We are in the second part of Ch 8 this morning and like last week there are two sections of the passage to consider…
Let me remind you that Jesus is walking on thin ice… The leaders of the Jews are trying to find a reason to kill him…
Jesus should be speaking carefully, but last week he seemed to ignore the danger… and he challenged the leaders with a number of provocative statements… I am the light of the World and you will die in your sins….
This week He is a lot more gentle with them… not really… in fact, not at all…
Jesus hits them with a series of claims and accusations… That lead to them trying to stone Him… spoiler alert… He gets away…
A question… Is it okay for us to judge people?... High schools - Character - actions and words… Good manners trick…
Jesus believes that it is important to judge people… based on their behavior… And the people He is speaking to… they don’t like it…
He starts in vs 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
You guys are claiming to be my disciples… Some of you are and some of you are not… I know what is happening in your heart… How can you know? If you hold to my teaching… Really hold to my teaching…. then you know you are my disciples… you are judged on your fruit… on your actions
The Bible tells us that there will be many people who believe they are followers of Christ yet they are not… one day… Lord, Lord I… Depart from me, I do not know you…
Jesus says that we know that we are his followers, if we follow His teachings… makes sense… we don’t get to take the bits we like and call ourselves disciples…..disciples follow every teaching and then search out more… Disciples strive to follow the leader…
What are these teachings Jesus refers to?
The people of the day would have heard what Jesus was preaching… remember that many of the things Jesus says are revolutionary at the time… love your enemy…turn the other cheek… hate is murder… Lust is adultery… Do not take oaths…
Before Jesus servant leadership was not a thing… humility was not revered…
We read later Paul writes lists of sins which show that a person is not a Christian….. If you are not sure, God’s word is faithful and true….go and read it….if you reject His teaching then you are rejecting Him… Your personal opinion is NB… it shows if you follow Christ or yourself…
The point is that, just saying I am a follower of Christ is not good enough…. Just wanting to be a follower is not good enough…
there is a definite line between those who are genuine followers and those who just like the idea of being a Christian… The difference is in their hearts of course, but played out in their actions…
The main point of contention in this discussion is however the second part of what Jesus says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”
What does he mean by this? Well ultimately, as followers of Christ, we know that we understand the whole truth because of the HS
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
Like last week’s reference to Jesus being the light of the World… The spirit reveals the truth and allows us to understand the World as it is without the clouds of sin and confusion…
1 Cor 213 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
In this specific case, in John 8, Jesus takes a more narrow, a more defined explanation …. This is necessary because those listening could not understand these things about the spirit yet… The truth Jesus now pursues with them is that our lives are not about physical expediency or comfort… The truth is that we are eternal beings and God has an interest in who we are…
In fact they miss that Jesus is talking about spiritual matters(as he always does) altogether... their minds are on things below and assume that he is making a political reference to slavery…
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Firstly, unless I have read my Bible incorrectly, they were at the very least slaves in Egypt and Babylon… but so be it…
An aside… are we, you and I, guilty of interpreting everything Jesus says in a physical sense? When we read the Word or listen to sermons are our minds consumed with how it affects my physical life?
Jesus emphasizes the spiritual, because this is what is by far the most important… This is the purpose of his coming to Earth…
For example… People today criticize the Bible for supporting slavery… when in fact the Bible does not support slavery, rather it prioritizes the spiritual condition of a person over the physical condition… Teaching us how to live for God’s glory in the situation we find ourselves in… whatever that is…
Jesus of course jumps onto the opportunity they have opened with their question about being set free…
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
See how He brings it back to the spiritual?
I.e. A slave is someone who has a master, they do not belong to themselves and they must do the master’s bidding…
A slave to sin? Yes, says Jesus… if you sin, you are a slave to sin… you are not free.
The choice set out here for them is simple…. You all sin……either you are a slave to sin and thereby you do what you are told…… or you are choosing to sin against God? In your ‘freedom’ you are rebelling against God…. which one is it?
No! You cannot help yourself, you will sin… this is the human condition… we are born into sin…
35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”
You are a slave to sin… I know this… I can see it… because I am telling you the ‘Words of THE God’… which I have heard in His presence… and yet, you are trying to kill me.
This has to be the ultimate sin… Rejecting God
Why are they trying to kill Jesus? ‘because you have no room for my word.’
Isn’t that interesting? While it is obvious that they have not accepted his word? How is there being no room the reason… Why is there no room? What is in their hearts and minds that there is no room? It must be filled with other stuff… What stuff? It does not say…
My best guess here would be based on two things…
1) I am a human being and tend towards the same problem… I understand through experience
2) Listening to the backwards and forwards here Jesus exposes the problem several times… And it is clearly an underlying theme He is trying to bring through…
They/ humans generally/ me are so filled with the physical World that God’s word at best needs to be squeezed in… Every time Jesus declares some huge spiritual truth these guys miss it and interpret it in a physical sense… last week and this week…
Jesus’ priority is the spiritual… he is talking about the spiritual, eternity, Godly matters… But they have no room for him, their lives are so filled with politics and position… self importance.
I wonder… even as Christians… is there space for God’s Word in our lives… or does it need to be squeezed into our understanding of the world and life?
Jesus says, they are rejecting these words of God… why? because you have to follow your master… It is proof that your father is the devil…
The good news however is that I can set you free… I am the Son of God… and you can be truly free from the bondage of sin…
As Christians we are all aware that we still sin… But we are also aware of our sin because of the prompting of the spirit… We are also empowered to overcome this sin because sin was defeated on the cross…
There will come a time when we will have new bodies and this sin will have no more power over us.. But for now we rely on the power of God, His Word and the forgiveness of our sins…
In God’s eyes we are no longer in a sinful condition, etc.
If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed
As usual …. The listeners miss what Jesus is actually saying….and protest that their father is Abraham…they seem to miss that He is saying that Satan is their father/master
39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.”(the devil)
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
The way a person acts tells us whether they are followers of Christ or the devil… Only two options…
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.
Jesus could not be more clear about who He is… in fact He goes on to say...
43 Why is my language not clear to you?
Because you are unable to hear what I say.(why unable?) 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
While this is self explanatory, I would like to touch on two points here…
Last week I referenced Is 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
The serpent in the garden lied to Eve, but it was a subtle lie… Easy to believe… yet it reveals the nature of the evil one as a liar…
The lies told and believed today are bizarre… they are outrageous… yet perfectly clever people buy into these bizarre lies wholeheartedly and many others can see the lie yet don’t protest because these others seem so convinced…
Richard Dawkins says, that he agrees that the physical constants like the speed of light, gravitational pull, the strong and weak force amongst others all need to be exactly what they are in order for the universe to exist and that it is a bit strange that these are all perfect… these are not just a few extra details to be worked out at some point…these are foundational scientific principles which are impossible without God…. yet he, along with millions of others still choose to reject God based on a few weak arguments and feelings…
Satan is a liar… the father of lies… We know the truth because our father is not the devil… we are children of God… we are no longer slaves to sin… we do not need to believe the lies… we have been set free… The truth has set us free… we need to hold to the truth… stand for truth and live by truth…
The other thing in vs 46… Jesus asks that they use the same measure against Him that He declared at the beginning of the chapter… ‘judge me by my works’… Is there sin in me? Have I done anything wrong? Yet you are trying to kill me… who then is right and who is wrong here? You will find no sin in me proving that I come from God… if I am without sin and yet you want to murder me, you are probably in the wrong… you need to listen…
The Jews find themselves stumped by His logic… We know this because they resort to the ‘You baby’ defence… the only argument they have… after all this truth… is name calling… Throw some dirt at Jesus and let's see if it sticks…
48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”
49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.
A patient and wise response to a personal insult… and perhaps we can learn from it….1) a short rejection of the offensive part of the accusation… and then 2) a deflection to God… an insult to us is an insult to God… and He will judge you… not me…
This is not just a good response to blunt an insult, but it also reminds us that there is no need to get upset… our identity is in Christ.
Jesus then changes the topic with a huge truth statement … Sure to cause hysteria…
51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
Again they are only thinking in physical terms and not about the spiritual world…
54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
Well to be fair… they did ask Jesus who He is… before Abraham was born, I am…
How can you stone someone for answering your question…?
We have heard this statement, ‘I am’ before somewhere… Actually a few times. Most notably when Moses asks God who he is at the burning bush… Jesus saying ‘I am’ seems so simple, but yet it is the biggest claim ever…
For those who claim that Jesus never claimed to be God this chapter needs to be read…. But no part is more important than the statement’ I am:’
‘I am’ tells us that Jesus existed outside of time…those arguing with him were worried that he had never met Abraham…. yet he is not in the past, the present or the future… there is no tense…. ‘I am’ indicates that He has always existed….. Not a couple of thousand years old but infinite.
‘I am’ tells us that he is outside of the physical world… Matter has only existed since the beginning of time and he has always existed… He is not bound by physical boundaries… he proves this through His miracles…
Finally ‘I am’ is the name all the Jews would have known for God… they have been taught in the old testament to stone anyone who blasphemes… They are doing the right thing by stoning a blasphemer… If Jesus was one…
This of course exposes their unbelief… They finally get that Jesus is claiming to be God and they reject Him…
To say that this chapter is pivotal to the purpose of the gospel of John is an understatement… remember John 20:31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
There is no space for anyone to say that Jesus does not lay claim to being God… This is backed up by His actions and miracles… Jesus believes in judging people by their actions and in this gospel He proves His claims beyond doubt.
Today of course we are presented with the same choice… To believe the lies of the Devil and fill our lives with stuff that there is no space for God’s Word… or to take Jesus at His word fy, hand be set free from the slavery to sin… To see life through an eternal Godly lens and live a life of purpose as God plans for us…
