son has a father also the Bible makes it very clear that if Jesus isn't your savior God is not your father and so when we have any even Christians I've had them I've heard them argue well you know at least they're worshiping God after their own way or their own God well the Bible doesn't teach that see again I came out of the hippie background in all of that you know where we said it's a brotherhood of man and and we're all sons of God we referred to ourselves as that you know child of God I'm a child of God we had songs that saying that you know Woodstock you know but Johnny Mitchell Johnny Mitchell you know I came across a child of God he was walking down the road that's how we spoke of ourselves we're all children of God God is our father but the Bible doesn't teach that as many as received him to them gave you the power to become sons of God even into those who believe in its name that's what the scripture teaches and so Jesus is making it very clear if God were your father you'd recognize who I am seeing that you don't recognize who I am God is not your father in verse 20 these words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple the treasury was located in it when you look at a map of the temple area it was divided into four four courts and one of the courts is called the court of the women and the court of the women were 13 trumpet shaped chests they use those to collect the alms and so that's where he was in the treasury area in the court of the women and it says that they were restrained from taking him why it was not his time it says in verse 20 these words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple no one laid hands on him his hour had not yet come then verse 21 Jesus said to them again I'm going away and you will seek me and will die in your sin where I am where I go you cannot come and then you said will he kill himself because he says where I go you cannot come and he said to them you're from beneath I'm from above you're of this world I'm not of this world therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins for if you do not believe that I am he you will die in your sins and so Jesus said I'm gonna go away in other words you claim to be looking for or awaiting Messiah I'm gonna die I'll return to my father yet you still will reject me even after my resurrection and in rejecting me you're gonna die unforgiving in your sins you will not enter the kingdom well when he says that in verse 22 they're saying well will he kill himself this again may be a bit of sarcasm because they believe suicide resulted in eternal judgment and so they're actually being sarcastic he says where I go you cannot come in other words why would we want to follow you to hell suicide results in eternal judgment so they're being sarcastic and so he goes on in verse 23 you're from beneath I'm from above you're of this world I'm not of this world therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins for if you do not believe that I am he you will die in your sin you belong to this world you make judgments based on your carnal understanding because of this you're blind to who I am and you reject me you're at war but like it says in Romans 8 7 and 8 the carnal mind is enmity against God it's not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God the carnal mind is hostily opposed to the things of God if God says it's black they say it's white if God says it's sweet they say it's sour if God says it's up they say it's down that's what we do we're hostile we're opposed him that's what we are by nature if a sign says don't walk on the grass we lay on the grass they have a picture of us taken there on the grass that's what we do we have had rebellion and so he's making it very clear that there's no way you can be pleasing to God because you're in opposition and so they go on to say who are you verse 25 and Jesus said to them just what I have been saying to you from the beginning I have many things to say and a judge concerning you but he who sent me is true and I speak to the world those things which I heard from him they didn't understand that he spoke to them of the father and so who are you why are you making these claims any answers I have consistently made it very clear but you have consistently rejected me I'm the light of the world but you love darkness and in verse 27 well they didn't understand he was speaking to them of the father and that's because they walk in darkness they're spiritually blind there there may be times when you've shared with people the faith of the Lord you mean sharing the gospel to them and and you give them all kinds of information and lots of scriptures and you're certain that you've convinced them and yet they still reject I've had a few conversations in my day with people some who have been from you know a religious cult and all and I've I've given them scriptures especially at the beginning of my walk when I was learning things about the Lord and we share with people who were sharing with me and and and I'd say surely this argument will help them to see and I would tell him something and and expect that they would see but the bottom line is I had to learn 2 Corinthians 4 verses 3 and 4 where Paul said even if our Gospels veiled it's veiled to those who are perishing whose minds the God of this age is blinded who do not believe lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who's the image of God should shine on them you can argue with person all day long and you can have all the right answers and be able to supply the right responses it takes the Holy Spirit's conviction to awaken a person to sin righteousness and judgment so the best I can do is sow seeds you know one man sow seed another one waters but God brings the increase and as long as you understand that and that's what's taking place and then finally he goes on to say verse 28 when you lift up the Son of Man you will know that I am he that I do nothing of myself but as my father taught me I speak these things and he who sent me is with me the father has not left me alone for I always do those things that please him as he spoke these words many believed in him when I when I'm crucified after my resurrection who I am will be abundantly clear because if I be lifted up I will draw in all men and to myself the cross is that magnet that attracts the attention of man and that's why we preach Christ crucified that's why we speak of Jesus dying on the cross for us and one of the things you might want to do it's not hard to do is read the book of Acts not every word but every sermon there's several sermons in it and you can find the sermons in acts pretty easily there's several of them but not so many that you couldn't do that in one sitting and I want you if you do it I would like you to look and see what the messages were centered on the messages that you hear in the book of Acts all these early messages was on Jesus dead buried and resurrected that was at is the center of the gospel Jesus dead buried and resurrected and so Paul would speak that when he preached he gave that message when he preached why the apostle Peter did the same why because that's how you're saved and so you preach the gospel and as you preach concerning who Christ is and what Christ has done God the Holy Spirit convicts the heart of the hearer and very often that person can be brought to faith in Christ and it says in verse 30 as he spoke these words many believed in him now people don't get saved because of somebody's testimony I I'll close with this this just happened this week this illustration I was just sharing it with my staff yesterday how somebody wrote on Facebook Facebook I said you know I know old people use Facebook I'm one of the old people and somebody wrote and said something about testimonies and as they wrote concerning testimonies they said don't be giving your testimony give the gospel it's just a just an exhortation and and so people begin to respond as they do that's what Facebook's for right converse and talk and all of that and that's what they do and to argue and so a few people wanted to post and well you know testimonies are good and and and helps people to identify and and and I get it I understand that I'm I'm not going to argue with it that's true I mean that's true it helps people to put flesh we'll say to to the message God says he saves I've been saved this of where I was this where I'm at yeah I see how that works I'm not posted that at all yeah Paul on a few occasions spoke concerning what he was like he gives his testimony several times in the book of ax no less than three times he does so in first Timothy and other places and he'll make mention of what he was and all of that I get it but I said this and I said you know testimonies when Paul there's nothing wrong with them but when Paul was talking to Timothy Paul said to Timothy preach the gospel he didn't say Timothy give your testimony I said I've given over 8,000 Bible studies over 8,000 Bible studies I have probably studied the Bible no less than 32,000 hours no less than that in my life probably more 8,000 Bible studies at least over 32,000 hours of study and I have never seen anybody get saved by my testimony but I have seen many people saved by the gospel so you preach the gospel you share what Jesus did how he died why he died how he was resurrected because that's what they call the crux of the matter the word crux is the cross that's the center of the matter we preach Christ crucified dead buried but alive and it's in the preaching and the teaching and we just read it and we'll look at this again next time we're together a little bit further they believed in him because of what he said the gospel message the teachings of Christ and the church by the way is getting away from the gospel we're getting caught up with entertainment because we realize pastors like myself realize that people would rather play with their their electronic devices than to listen to a message but guess what the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most exciting real thing you could embrace and that changes lives and that's what happened when Jesus was speaking they listened to him and many believed in him because of what he said that's the gospel and father