The Gospel of John

I AM the Resurrection – Part 2

John 11

Last week we launched into our study of John 11 by taking a look at it from 30,000 feet. From that vantage point we saw in the events of the chapter the very nature of salvation. We learned that “salvation” is not religious cliché — it is in fact a tremendous spiritual reality that is nothing less than the giving of life to the dead.

This week we are going to begin to walk through the chapter and take in the amazing details of the chapter.

J.C. Ryle (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels) said this about John 11 — It is without a doubt one of the most remarkable in the New Testament. For grandeur and simplicity, for pathos and solemnity, nothing was ever written like it.

John Ross Macduff (Memories of Bethany) said this — Heaven and earth seemed then to touch one another. We have the tender tones of a Man blended with the ineffable majesty of God. Hopes “full of immortality” shine with their celestial rainbow-hues amid a shower of holy tears. The cancelling from our Bibles of the 11th chapter of St. John would be like the blotting out of the brightest planet from the spiritual firmament.

¹Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair (That comes up in the next chapter), whose brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

Here is one of the most striking things about this chapter. Think back to the Prologue of John’s Gospel.

John 1:1; 14 ¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…… ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

THIS IS AWESOME — In the opening words of John 11 the Holy Spirit gives us a peak into the private life of God Incarnate (John 1:1) — EMMANUEL — God with Us (Matthew 1:23). We discover that when God became man that He had a place and friends that were dear to Him. Bethany was situated on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Jerusalem (V.18). Today, Bethany goes by the Arab name El-Azariyeh which references the name of Lazarus. This little village on the Eastern slope of the Mount of Olives is extraordinary in that it was the place from which Jesus entered Jerusalem to be crucified (Matt. 21:17; 26:6; Mark 11:1; Mark14:3);

And the place from which Jesus ascended into heaven (Luke 24:50).

Bethany was not only extraordinary in that regard — it is extraordinary because it held a special place in the life of Jesus. Along with Bethphage it was a place where Jesus stayed when visiting Jerusalem. It is extraordinary in that it was the place from which Jesus entered Jerusalem to be crucified (Matt. 21:17; 26:6; Mark 11:1; Mark14:3) and it was the place from which Jesus ascended into heaven (Luke 24:50).

In Luke’s Gospel (Luke 9:58) we are told that Jesus had no home of his own — He had nowhere to lay his head. Yet there was one village that seemed to feel like home to Him. In Bethany there was one family that opened their home to Him.

Luke 10:38-39 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. ³⁹And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.

Lazarus, Martha and Mary opened their home to God who became man.

Check this out — 1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

As we look at John 11 we see DIVINE CONDESCENSION — Though heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain God — God STOOPED to us — left His throne of Glory to redeem and save us — and on His way to the die for our sins He was also pleased to be at home with them.

³So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

So this family loved Jesus — and Jesus loved them! God with us had a close relationship with this family! Jesus had a heart so great that He could love all of mankind. He had a heart so great that He could have compassion on multitudes and heal countless strangers — but as God with us — as the Word become flesh — He enjoyed the personal friendship of this family!

QUOTE: Bible Handbook — In some languages the closest equivalent to your dear friend is “your close friend,” “your cherished friend,” or “one who is truly your friend.”^[1]

In John 5:20 this same word is used of the Father’s love for Jesus. Genuine friendship originates with the Triune God. Man yearns for friends and friendship because he is made in the image of God. We should treat friendship for what it is in its origins! Friendship is a HOLY thing! It is a God thing!

That is why when He became man He enjoyed the very personal friendship of this family!

In His DIVINE CONDESENSCION He was also pleased to be with us in every part of the human experience (except sin). He was even God with us in the reality of personal friendships! Next week we will see how Jesus understood the uniqueness of His friends and how He ministered to each of them in light of their uniqueness.

BY THE WAY — Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is still looking for men and women to open their hearts to Him — men and women who will welcome Him, love Him, worship Him and Serve Him.

“Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

A COUPLE OF THINGS HERE —

1.) The one Jesus loved was sick. We’ll see in a moment that Lazarus is so sick that he was going to die! To be sick — to be terminally ill — is not a sign that God doesn’t love you; that God is displeased with you.

2.) Mary and Martha immediately sent word to Jesus  — They were convinced that Jesus loved them and that Jesus loved Lazarus. They made no demands — They didn’t ask Him to drop everything and come to Bethany — They didn’t ask Him heal Lazarus from a distance. They simply said — “Lord, he whom You love is ill” and left the matter there believing that Jesus would do what was best. What a powerful picture of faith — humility and submission to Jesus!

There is no one more merciful, loving, and gracious than Jesus. There is no one more capable of helping and healing!

⁴But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Here’s what D.A. Carson had to say in Verse 4 — It’s not that this sickness occurred in order for God to be glorified, but rather that it constituted an occasion for God’s glory to be revealed. ^[2]

QUOTE: Jonathan Edwards — “The object of all things is God’s glory; when God gets His glory - God’s people get their joy!”

THINK ABOUT THIS — The glory of God is going to be revealed in the context of sickness, suffering and death! God will be glorified by way of the sickness and death of Lazarus. Many people find it inconceivable that God can be glorified through suffering and death. Our culture — along with a thing called pride — condition us to think that God’s glory is ALWAYS revealed best and most through the most gifted and most notable of his servants; through the lives of the best and the brightest; the most visible. Moses before Pharaoh — David before Goliath — Elijah on Mt. Carmel —Peter on the day of Pentecost —Paul on Mars Hill or before Caesar Nero. DON’T MISS THIS — Lazarus was never called to be one of the 12. He never performed a great miracle. Lazarus, by the will of God, was called to live in a little village a couple of miles outside of 1^st Century Jerusalem. Without pretense or desire for fame all he did was gladly open his heart and life and home to God Incarnate and those who travelled with Him.

AMAZINGLY — God Incarnate said that in the obscurity of this 1^st Century village, He  would receive glory in this man’s sickness and death. Imagine that — God can be glorified in the sickness, suffering and death of the most obscure — unknown man or woman! This is not suggesting that we should all be crying out to the Lord to make us terminally ill so that He can be glorified in us. But it does tell us that our view of HOW and WHEN and WHERE God is glorified is distorted by a value system that is not heaven’s. It does tell us that in human tragedy and suffering — and even in death — God can work to the end that He is glorified. My sister, Richelle, was no Paul the apostle; no Billy Graham. She was just a wife and mother of two children. She never preached before a crowd. She never called fire down from heaven. But in her terminal sickness  — they she lived through it and the way she died — brought Glory to God. Dozens of people, from hair-stylists, to nurses, from Point Loma surf legends — to atheist uncles, received Jesus at her memorial service.

THINK ABOUT THIS — This opens to us the reality of God’s people actually having JOY in the midst if suffering. That does not mean the elimination of pain — it means the experience of joy in the midst of pain. We must never think that God’s love and suffering are incompatible — or that joy and suffering are incompatible.

⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

There are times when I say — Nathan (or Ashley), can you get food for the dog? The not uncommon response is, “Just a minute.” There is something more pressing — like a video game or text message — than feeding our rat-dog, Toby. And honestly, I’m not that bothered that Toby has no food — I mainly don’t want to hear his weird begging noises. But this is not that. What could have been more pressing to Jesus than the terminal illness of his dear friend, Lazarus? As far as Mary and Martha were concerned, the answer was, NOTHING! For Mary and Martha, those 48 hours were an eternity!

HERE’S THE DIFFICULTY — ⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶So…. he stayed two days longer 20 miles away from them. He loved them so He waits? Jesus loves all three of them — WHY did Jesus wait?

We also KNOW that Jesus loves us. We are living on THIS SIDE of the Cross and Empty Tomb. Yet there are many times when Jesus delays His answers. In fact — it seems that from man’s perspective (that would be you and me) God is always late! He is ALWAYS LATE by our timetable but He is ALWAYS ON TIME by His.  In one of Peters letters (2 Peter 3:9) Peter says that God is never slow, never late — He’s just patient! God dwells outside of time (Isaiah 57:15). God doesn’t live in the realm of seconds and minutes, hours and days, weeks and months, years and decades, centuries and millennia. That’s why we struggle with the WHEN of God’s answers. That’s why we question God’s love for us when His answers seem to be late!

HUGE — God’s delays are not necessarily His denials! The absence of an answer is not an indication of the absence of His affection!

HUGE — His timetable is calibrated to ETERNAL concerns, not temporal. He is far more interested in our eternal well being than our temporal comfort.

By contrast — my timetable usually focuses on the urgent and is sometimes blind to the important. My timetable is usually concerned with my temporal comfort rather than God’s eternal glory.

I need to remember, and be encouraged to remember, God’s perspective — and that God’s perspective factors eternity into the minutes and seconds of my life!

The famous Scottish preacher, Alexander Maclaren, preached a sermon on this passage called THE DELAYS OF LOVE. He said this —

QUOTE: Alexander Maclaren — A will may be broken at a blow, but it will take a while to bend it. And just because swiftly passing disasters have little permanent effect in moulding our wills, it is a blessing, and not an evil, to have some standing fact in our lives, which will make a continual demand upon us for continually repeated acts of bowing ourselves beneath His sweet, though it may seem severe, will. God’s love in Jesus Christ can give us nothing better than the opportunity of bowing our wills to His, and saying, ‘Not mine, but Thine be done.’ …. So, dear friends, if you carry a lifelong sorrow, do not think that it is a mystery why it should lie upon your shoulders when there are omnipotence and an infinite heart in the heavens. If it has the effect of bending you to His purpose, it is the truest token of His loving care that He can send.

How do I know that I’m looking at things from my perspective rather than God’s? My perspective is always — “My will be done, now!” But when I am processing my circumstances from God’s eternal perspective it is always —“Nevertheless, not my will, but Your will be done.!”

⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”

From a human point of view their question is reasonable! We saw at the close of John 10 that the religious rulers wanted to kill Jesus. They had picked up stones to kill Him (John 10:32).

John 10:39-40 Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. ⁴⁰He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.

I like what J.C. Ryle said here —

QUOTE: The servants of Christ are often placed in circumstances just as puzzling and perplexing as those of the disciples. They are led in ways of which they cannot see the purpose and object; ….The path they are obliged to walk in is not the path of their own choice. At present they cannot see its usefulness or wisdom….. He need not doubt that what he cannot see now, he will understand hereafter. He will find one day that there was wisdom in every step of his journey, though flesh and blood could not see it at the time. If the twelve disciples had not been taken back into Judea, they would not have seen the glorious miracle of Bethany. If Christians were allowed to choose their own course through life, they would never learn hundreds of lessons about Christ and His grace….

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

Both the Romans and the Jews divided the day into two 12 hour periods. Day was a reference to the light hours of the day. Work in Biblical times was essentially limited to daylight hours. Apart from rare exceptions (such as shepherds, night watchmen, or special messengers), no one worked in the dark.

Jesus is essentially saying that as long as He is in the world, it’s light — and the Father has given Him work to finish. Jesus knew that Bethany was a mere 2 miles from Jerusalem — and that the miracle of raising Lazarus would precipitate His own arrest and death. But it was irrelevant to Jesus as to whether or not people want Him dead. What mattered was the Father had a work for Him to do in the raising of Lazarus from the dead — a work that would bring Glory to God and joy to His people.

HUGE — All of His life was driven by HEAVEN. All of His life was driven by the will of the Father — by His love for the Father and by the Glory of the Father. That relationship to the Father and the things of heaven is the only thing that enables us to have a right relationship to this world!

Colossians 3:1-2 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Jesus stewarded His time and life in relationship to Heaven! He never let man dictate where He would go or what He would do or when he would do it.

CLASSIC EXAMPLE —  Early in His ministry Jesus was ministering in Capernaum. People were coming from everywhere to see Him and hear Him and be healed by Him.

Luke 4:42-43 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, ⁴³but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns (un-walled villages) as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”

The language implies that He was sent forth from prayer with marching orders from the Father. And even here — the desperate message from three dear friends did not dictate WHAT Jesus would do; WHEN Jesus would do it; or WHERE Jesus would do it.

The will of the Father — and the Glory of the Father — were not wrapped up in the healing of Lazarus from a distance; nor in the hasty arrival of Jesus to merely be with Mary and Martha. They were wrapped up in the arrival of Jesus 4 days after the death of Lazarus and the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

¹¹After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”

In the New Testament Sleep is a metaphor for death (Acts 7:60; 1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18).

¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

They’re thinking that a little bed rest will make Lazarus better.

¹³Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Jesus didn’t say that He was glad that Lazarus was dead — as we will see Jesus was deeply moved by the death of His friend. Jesus was glad that He wasn’t there — because now He could reveal to His dear friends, and His disciples, and everyone else involved in this, that He is the Resurrection and the Life! The Father would be glorified and they would believe on Jesus!

AGAIN — Crisis — Confusion — Chronic Illness — Terminal Illness and Death are opportunities for God’s glory and for your faith to be built.

The famous English preacher, F.B. Meyer, preached a Sermon on this passage called LOVES DELAYS.

QUOTE: F.B. Meyer — God’s intention is that in the delay the soul may be led to take up a position which it had never assumed before, but from which it will never be again dislodged

¹⁶So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Thomas, called the Twin — a Hebrew name by which a person was known in Jewish circles; and a Greek name by which he was known in the larger circle of Greek culture. Peter is the Greek and Cephas is the Hebrew for a rock; Tabitha is the Hebrew, and Dorcas the Greek for a gazelle. Thomas is the Hebrew and Didymus the Greek for a twin.

Most of us are familiar with the infamous nickname of Thomas — Doubting Thomas. But you have to love Thomas here! Church tradition says that Thomas was called “The Twin” because he looked like Jesus. You don’t want to be the identical twin of the guy whose face is on the poster of the 10 Most Wanted. If any among the disciples of Jesus were potential targets of persecution, it would be the one who looked like Jesus.

BY THE WAY — the same is true today for the man or woman whose life most looks like Jesus!

Here Thomas is essentially saying — If Jesus is going to go die; let’s go die with Him!

QUOTE: R. H. Strachan (cited by William Barclay) — “There was not expectant faith, but loyal despair.” But upon one thing Thomas was determined–come what may, he would not quit.

Real courage is not the absence of rational fear. Real courage is being fully aware of the worst that can happen — and even being made physically sick by it — and in the face of that still doing the right thing. That was what Thomas was like that day. We should not be discourage or ashamed because of some rational fear — but we should be ashamed of allowing that fear to stop us from doing the right thing — from following Jesus. Thomas was committed to go wherever Christ goes, whatever that may cost him.

The account transitions now to Bethany and we will close with this —

¹⁷Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

Warren Wiersbe proposes this timeline — Jesus was at Bethabara, about twenty miles from Bethany (John 1:28; 10:40). The messenger arrived with the news that Lazarus was sick. If the man had traveled quickly, without any delay, he could have made the trip in one day. Jesus sent the guy back with the message — This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it and waited two more days before He left for Bethany. Jesus made the one day journey to Bethany, and by the time He and His disciples arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days. This means that Lazarus had died the very day the messenger left to contact Jesus! ^[3]

This means that by the time the messenger arrived back home, with the message —  This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it — Lazarus was already dead.

How were Mary and Martha supposed to process those words of Jesus when Lazarus was already in the tomb for 4 days.

TWO THINGS TO CONSIDER HERE —

1.) These two sisters had begun their journey through these circumstances in with faith in Jesus. Now Jesus was urging them to believe His word no matter how discouraging the circumstances might appear.

2.) The message of Jesus to Mary and Martha did not say that their brother would not die. He promised that death would not be the ultimate result — the ultimate result would be the glory of God.

In the face of the most unthinkable outcomes in life  — our only encouragement is the Word of God. The entire Christian life is based upon faith. It begins with faith and it is it lived by faith.

Romans 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,  as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Galatians 2:20 So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

2 Corinthians 5:7 ⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight.

THAT is why what we are doing this morning is so very important —

Romans 10:17 KJV So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

^[2] Köstenberger, A. J. (2004). John. Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament (327). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic.

^[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Jn 11:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

The Gospel of John

I AM the Resurrection

John 11

Related Topics:

As we have been studying John’s Gospel — each week I have walked away from our time in this amazing book of the Bible having learned so much about Jesus, and seen so much more of Jesus than ever before. I have walked away from each chapter saying — THAT chapter is the most radical, most wonderful, most amazing look at Jesus — And then we come to the next chapter! And as we walk into that next chapter it’s becomes apparent that we haven’t even scratched the surface of the glory and grace and love of God that is wrapped up in Jesus.

In John 10 we were completely undone; overwhelmed and melted by the words of Jesus — I AM the Good Shepherd; I lay down my life for the sheep; I give them eternal life; They will never perish;  No one can snatch them from My hand or hand of My Father; I and the Father are one — and THEN we come to John 11 in which we find Jesus declaring I AM the Resurrection and the Life — and we see Jesus raising a man named Lazarus from the dead.

I can totally identify with the amazement of Paul

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

I can totally identify with the Paul’s sense of unworthiness and privilege —

Ephesians 3:8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Those riches are so unsearchable and immeasurable that we will be seeing them unfolded for ETERNITY!

Ephesians 2:7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

John gives to us the record of seven signs (miracles) performed by Jesus. John refers to these miracles as signs because the miracles were not an end in and of themselves. They were intended to be like signs that point men and women beyond the sign itself to the very person and nature of Jesus.

Jesus performed many more miracles than the seven in John’s Gospel. But John handpicked these seven —

John 20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

In John 11 we find the 7^th and last miracle (sign) recorded by John. John selected this miracle as the 7^th because it was the most significant miracle of our Lord’s earthly ministry. It elicited the most intense of responses from His friends and from His enemies. He had raised others from the dead, but Lazarus had been in the grave four days. It was a miracle that could not be denied or avoided by the Jewish leaders.

We cannot overstate the significance of this miracle — As we will see in our study of this chapter — the Bible calls death our “enemy.” Paul says this about following Jesus —  “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable’ (1 Corinthains 15:19). Here in John 11 we see that Jesus Christ is the absolute victor over the grave.

This chapter is like a precious diamond — there are so many facets to it. By God’s grace we will hold the facets of this chapter up to the illuminating person and power of the Holy Spirit — and let the Him shine into our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus.

The overriding truth of the John 11 is found in Verse 25 — Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Around that incredible I AM statement of Jesus is a multitude of details — each of them containing a treasure of truth in regards to Jesus. Let’s read through the chapter in its entirety.

¹Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” ¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” ¹³Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. ²⁰So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” ²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

²⁸When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. ³¹When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³²Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. ³⁴And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵Jesus wept. ³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” ⁴⁴The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

⁴⁵Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” ⁴⁹But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵²and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

⁵⁴Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. ⁵⁶They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” ⁵⁷Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

In the following weeks we are going to walk through these verses from ground level — we will unpack the details of the account like: The village of Bethany and the role it played in the life of Jesus; the friendship that Jesus enjoyed with Mary, Martha and Lazarus; the love of God Incarnate for this family; the apparently odd and delayed response of Jesus to the desperate plea and circumstances of those He loved; death, burial and grieving in the cultural of 1^st century Israel; the response of God Incarnate to all of it; and the response of the people to the work of God Incarnate.

But this morning we are going to launch into our study of the chapter by taking a look at it from 30,000 feet. I pray that we will see from that vantage point how the Holy Spirit instructs us about the very nature of salvation.

“Salvation” is one of those words that have tragically fallen into the realm of cliché. While the average church-goer misunderstands or misuses the word “saved,” the unbelieving world resents the word “saved” because it so clearly implies that they might be lost and need to be saved — need a savior!

I believe that one of the reasons the Holy Spirit inspired John to record this miracle was to help us understand that “salvation” is not religious cliché — it is in fact a tremendous spiritual reality that is nothing less than the giving of life to the dead.

We believe that every word in the Scriptures is inspired. The Holy Spirit inspired John to use the word “LIFE” thirty-six times in this Gospel! So let’s take our look from 30,000 feet and ask the Lord to write the truth about salvation on the tablets of our hearts in a life altering way — and speak to men and women about the NEED to be saved.

At the heart of the story is the fact that Lazarus was DEAD —

¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,

Mankind looks at the state of planet earth and concludes that the planet and humanity is culturally; socially; politically; economically; and ecologically sick. Mankind believes that by way of education and evolution the patient can fully recover.

TRUTH — Outside of Jesus Christ — the whole of mankind — the societies and cultures of mankind — and every individual — are not merely sick needing to get healthy — the whole of it is spiritually dead. It exists but is lifeless.

Ephesians 2:1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Colossians 2:13 NLT You were dead because of your sins….. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.

God warned Adam that disobedience would bring death

Genesis 2:15-17 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Sin brought Physical Death into this world — the separation of the soul from the body. Sin brought Spiritual Death into this world — the separation of the soul from God. Left unresolved, sin results in Eternal Death. The Book of Revelation calls that the second death — eternity in hell separated from God.

Lazarus was DEAD! He had expired — breathed his last. He could not be educated out of the grave. There was no philosophy that could get him out of the grave. There was no system of moral conduct that could get him out of the grave. Lazarus needed a resurrection!

When a person is spiritually dead — existing, but separated from the Life of God — no amount of philosophical or religious education; no amount of moral reform can change their condition! They need new life. Like Lazarus — only Jesus Christ can give him/her life.

So — outside of Jesus we are all DEAD. Unlike Miracle Max’s diagnosis of Wesley in the movie Princess Bride (Mostly Dead) — There are no degrees of dead! But there are degrees of decay!

The Gospels tell us that Jesus raised three individuals from the dead. There was the daughter of Jairus — a twelve-year-old girl who had died while Jesus was on His way to her house (Luke 8:49-56). There was the only son of a widow in the village of Nain. He had been dead several hours (Luke 7:11-17). There was an amazing moment when two crowds met. One with Jesus in the center of it and the other with a casket in the center of it. LIFE and Death met head on — and Life conquered death.

John tells us that Lazarus was DEAD — AND that he had Decayed

³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

The point is that all three were dead. One person cannot be “more dead” than another. The only difference lay in the degree of decay.

The unsaved — moral church-goer is not “decayed” like the person on skid row, but he is still dead. The great problem with church–goers who profess faith in Jesus is that they measure their salvation in light of the degree of decay rather than by the reality that they were UTTERLY DEAD in sin. The unrepentant — clean-cut — church-going homeschooling family — is as DEAD in sin as someone living in homosexual sin.

That’s why so often the person who was radically decayed when they were saved is so utterly and completely sold out for Jesus. They are aware of just how dead they were when Jesus saved them.

Lazarus was powerless to change his condition. Those who loved him greatly could do nothing to undo his condition — except Jesus!

The only thing Mary, Martha and the friends of Lazarus could was weep over his death. It was ONLY JESUS who could give life to him. FIRST — We need to recognize that we are powerless to save ourselves. We are powerless to save our friends and loved ones. ONLY JESUS can give life to the lifeless!  I wonder — Do we look at the lost world the same way Mary and Martha looked at Lazarus? Are we urgent for and weeping? I wonder — Do we look to Jesus in the same way Mary and Martha looked to Jesus? Do we realize that we MUST see Jesus working to save? THAT is what prayer is!  THAT’s why PRAYER is so important. Prayer is crying out to Jesus for a dead and lost world. It is looking to Jesus.

Why did Jesus raise Lazarus from the grave? Because it brought glory to God (verse 4).  Because Jesus loved him (verse 5; 36). That is why Jesus has saved us. We deserve the penalty of our sin — the wages of sin is death. But because of His great love, He rescued us.

Ephesians 1:1-14 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.¹¹In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹²so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 2:1-9 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

THIS IS HUGE — Salvation is not a set of rules; it is life! Life that is FOUND only in Jesus — life that is GIVEN by Jesus and RECEIVED by faith. And once again we come to the reality that life really is ALL ABOUT JESUS!

Notice how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead — By the power of His word. This is the way He raised the he daughter of Jairus

Luke 8:54-55 But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” ⁵⁵And her spirit returned, and she got up at once.

This is the way he raised the widow’s son

Luke 7:14-15 And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” ¹⁵And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

THIS is the way Jesus raises us from spiritual death into new Life.

John 5:24-25 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. ²⁵“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

When those who are dead in their sin hear the Word of the Good News and believe, they pass from death to life — they receive life that is eternal in nature because the life of God is poured into them. The ONLY way you end up forever dead —forever separated from God — is by rejecting that Word.

The resurrected life of Lazarus is also a great picture of New Life in Jesus.

⁴⁴The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

FIRST — When Lazarus was brought from death to life He was bound hand and foot. Though he was raised from the dead he could not enjoy the fullness of his new life while still wearing the burial clothes.

The believer is not brought from death to life so that he can remain in bondage — bound by the graveclothes of the old life. He receives new life from Jesus so that he can walk in freedom. Paul would say — put off the old man and put on Christ (Ephesians 4:22; Romans 13:14).

Jesus then did such a beautiful thing — he invited His followers to participate in the resurrected life of Lazarus. Only Jesus could call him forth from the grave — but Jesus asked them play a role in the working out of this man’s salvation. There was something that they could do — they could remove the binding garments of the grave. That is one facet of the beauty of the Body of Christ.

SECOND — He was DEAD and then he was made alive. He was walking in the newness of life! That resurrected life became a testimony to Jesus — who IS the Resurrection and the Life.

⁴⁵Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him

The great crowd that gathered on Palm Sunday came not only because of Jesus, but also because of Lazarus. In John 12:11 we are told that Lazarus was causing people to trust Christ — just by living and breathing! The same is true of the person who is saved. Our NEW LIFE speaks volumes to the dead world we used to be a part of.

Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Lazarus was a walking miracle! THAT is what every Christian ought to be! THAT is the privilege and responsibility of every man or woman who has been saved!

THIRD — Following his resurrection Lazarus enjoyed fellowship with Jesus.

In John 12:1-2 we see Lazarus sitting at the table with Christ — feasting and fellowshipping with the one who had raised him from the dead! THAT is the same reality for the man and woman who have been “saved.” Paul wrote of this in his letter to the Christians in Ephesus —

Ephesians 2:5-6 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Lazarus was so amazed at the love of Jesus and the mercy of Jesus that he wanted to be with Jesus. The meal in Biblical times was a deep expression of intimacy. Lazarus wanted to be close to the one who had raised him from the grave! He wanted to express his love and gratitude — and wanted to be near to the source of his new life! The man or woman that has been saved wants to be close to the one who saved them! The moment we are saved we receive the gift of eternal life. But that moment is not the end — it is the beginning of eternal life. It is a life lived in fellowship with Jesus — worshipping Him and serving Him and receiving life and instruction from Him. We are to GROW in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. When I was dead in sin I went to church because I HAD to. And as soon as I was old enough to make the decision for myself I stopped going to church. But when I got saved I couldn’t wait to go to church. I couldn’t wait to be with Christians. Everywhere I went — everything I did — I did with Jesus; did for Jesus.

INTERESTING — Mary, Martha and Lazarus give to us a composite picture of the Christian life — Mary is always found at Jesus’ feet, listening to His Word (Luke 10:38-42; John 11:32; 12:3). Martha is a picture of service — she was always busy doing something for Jesus. Lazarus is a picture of how living in the newness of life speaks to a lost world, and leads others to Christ. These three elements should be a part of our Christian experience: worship (Mary), work (Martha), and walk (Lazarus).

FINALLY — Lazarus — raised from the dead — not only got to be a living testimony to the Resurrection and the Life, and have fellowship with the Resurrection and the life — he also suffered persecution because of his new life. He was hated because his resurrected life convinced others that Jesus IS the Resurrection and the Life!

John 12:10-11 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, ¹¹because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

Many of the chief priests were Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection, and Lazarus was living proof that the Sadducees were wrong. Those who are opposed to Jesus and those opposed to the Gospel will try to do away with anyone whose life proves that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life! So as the school year ramps up and you live in the newness of life that Jesus has given to you — don’t be surprised if you come under fire!

Remember the account of Jesus delivering a man from demonic possession (Mark 5).

Mark 5:15-17 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid….. ¹⁷And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

Why would they be afraid of the guy in that condition? When the guy was possessed by a legion of demons he was threat to the entire region. But you know what  — when you get saved — when you are clothed and in your right mind sitting at the feet of Jesus — you make your unsaved friends afraid! Because your transformed life proves that Jesus is real, that heaven is real, that hell is real! Now they have to make a decision about Jesus.

The Gospel of John

The Absolute, Essential Deity of Jesus

John 10:22-42

Related Topics:

This morning we come to the close of this incredible 10^th chapter John. Let’s roll back a bit for the sake of review and context.

²²At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem.

Between verses 21 and 22, two months have passed. The Feast of Dedication came into existence around the 1^st century BC. It remembered and celebrated the tremendous victory of the Jews, under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus, over Antiochus Epiphanes who had slaughtered upwards of 100,000 Jews and had desecrated the Temple of the Living God. After defeating the mad man Antiochus, the Temple was cleansed are rededicated to the worship of the Living God of Israel. This feast provided the backdrop for this moment in the Life of Jesus — and the question that was about to be asked of Jesus.

It was winter, ²³and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. ²⁴So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

It’s the Feast of Dedication! The religious establishment concluded that the Messiah would be just like the hero of the Feast of Dedication — Judas Maccabeus — a man who would deliver Israel from Roman oppression. With this preconceived set of ideas as to what the Messiah will do they’re basically saying — “We’re looking for someone to fit into this box. Are you that guy?” Are you the guy that’s gonna do that?

We made a contemporary application of the question by noting that men and women do the same thing with Jesus today — They have their preconceived ideas about Jesus and then they try to stuff Jesus into those preexisting beliefs. WE NOTED THAT Jesus doesn’t fit into any world religion or philosophy. Jesus becomes the cornerstone on which any understanding of reality — any understanding of the world — is constructed. You can’t stuff Jesus into your thinking. You have to start with Jesus and let Him shape your belief system. Once again — Christianity is ALL ABOUT JESUS! It starts with Jesus and Ends with Jesus — He is the “Founder and perfecter of our faith.” He is called the Alpha and the Omega (A and the Z of the Greek alphabet). He is the First and the Last; the beginning and the End.

²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,

Jesus appealed to His works as His Messianic credentials.

²⁶but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.

The grammar here does not say that we believe and become a sheep in His flock.  What Jesus says here is that those who do believe, believe because they are His sheep.

²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

The emphasis here is not so much on election but on IDENTIFICATION. This is one of the identifying trademarks of His sheep. Paul would put it like this in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

You can say that you belong to Jesus — but if you don’t hear Him and follow Him, you’re not one of His sheep!

WE NOTED THAT for you and me to hear the voice of God and follow is a miracle. Can you think back on the times that you heard people talk about Jesus — heard someone share from the Bible — and you didn’t hear — you didn’t want to hear? But He is so longsuffering — so persistent in his love for us — He kept speaking. And finally there came that time when He spoke — and for reasons beyond you — you HEARD Him and said — “I think I just heard God…. that’s my dad!” — and you RESPONDED to Him and surrendered to Him.

²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

We spent a lot of time examining

1.) The meaning ETERNAL LIFE

2.) The fact that this ETERNAL LIFE is GIVEN to us

3.) The fact that we can never lose that gift because we are held by Jesus and the Father.

The question, Can I lose my salvation? actually boils down to this — “Can God be overpowered?” “Can God fail?”

THAT BRINGS US TO THE HEART OF THIS MORNING’S STUDY

³⁰I and the Father are one.”

To a good believing Jew, there was nothing in this statement that was shrouded in mystery. To the good believing Jew those words would have been inescapably clear. Three times a day every good Jew would recite Deuteronomy 6:4 which was called the Shema, and it was simply this: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, he is one.”

The word “one” in Deuteronomy 6:4 is the Hebrew word echad. It means singularity and plurality coexisting simultaneously. It literally means “Israel, the Lord our God, he is one God.” It sounds very peculiar, but it’s a reference to the Trinity. As Christians, we believe there is one God who eternally exists in three distinct persons; God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, each fully and equally God. Each is a distinct and unique person, but there is one God. That is exactly what Jesus is saying here. He says, “I and the Father”— God the Father and God the Son — We are one — One God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

QUOTE: A.T. Robertson — Says this about the word ONE used in John 10:30

Not one person (cf. εἱς [heis] in Gal. 3:28), but one essence or nature. ^[1]

HUGE — Jesus is NOT saying that He is the Father and the Father is the Son. That view of Jesus and the Father is known as modalism. This heresy essentially says that there is one God who puts on three masks. In the OT he acts like the Father; in the Gospels He acts like Jesus; and from the Book of Acts forward He acts like the Holy Spirit; but He is only playing one role at a time. Matthew 3 — Which records the Baptism of Jesus presents a problem for this view because in that passage Jesus comes out of the water – the Father speaks – and the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus. You can’t play three parts at the same time.

The Father was NOT born of a virgin — Jesus was. The Father did not grow up as a Galilean peasant — Jesus did. The Father did not die on a cross and walk away from the tomb — THAT was THE SON!

The Father SENT the Son. The SON died for sin. The Spirit was sent to convict us of our sin, regenerate us and indwell us. They are working together. They share the same divine nature — But they are distinct.

It is very popular for people to say that Jesus never claimed to be God. There are a lot of people who say that Jesus was a good man, who taught moral principles on how to be a good person. But they say that Jesus never thought he was God, Jesus never taught that he was God, and no one ever understood him to be God. They claim that it was only after he died that his followers made up this crazy story that he was God.

Unlike many who hold to such views — the Jews knew exactly what Jesus is saying.

³¹The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. ³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” ³³The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

I would encourage you to mark this verse in John 10. You will come back to it often. Jesus has just said — “I and the Father are one.” The Old Testament scholars of the day of Jesus responded to that by saying —  “You are a blasphemer. You are a man, and you’ve just claimed to be God.” It can’t get any clearer than that. Jesus was so obviously stating the fact of His ABSOLUTE, ESSENTIAL DEITY — that these men accused Jesus of blasphemy!  Anyone that tells you otherwise is wrong.

THIS IS HUGE AS WELL — Jesus didn’t stop them and say — wait a minute — you misunderstood me. They had already determined that Jesus should be killed on these very same grounds

John 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Again in John 8:58-59

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” ⁵⁹So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Jesus NEVER tries to explain that they are misunderstanding Him.  He just keeps making claims to be God.

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? ³⁵If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— ³⁶do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; ³⁸but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” ³⁹Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

Verse 34 is very controversial — “Has God not said you are gods?”

Religions throughout the course of human history can be subdivided into two very general categories: Monotheism and Polytheism. Mono = singularity, one; theos = God. One God. Poly = many, hence, many gods. Some religions teach that there is one God. Jews, Christians and Muslims teach that there is one God. Other religions will teach that there are multiple gods or many gods.

Hindus will tell you that there are millions of gods. Mormons will teach you that there is a pantheon of gods, and that if you’re a good man, one day you’ll become god and get your own planet, and your wife will be eternally pregnant and help you populate that planet. I do not know why that is appealing to women. She gets eternal morning sickness; he gets divinity and perpetual sex. By the way — this is very similar to the lie of Islam where good Muslim men have 70 virgins to enjoy forever in paradise. A guy named Ergun Caner said that if you want to understand Islam, think of it as a medieval form of Mormonism.

Mormonism in particular points to this verse to endorse their perverted theology. “See, Jesus said right here that there’s lots of gods.”

I’m sorry — but no, Jesus did not teach that. We’ll do a little work here to prove the point. Please go to Psalm 82 — because Jesus is quoting from that particular Psalm. When Jesus uses this word “gods” — and when the Psalmist uses this word “gods,” the word means rulers.

Psalm 82:1 “God presides in the great assembly, and he gives judgment among the gods (the little-g gods.) “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked, defend the cause of the weak and fatherless, maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed, rescue the weak and needy and deliver them from the hand of the wicked?”

The context is about men who have been appointed to rule and judge. And what they’re supposed to do is bring God’s law to bear on human circumstances. So if there’s a crime committed, or something happens and there’s an injustice that needs to be corrected, these men are rulers, and as rulers they are to render rulings from God’s law for the purpose of bringing justice. They are not divine — they do not eternally exist. They are men with authority, sitting in seats of authority and ruling — but in Psalm 82 they were doing it in an unjust way — and God is displeased with them.

Psalm 82:5 “They know nothing; they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness, and all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, ‘You are gods. You are all sons of the most high, but you will die like mere men. You will fall like every other ruler.’ ”

So the Holy Spirit tells us that they are merely men, sinful men, who have used their authority in negative ways and will die. The Psalm ends with — “Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.”

The last thing I’d like you to do is turn with me to the Book of Isaiah —Chapter 43, verse 10.

The reason we are going to look here is because some people will ask us very complicated questions —  and we don’t want to miss an opportunity to answer questions that can help open their hearts to the Jesus. The apostle Peter said this to the first century Christians —

1 Peter 3:15-16a but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; ¹⁶yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience,

So as people ask questions, it is our responsibility to be able to nicely and kindly answer their questions.

One of the common questions is — If you believe in God, why do you believe there is one God? We should not only know WHAT we believe (that there is ONE God); but we should know WHY we believe that (where the Bible says it).

So I want us to look at this section in Isaiah, because I think it is one of the clearest and most concise sections of Scripture that declares there is one God — and it says it repeatedly. Again — I would encourage you to mark this section in your Bible — because at some point in your life you will need it.

Isaiah 43:10b-11 “Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed. I am not some foreign god among you.”

God says, “There is no God but me, and you may develop your own gods and your own religions and your own thoughts, and you may watch Oprah and come up with your own opinions, but I don’t recognize any of them.”

He goes on in verse 15. He says, “I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.” Throughout the Book of Isaiah, repeatedly and continuously, God refers to himself as the Holy One, that he alone is holy and he alone is God.

Isaiah 44:6, he says, “I am the first and the last. Apart from me there is no god.” It doesn’t get any clearer than that.

Isaiah 44:8 “You are my witnesses. Is there any god besides me? No, there is no other rock. I know not one.”

Over in Isaiah 45:5–6 “I am the Lord, and there is no other. Apart from me there is no other god.” He goes on to say, “I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

Isaiah 45:14; 18; 21 “Surely God is with you, and there is no other. There is no other god….. ¹⁸ “I am the Lord, and there is no other…. ²¹ “And there is no god apart from me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other.

Isaiah 46:9 “Remember the former things, those of long ago. I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.”
I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I think I know where He’s going with this — I’ve got the feeling that He’s trying to tell us is there’s just one God.

I would encourage you to mark that section.

HUGE — On a number of occasions you’ve heard me say that when you are trying to interpret a difficult passage of Scripture that you start FROM the light and move forward into that which seems dark — you start with what you do know with a certainty in trying to understand that which seems uncertain. There’s a name for that rule of interpretation — It’s called Perspicuity. Perspicuity means that if I have 1,000 verses that tell me there is one God, and then I have one that looks like maybe it’s not saying that, I should interpret that one in light of the other thousand.  The cults and bad Bible teachers will ignore the thousand verses and elevate the one peculiar one as the proof text for their erroneous or heretical view. That’s not a faithful way to handle the Scriptures. That’s not a faithful way to handle any sort of relationship. If every day for 33 years I came home and told my wife that I loved her— and then one day I came home and didn’t tell her I love her —she should interpret my feelings toward her in light of every other day for those 33 years — and understand that whatever I said in a moment, or whatever I failed to say in a moment, did not undo or disprove the previous 33 years. If God has been clear in saying something to His people through the duration of human history and throughout the Scriptures — and then there’s a single passage of Scripture that seems a little peculiar, we should go with the duration of human history and the rest of Scripture in understanding Him.

Let’s finish the chapter.

Jesus has so lovingly suffered with these men — the majority of which have simply refused to hear what the Scriptures have to say about Jesus, what the Works of Jesus have to say about Jesus, and the very words of Jesus Himself. Some of them will break ranks with the majority who want to kill Jesus —and they will believe in Jesus.

But Jesus is being persecuted — He’s being openly opposed — and there are open threats of violence against Him. Jesus does not RECANT anything He has claimed about Himself — but He does RETREAT.

⁴⁰He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. ⁴¹And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” ⁴²And many believed in him there.

This moment in the life of Jesus is just painful. The leaders of His own people are rejecting Him! Again we are tethered to the prologue —

John 1:9-11 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

He knows His death is imminent. The great tide of public opinion is now turned against Him. All of His pleading and correction with the religious leaders is being ignored. With all of this bearing down on Him, what does God Incarnate do? He goes back to the place where He began His ministry — He goes back to the Judean wilderness and the Jordan River. There at the very start of His public ministry Jesus heard the Father say from heaven, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. There the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus to lead and empower His public ministry. Guys — When things bear down on you and you are undone — go back to where your new life began!

Colossians 2:6-10 ⁶Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him —

Do you remember the utter simplicity of that? The mind blowing reality that the Father loved you! The utter simplicity of just trusting Jesus — clinging to Jesus — relying upon Jesus. The reality of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.  The NLT continues that passage with

NLT ⁷Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. ⁸Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. ⁹For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. ¹⁰So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

⁴¹And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”

John the Baptizer never spoke in tongues — never raised somebody from the dead — never cleansed a leper — but everything thing that John said about Jesus was true! Take note of that. Jesus said John was the greatest prophet born among women. The greatness of John was that he was the prophet that the other prophets prophesied of (Malachi 3:1). Peter tells us this about the Old Testament prophets —

1 Peter 1:10-12 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. ¹¹They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward. ¹²They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you.

But John — the cousin of Jesus — was different in that he was the one who could actually point the finger and say behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. John the Baptizer was the last of the Old Testament prophets.  No Old Testament prophet ever prophesied with greater clarity than John because John was the only one who could point right at Jesus and say — There He is, He is the one.

Now I hope we can take this to heart. John did no miracle.  We all LONG to see the Lord work miracles! We have seen the Lord heal — but we long to see more. We see a child suffering and we say, Lord, in the Book of Acts you healed, you worked miracles. You said — “I am the Lord who heals you!” You said — “Let those who are sick call for the elders of the church…..” I believe he still does heal — And I believe God wants us to seek him for those things. Yet you and I have the same struggle.  Lord, why don’t we see more? Please remember this — John did no miracle, but everything he said about Jesus was true. I pray we can have that testimony.  If we go through life without seeing some miraculous thing — I still pray that when we breathe our last people can say — You know, that person talked about Jesus all the time.  Jesus was real in that person.  Everything he said about or she said about Jesus was true. I hope they can say of us what they said of the apostles in the book of Acts — They took note of them they were unlearned and ignorant men but that they had been with Jesus.

I want to see miracles Lord — but if we don’t — I’ll take the second half of this.

⁴²And many believed in him there.

What a blessing for Jesus — getting away from Jerusalem — from the hostility of the religious leaders — and there in the Judean wilderness the common people gladly heard the Good News of the Kingdom and believed.  Those are the sheep that Jesus said would believe because they were His sheep.

CLOSING — What a privilege we have to share Christ. I don’t think we realize what God has invested in us — especially in regards to the day and age that we live in.  The next election is not going to decide the eternal destiny of a single human being.  But invested in you and me is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is THE power of God to save! Satan trembles, not at who is in the White house — but he does tremble at who is living in YOUR house — who comes to THIS house. He trembles at men and women who are in love with Jesus and who go into their world and live for Jesus and share Jesus!

We can’t lead every man to Christ — But we can bring Christ to every man! What an AMAZING and DIVINE plan — putting eternal life into the likes of you and me and then letting us loose to infect the world.

The Gospel of John

The Good Shepherd Part 4

John 10:19-42

¹⁹There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” ²¹Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (A reference to John 9 where Jesus gave sight to a man born blind.)  ²²At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem.

Between verses 21 and 22, two months passed. It was time for another great feast — the Feast of Dedication — The Feast of Dedication Lasted 8 days,  and in the year 32 AD it took place between December 18-25.

Unlike the Feats of Passover; Pentecost; Booths — The Feast of Dedication was not prescribed by God through Moses. It was a relatively new feast. We’re going to have a short history lesson to get us to the Feast of Dedication and set the backdrop for this moment in the lifer of Jesus.

In 323 BC — When Alexander the Great was dying — he divided his kingdom between his four generals — Casander, Lycimicus, Ptolemny and Seleucus. For over 150 years there was tremendous animosity between the Ptolomnys in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria. One of the Seleucids was a mad man named Antiochus Epiphanes. In 175 BC. he began to rule over the area. He was a vile man — who by the way in the Book of Daniel is shown as a type or foreshadowing of the antichrist. The Jews would call him Antiouchus Epimanes, which means the mad man.

While going through the holy land during his campaigns, he develops a hatred for the Jews. While enroute to victory in Egypt we are told that he was met by a Roman representative who said, if you proceed any further you are at war with Rome, make your choice, whether you are going to proceed or go back. Antiouchus said, give me some time. The representative took a stick and drew a circle around him in the sand and said; I will give you some time, give me your decision before you step out of the circle. That was very humiliating for Antioucus Epiphanes. He bowed the knee to Rome — but he headed towards Israel really heated up. Upon his return to Jerusalem he killed 40,000 Jews in the first few days. He would kill 60,000 more in a short time afterwards. He made it illegal to worship Yahweh, the one true God. If you possessed a copy of the Law, the writings of Moses, you would be put to death. If you were a mother who had her newborn son circumcised, they would crucify you and hang your child around your neck. He murdered women and disemboweled pregnant women and he fried human beings on a large skillet.  He threw people off the pinnacle of the Temple. He was filled with a lust for Jewish blood (Which makes him a powerful type of the Anti-Christ).  He also desecrated and defiled the Temple. He forced pork down the priests’ throats, made them drink the blood of pigs, turned the chambers of the temple into a brothel, and converted the altar meant for burnt offerings into an altar for Zeus! But during that dark time a guy named Judas Maccabaeus (think Braveheart/William Wallace) fought against Antiochus and defeated him. There came a great day when Maccabaeus cleansed the temple and consecrated — re-dedicated it to the worship of the Living God of Israel. We read his own words in the non-canonical book First Maccabees:

… that every year at that season the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days, beginning with the 25th day of the month of Chislev. (4:5)

The Feast was called the Feast of Dedication. It’s also known as the Feast of Lights because in keeping with these words, every house in Jerusalem had eight candles in the window on the 25th of Chislev. That same feast is still celebrated in our culture — it’s called Hanukkah. Hanukkah means “dedication.”

So this is the Feast of Dedication where we find Jesus teaching.

John’s account tells us that on that winter day Jesus was walking on the Temple mount in what was called the colonnade of Solomon; or Solomon’s Porch.

It was winter,

It was winter.  Write down this passage

Jeremiah 8:20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Opportunity lost! I wonder — As Jesus looked at the religious leaders — if in His heart He saw their opportunity slipping away as they knowingly turned away from Him, and turned against Him.

²³and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.

There were massive white colonnades rising forty-five feet to a beautifully detailed cedar ceiling. Looking eastward through those colonnades Jesus would have had an amazing view of the Mount of Olives.

During the winter months people would gather there for teaching because winter in that region brought cold winds that would blow in from the East —sometimes with driving rains. The large wall there would protect you from that — so it became an area where teachers could come, be surrounded by their students, and they could teach shielded from the elements.

Think about this — Five times thus far in John 10 Jesus has talked about His sacrificial death for His sheep. In a matter of only about 6 months — in this very place — we find a man, lame from birth, healed in the name of Jesus (Acts 3). Then following that healing Peter preaches the Gospel and 5,000 men were saved — right there on Solomon’s Porch. We read in Acts 5that the believers gathered there at Solomon’s Porch.

We are told in the book of Hebrews —

Hebrews 12:2 who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,

I can’t help but think that as Jesus is walking in Solomon’s Porch in the winter that He is brooding — looking ahead. He knows that His sacrificial death on the cross is soon approaching. He’s been talking openly of it. I can’t help but think that Jesus is looking at the thousands that will be saved and gathering in His name in that very place — because of his death and his resurrection.

THIS IS AWESOME TO THINK ABOUT — The Feast of Dedication has to do with the dedication of the structure called the “Temple.” Look back at John 2

John 2:19-21 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

I believe that here in John 10 — as Jesus is in Jerusalem at the Feast of Lights, the Feast of Dedication, — walking in Solomon’s Porch — where the Church would be thriving — Jesus is dedicating Himself — His own body — afresh to the work that the Father has set before him, called him to.

²⁴So the Jews gathered around him

A crowd gathers around Him as he’s teaching. Literally — they surrounded him.  There’s an antagonistic sense to the grammar. As they surround Jesus they press him for answers. The first question is

“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

So they are saying — Hey, let’s just cut to the chase — Tell us plainly — We wanna know “yes” or “no” — are you the Messiah. The crowd likely has mixed motives for their inquiry. Some want to love him and follow him. Others hate him and want put him to death.

Throughout the Old Testament God had promised to send Israel a Messiah — one “anointed” by God to redeem them and rule over them (See Isaiah 61).

Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; ³ to grant to those who mourn in Zion — to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

But the religious establishment had concluded that the Messiah was going to deliver them from Roman oppression — sort of like Judas Maccabeus — and then from the throne of king David rule over Israel and ultimately the world.

They are basically asking — are you the guy that’s gonna do that? They already have a preconceived set of ideas as to what the Messiah will do and they’re basically asking him — “We’re looking for someone to fit into this box. Are you that guy?” People do the same thing with Jesus today — They have their theological convictions and belief systems and they rtry to stuff Jesus into their system of preexisting beliefs. Jesus doesn’t fit into any world religion or philosophy. Jesus becomes the cornerstone on which any understanding of reality — any understanding of the world — is constructed. You can’t stuff Jesus into your thinking. You have to start with Jesus and let Him shape your belief system. Once again — Christianity is ALL ABOUT JESUS! It starts with Jesus and Ends with Jesus — He is the “Founder and perfecter of our faith.” He is called the Alpha and the Omega (A and the Z of the Greek alphabet). He is the First and the Last; the beginning and the End.

²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe.

In Chapter 4, Jesus has already told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s the well that He is the Messiah. Just back in Chapter 9 Jesus has told the man born blind that He is the Son of God.

The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,

NOTE — Jesus appeals to his works to identify Himself as the promised Messiah.  There was a day when John the Baptizer sent some of his disciples to Jesus with a question

Luke 7:18-22 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, ¹⁹calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” ²⁰And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” ²¹In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. ²²And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

You see, through the prophets in the Old testament God had given a composite sketch of the Messiah. The things pointed out by Jesus were specifically foretold as the works of the Messianic (Isaiah 35; Isaiah 61).

So Jesus says — “You should know who I am by looking at my life.” At this point he’s already turned water to wine — fed 25,000 people with a little boy’s sack lunch — opened the eyes of a blind man. He has told a wicked Samaritan woman that she had five husbands and was still living in sexual sin with a man who wasn’t her husband. He told her about her whole life. He healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda who had been an invalid for a great number of years.

Jesus says — “I have done all of these things that scream out that I’m the Messiah — and you don’t believe those miracles — and you don’t believe that I am who I am.” Which by the way disproves the claims of some that if God just showed up and did something to prove himself, then they would believe. There were many people who saw him do wonderful things, and they still didn’t love him.

Isn’t it interesting that miracles don’t produce faith?  Think of the children of Israel.  For over 38 years a pillar of fire at night lighting up the Heavens and leading the way. There was a pillar of cloud in the day that covered the entire camp, between two to three million people, so they wouldn’t be scorched by the sun while they walked through the desert.  Imagine how many nights they sat in their tents and looked out the door and saw a pillar of fire.  Every day thousands of tons of manna falling from the sky to feed them and they went on in unbelief.  Their lives weren’t changed. HUGE — The Scriptures tell us that it’s the Word — it’s the incorruptible Word — that changes us from the inside out. The Scriptures make it clear that those kinds of experiences are only signs, he says, to bear witness of the truth.  The truth is something that we hear. Jesus says that we hear it because we’re his sheep.

Jesus tells them — “The reason you don’t believe in me is because you’re not my sheep.” The grammar here does not say that we believe and become a sheep.  What Jesus says here is that the ones who do believe, believe because they are his sheep.  As hard as that is to grasp we can’t erase that from the text here.

Jesus appealed to His works. Then He appealed to His words.

²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

God speaks to us — some people hear and say — “That sounds like my dad” — and they follow. While others hear and say — “That doesn’t sound like my dad,” and they continue on their way, ignoring what God has said to them.

If you’re a parent you know how this goes. When a child escapes from a parent someone other than the parent can say —  “Hey, stop. Don’t do that” — and the child essentially laughs and carries on. But if the Dad speaks, that is entirely different. When that little kid here’s the word “Stop”  coming from his dad — he knows that voice! He knows that voice and knows that it means — “This is your father. I love you. Trust me.” And you’ll see that kid stop. He or she might fill their diaper, but they will stop.

When a child hears his father’s voice — hears the tone in his father’s voice that child knows that dad is happy, or not — the child can sense impending danger if the dad’s voice is distressed.

Jesus says — “My sheep hear my voice. When I speak, My sheep say —  ‘That sounds like Jesus  — He’s talking to me.’” But other people — they don’t hear. They just keep running. For you and me to hear the voice of God and follow is a miracle. Can you think back on the times that you heard people talk about Jesus — heard someone share from the Bible — and you didn’t hear — you didn’t want to hear? But He is so longsuffering — so persistent in his love for us — He kept speaking. And finally there came that time when He spoke — and for reasons beyond you — you HEARD Him and said — “I think I just heard God…. that’s my dad!” — and you RESPONDED to Him and surrendered to Him.

²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”

I give them eternal life

Eternal life — Remember last Sunday we said that the essence of eternal life is personal relationship with God. It is Life that is derived from a personal relationship with the living God — life that begins and is experienced on this side of eternity. God comes to us right here and right now and pours His life into us. The eternal life of God floods into us — we participate in the very life of God. Again we are tethered to the prologue — “In Him was life….”

Jesus IS life — and in the very moment we believe with our heart on the Lord Jesus He comes to live in us. We begin to live by the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father. We become new people. It is not a pain-free life. It is not a simple life. But it is life marked by righteousness, joy and peace.

And when we breathe our last breath, we open our eyes in heaven — in the presence of the Lord — and that life continues into eternity without end. It’s eternal. There’s no conclusion to it. Like the last Book in The Chronicles of Narania — The Last Battle — at the end they are saying — Further up and further in.

Jesus says — I GIVE them THAT LIFE — it is a GIFT!

We do not, and cannot, merit this eternal life by being good people. We do not and cannot earn this eternal life. We can’t bring our resume to God and say, “Here are the reasons that I should get forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.” It is a GIFT!

Those who receive his gift of eternal life, are given this amazing promise and assurance. They will never perish. EVERYONE is going to exist forever. The question is WHERE. Those who live in fellowship with God on this side of eternity will continue to enjoy the Life of God, in His presence, for eternity.

Like their Good Shepherd — they will continue into eternity in relationship with God. Those who reject the gift of eternal life here, will forever be separated from God who is Life — THAT is what it means to be forever perishing!

He gives us a series of promises then: “No one can snatch them out of my hand.” And then he tells us why: “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hands.” I love this analogy that Jesus gives. There are those who believe that it is our job to grab God’s hand and hold on for dear life — and if at any point we let go — then our loving relationship with God is gone. The forgiveness of our sin is gone. God is gone. We are lost. Our salvation is utterly destroyed. That’s foolish.

Some people say — Well no one can snatch me out of His hands, but I can run real hard and jump off the edge of his hand and I can end up in Hell! Listen — The Bible tells us that He has measured out the Heavens with the span of His hand.  You’d be running a long time.  It’s amazing — Jesus is NOT exploring that option or possibility. He’s telling us something wonderful.  No man can take you out of my hand. And that’s good because I’m a man.  I’m glad to know I can’t do that.

Some ask — What about the person who says that they believe in Jesus and even get involved in ministry, but they claim to be an atheist now.  Surely they LOST their salvation! According to Jesus — that’s not possible. In light of these words of Jesus either he never really did know God, never really did hear and believe; or he does hear and believe but right now he’s in tremendous rebellion. It’s like the Prodigal Son, and God’s going to grab him by the shirt collar and bring him home and clean him up. I don’t know which it is. God knows. I don’t know — but God knows.

THIS IS HUGE — Jesus says that salvation is a matter of you and I being embraced by God as our Father. That is such a mind-blowing concept —  that God is our Father. I hope these words of Jesus are so precious to each of you this morning — that God is our Father.

Jesus makes this declaration that is crystal clear — inescapable —

The Father embraces us and picks us up and adopts us as his kids, and there is nowhere safer for a child than in the arms of their father. Mothers love their children, but fathers can defend them in ways that are unbelievable. No father would ever drop his newborn baby. You watch a full-grown man with a newborn child. He’s holding on for dear life. He’s afraid he’s going to drop that little person and that Mom will have him sleeping on the couch until Jesus comes back.

And that’s the way a good father works. He loves his child, and he protects and comforts and holds and nurtures and embraces his child. Have you ever seen how a newborn baby will hold on to your shirt. And I’m sure if you crawled into the mind of that child, they would think, “Well, I am safe and secure, and I won’t be dropped because I’m holding on.”

NOT REALLY! They are safe and secure because the father has them. Their security is not contingent upon their ability to hold on for dear life. They are secure because of the fact that their father loves them, that he embraces them, that he protects them, and that he holds them. And that’s the language that Jesus is using about our relationship with God. When God embraces us, we’re his kids, and he holds on to us, and he will never leave us nor forsake us. He will never lose us.

The language that Jesus uses here is HUGE — “And no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand, because he is stronger than all.” The issue is this —  salvation is not mine. Jonah says (Jonah 2:9) that salvation belongs to the Lord. If salvation is a gift, I didn’t earn it. How can I lose what I have not earned? If it’s eternal, how can it end? And in addition to all of that — who’s going to overwhelm God? Who’s going to steal me and snatch me out of the hand of my Father? The question is not “can you lose your salvation?” The question is “can God be overpowered, and can someone steal you from him?” The bottom line issue is this — “can God fail?” In that light — I’m secure because God can never fail!

After Jesus gives this deep comfort — he makes this amazing theological statement.

³⁰I and the Father are one.”

It is very popular in our age for people to say that Jesus never claimed to God. There are a lot of people who say that Jesus was a good man, who taught moral principles on how to be a good person. But they say that Jesus never thought He was God; Jesus never taught that he was God; and no one ever understood him to be God. It was only after he died that his followers made up this crazy story that he was God.

Next week we’ll finish our study of John 10 by examining how the Jews knew that Jesus was doing nothing less than claiming to be God.

The Gospel of John

The Good Shepherd Part 3

John 10

Jesus has been speaking to the religious leaders of Israel — He is using images and terms that they all would understand — to communicate the TRUTH about who He is, who they are in relationship to the people of Israel. The imagery is that of the shepherd and sheep.

The shepherd and the sheepfold (v.1)

The DOOR and a GATE KEEPER (v.1-3)

Two other DOORS (v.7; 9)

The sheep

Different FOLDS (v.16) and a single FLOCK (v.16).

Those whom Jesus labels as THIEVES and ROBBERS (v1; 8; 10), and WOLVES (v.12) and HIRELINGS (v.12).

Last week we worked our way through verses 9-10

⁹I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

This was the third time Jesus has used the image of the door. The first use of the image had to do with the privilege of access to the sheepfold. The second is Jesus Himself being the way OUT of the mixed sheepfold of Israel. Here Jesus is THE DOOR — the DOOR of SALVATION — the sole means by which the sheep may enter and be saved from destruction and be led into abundance.

The words I AM brought us back to the voice of the burning bush in Exodus saying to Moses — I AM. Now that same voice is saying I AM the door.

We noted the EXCLUSIVENESS of this statement — It doesn’t say — I’m one of many doors. Jesus says — I AM, to the exclusion of all others, the one and only door.

But we saw how INCLUSIVE the invitation is to enter that ONE door — If anyone enters —if any man come to me — whosoever believes.

We spent time looking at the words — he will be saved — “delivered safe and sound.”

We saw how that the man or woman who enters by Jesus is Saved FROM and saved TO. As the Door, Jesus delivers sinners from bondage and leads them into freedom. As the Door, Jesus delivers sinners from lies and leads them into truth.

As the Door, Jesus delivers sinners from death and leads them into life.  Jesus died on the cross, not only to bring us to God — but He died that we might have life and have it abundantly.

We pick this morning in verse 11

¹¹I am the good shepherd.

WOW — In this one short sentence Jesus once again identifies Himself with voice of the burning bush — where God tells Moses that His name is I AM. He also identifies Himself as yehôvâh râ‛âh of Psalm 23 — The Lord is my shepherd.

Look at what we are told about Jesus — the Good Shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

This was a mind-blowing concept. All they ever understood was that the sheep died for the shepherd. Jesus is not only saying that He is THE Good Shepherd — but that the Good Shepherd was going to die for the sheep! Five times Jesus clearly affirmed the sacrificial nature of His death (John 10:11; 15; 17-18).

THINK ABOUT IT — Jesus is the only shepherd that became a sheep —  born into the sheepfold of Israel — and then He went like a lamb to the slaughter. Not by ACCIDENT — but willingly laying down His life for us as the fulfillment of the divine plan of redemption!

Rev 13:8 KJV And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Immediately following the first sin of man in Genesis 3, God promised the coming of this lamb who would destroy the works of the devil. Then in Genesis 12 we find God appearing to a man named Abram in the Ur of the Chaldees, and promised to make a nation from him and that through his descendants every people on earth would be blessed. That nation came to be known as Israel — the sheepfold of the first verses of John 10. From that sheepfold would come Jesus the Good Shepherd

Matthew 2:3-6 ³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet (Micah 5;2): ⁶ “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

Throughout the Old Testament history of Israel, God raised up, and spoke through, men who kept making specific promises about how the Good Shepherd would come into the world and lay down His life for the sheep.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. ¹⁴As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— ¹⁵so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand…. 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ⁴Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. ⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. ⁸By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? ⁹ And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. ¹⁰Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. ¹¹….by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. ¹²Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

So the death of the Good shepherd for His sheep had its origins in eternity past. But there came a moment in history when the Good Shepherd entered human history

Galatians 4:4-6 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman….. ⁵to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

HE CAME TO DIE! The Good Shepherd did not die a tragic victim of circumstances beyond His control. When Jesus told His followers for the very first time that He would die and three days later rise from the grave — Peter said — No matter what it takes, we can’t let that happen to you. Jesus would not be deterred. On numerous occasions the enemies of Jesus wanted to lay hold of Jesus to kill Him, but they couldn’t because His hour had not yet come. Despite being rejected by the nation of Israel, Jesus set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. In the Garden of Gethsemene Jesus sought the Father with strong crying and tears (Hebrews 5:7) — He sweat great drops of blood — to see if there was any other way for the sheep to be saved. But Jesus submitted to the will of the Father and said that He would drink the cup of God’s wrath that we should have to endure. There in Gethsemene, Peter used his sword to protect Jesus and prevent the arrest of Jesus. Jesus told Peter —“put away your sword, do you think I cannot ask My Father, and He would at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?” Then Pilate tried to intimidate Jesus — saying that he had the power of life and death — that he could release Him or crucify Him. He told Pilate “you would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.”

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY HUGE FOR US TO KNOW ABOUT THE GOOD SHEPHERD — Jesus, the Good Shepherd is determined, unswerving, unfailing, and unstoppable in His love for His sheep!

¹²He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Jesus sets the determined, unswerving, unfailing, unstoppable love of the Good Shepherd in contrast with the hired hand — the hireling. Jesus says that the guy getting paid by the hour doesn’t have any vested interest in the sheep. He might love the theory and skills involved in animal husbandry — He might love working outdoors — He might love watching stars in the night skies out in the fields — but he doesn’t love the sheep enough to fight wolves. For that guy, shepherding is not about sheep, shepherding is all about him! The sheep are merely his ticket to self-gratification. When wolf-fighting starts is when that guys shepherding career ends.

QUOTE: A handbook on the Gospel of John — cares nothing for the sheep must be translated in some languages “has no love for the sheep.” More is intended than mere failure to provide for the sheep. The meaning may be expressed in some languages as “he is not concerned for the sheep” or “the sheep make no difference to him”

(Newman, B. M., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on the Gospel of John. Helps for translators; UBS handbook series (321–350). New York: United Bible Societies.)

The real shepherd may or may not love any or all of that stuff — but he lays down his life for the sheep because He OWNS them and LOVES them.

This is so relevant to the care and feeding of the flock of God. There are those who love theology — love to study the Bible — love the process of preparation. There are those who might love the tasks involved in the care and feeding of the sheep. For them — church, the flock of God, is their ticket to self-gratification. But when it comes to self-sacrifice and fighting wolves, wrestling against principalities and powers — their shepherding career is finished. I would encourage you to revisit our study through 1 Thessalonians to get a look into the care that Paul had for the flock of God.

REMEMBER — Ministry is RELATIONAL — it is all about nearness to the heart of the Good shepherd.

Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Paul’s care for men and women was byproduct of his relationship with the Good shepherd.

Philippians 1:8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

The word compassion in Matthew 9:36 and affection in Philippians 1 are forms of the same Greek word. Paul was ministering from the heart of Jesus.

the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

Here’s the picture — “the wolf pounces upon one of the sheep and scatters the rest.” The big point here is the goal of the adversary — to remove us from the one who cares for us!

¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;

I am the good shepherd — I believe that Jesus repeats this great I AM declaration because it creates a radical juxtaposition of character and nature.  The nature of the Good Shepherd is seen in even greater light against the nature of the hireling. The word translated “good” means “intrinsically good, beautiful, fair.” It describes that which is the ideal, the model that others should desire to be like. Our Lord’s goodness was inherent in His nature. To call Him “good” is the same as calling Him “God.”

Mark 10:17-18 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — The meaning is not “knowing about,” but personal knowledge, based upon acquaintance and familiarity. It speaks of an intimate relationship between God and His people. The very essence of eternal life is personal relationship with God

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Again — the imagery was clear to his listeners. The shepherd that these men were so familiar with — knew his sheep personally.

TO BEGIN WITH — Jesus knows our names (see John 10:3 ). He knew Simon (John 1:42) and even gave him a new name — Peter. He called Zaccheus (think Danny Divito) by name (Luke 19:5). Remember how after His crucifixion — Mary Magdalene was crushed and distraught because the tomb of Jesus was empty — and when Jesus spoke Mary’s name in the garden, she recognized her Shepherd (John 20:16). It is so awesome to know that Jesus knows each of His sheep by name.

THERE IS EVEN MORE — While all sheep are alike in their essential nature (no sense of direction / defenseless / prone to wander / timid, yet stubborn) —each sheep has its own distinctive characteristics and personalities —  and the loving shepherd recognized these traits. One sheep may be afraid of high places, another of dark shadows. A faithful shepherd will consider these special needs as he tends the flock.

HERE’S THE PICTURE — There is NOTHING about YOU that He doesn’t know.

Psalm 139:1-18 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! ² You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. ³ You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. ⁵ You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

He knows our PAST — with its bitter failures. He knows our PRESENT —with its unrealized longings. When it says He knows when we stand up and when we sit down — that is what is a figure of speech that infers the totality of our action — It encompasses everything that we do between standing up and sitting down! It includes our motives which can be so often misunderstood. He understands our anxieties and hopes and fears that flavor and taint our actions.

HUGE — To be known so perfectly, so completely, means that we don’t need to hide behind or project an image of ourselves that is unreal. It means we don’t have to give convoluted explanations of our actions because He cannot be surprised by anything we might say or do!

Have you ever noticed how different the 12 Apostles were from one another? Peter was impulsive and outspoken, while Thomas was hesitant and doubting. Andrew was a “people person” who was always bringing somebody to Jesus, while Judas wanted to “use” people in order to get their money for himself. Jesus knew each of the men personally, and He knew exactly how to deal with them.

Because He knows EVERY UNIQUE DETAIL ABOUT YOU — He knows how to best minister to YOU. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to caring for His sheep. His dealings with you are not going to look exactly like the way He deals with me.

BECAUSE HE KNOWS OUR UNIQUE NATURES — He also knows our needs. Often, we do not even know our own needs!

HUGE — As the shepherd cares for the sheep, the sheep get to know their shepherd better. They get to know Him better by listening to His voice (the Word) and experiencing His daily care. As the sheep follow the Shepherd, they learn to love and to trust Him. He loves “His own” (John 13:1) —  and He shows that love in the way He cares for them.

2 Peter 3:18 Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.

Matthew 11:29 ….Learn of Me.

and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Here we see the SEEKING LOVE of the shepherd.

¹⁷For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

QUOTE: D.A. Carson — the love of the Father for the Son is eternally linked with the unqualified obedience of the Son to the Father, his utter dependence upon him, culminating in this greatest act of obedience now just before him: willingness to bear the shame and ignominy of Golgotha, the isolation and rejection of death, the sin and curse reserved for the Lamb of God.

I lay down my life that I may take it up again. — Jesus lays down his life in order to take it up again. Jesus’ sacrificial death was not an end in itself. His resurrection was not an afterthought. His death was with the resurrection in view. He died in order to rise — and by his rising proceed toward his ultimate glorification (12:23; 17:5) and the pouring out of the Spirit (7:37–39) so that others, too, might live.

¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

JESUS REPEATS HIMSELF FOR EMPHASIS — The death of Jesus is neither sacrificial nor redemptive in nature if it is nothing more than an accident or tragedy perpetrated by misguided men. What makes it redemptive is that the Triune God planned it from eternity past. What makes it sacrificial is that Jesus willingly laid down His life in loving obedience to the Father.

Hebrews 12:2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,

He loved us. He had taken us to be his own. He had set his heart upon us. And when the question arose of delivering us from peril, He never hesitated to lay down his life. It was his own act and deed — I lay it down of my own accord

The Gospel of John

The Good Shepherd Part 2

John 10

We began our study of John 10 by setting the context!

In John 8 Jesus made the 2^nd of His great I Am statements — I AM the light of the world. He added to that amazing declaration that whoever followed Him would not ever walk in spiritual darkness, instead they would have the light of life. The religious rulers responded in open opposition to Him.

Directly following that declaration and confrontation Jesus healed a man blind from birth. Those same religious leaders threw the healed man out of the congregation of Israel — CAST him out.

Immediately after this man is CAST out of the nation of Israel by the religious leaders Jesus gives a sneak preview of the beautiful and profound theme of John 10 — John tells us that JESUS FOUND him.

All that Jesus has to say in Chapter 10 is directed at the religious leaders of Israel and is a continuation out the confrontation Jesus had with them after they had excommunicated the man Jesus had healed.

Here in Chapter 10 Jesus used probably the most familiar things in their culture to tell them the TRUTH about who they were and who He is — the image of the shepherd and sheep. Throughout the Old Testament God revealed Himself to Israel as their shepherd and spoke of Israel as His sheep and His flock (Psalm 77:20; Psalm 79:13; Psalm 80:1; Psalm 95:7; Psalm 100:3 and most famously Psalm 23). The promised Messiah was spoken of as a shepherd (Isaiah 40:11). Throughout the Old Testament the people of Israel looked on the king and prophets as shepherds. For background, read (Isaiah 56:9-12; Jeremiah 23:1-4; Ezekiel 34; Zechariah 11).

In order to understand the meaning and application of what Jesus was saying we got our feet wet in the imagery of the chapter

The shepherd and the sheepfold (v.1)

The DOOR and a GATE KEEPER (v.1-3)

Two other DOORS (v.7; 9)

The sheep

Different FOLDS (v.16) and a single FLOCK (v.16).

Those whom Jesus labels as THIEVES and ROBBERS (v1; 8; 10), and WOLVES (v.12) and HIRELINGS (v.12).

Let’s read through the first section of the chapter again

¹“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber

This sheepfold is not heaven, but Israel.

This door is not Jesus — but speaks of rightful access to the sheep of Israel.

Jesus brands the religious leaders as kleptēs and lēs-tēs.

²But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³To him the gatekeeper opens

Gatekeeper = John the Baptizer

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

Here’s how D.A. Carson put it — Jesus comes to the sheep pen of Judaism, and calls his own sheep out individually to constitute his own messianic ‘flock’.

⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

On this side of heaven — The false shepherds threw the beggar out of the synagogue. But in reality Jesus led him out of Judaism and into His Messianic flock!

⁵A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. ⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

We closed by looking at the NATURE and ACTIONS of the Shepherd and the Sheep

WE PICK UP IN VERSE 8

⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ¹⁷For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

⁸ All who ever came before me — From the record of the Old Testament and the New Testament we can safely say that Jesus was not condemning every prophet or servant of God who ever ministered before He came to earth. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel — and so many more who heard God’s voice and who served him faithfully — right up to John the Baptizer — are not included in this accusation.

It is aimed at those shepherds who cared more for their own gain than for the sheep in their care. We want to note that Jesus said “are thieves and robbers” — not “were thieves and robbers.” That makes it clear that He had the present religious leaders in mind. They were not true shepherds nor did they have the approval of God on their ministry. They did not love the sheep, but instead exploited them and abused them. The beggar was a good example of what the “thieves and robbers” could do.

As we read the four accounts of the life of Jesus it is clear that the religious rulers of Israel were interested only in providing for themselves and protecting themselves. The Pharisees were covetous (Luke 16:14) and even took advantage of the poor widows (Mark 12:40). They turned God’s temple into a den of thieves (Matt. 21:13), and they plotted to kill Jesus so that Rome would not take away their privileges (John 11:49-53).

As we consider the Roman occupation of Israel, I think this can also be a reference to those who pretended to be — or put themselves forth as Messiah — and promised the people freedom, but who lead them into war, suffering and slavery. The freedom that man so desperately needs is not merely political in nature — and can never be achieved by sword and shield. It can only be achieved by a cross. No matter how many people were taken up with the pretenders, those who belong to Jesus will ultimately not recognize those voices.

⁹I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Here Jesus uses the image of the door for the third time. We noted last week that Jewish shepherds kept their sheep in two kinds of sheepfolds. In the first five verses we were introduced to the sheepfold in the town or city. The first door had to do with the privilege of access to the sheepfold. The second is Jesus Himself being the way OUT of the mixed sheepfold of Israel. THIS door has to do with the sheepfold that was used out in the country. It was like a low-walled corral made of stone with a narrow opening in front. A man named Sir George Adam Smith was traveling through the land of Israel and came upon one of these sheepfolds. There was one man left there at the fold and he just laid down in the doorway. George Adam Smith asked him — Where’s the door? And this man replied — I am the door.  No one goes in or out without me knowing it.  No one comes in any other way.  I am the door. Here — Jesus is THE DOOR — the DOOR of SALVATION — the sole means by which the sheep may enter and be saved from destruction and be led into abundance.

HERE’S THE PICTURE

We are all by nature and choice sinners — separated and far from God. We came into this world with hearts and minds alienated from God — at war with God. The longer we live we become more and more alienated from Him, by practice.

Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

Romans 8:7 NLT For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

Romans 8:7 KJV Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Here Jesus answers the greatest questions of the heart — “How can I draw near to God? How can I be justified? How can a sinner like me be reconciled to my Maker?”

THIS IS SO AWESOME — Remember the voice of the burning bush saying to Moses — I AM. Now that same voice is saying I AM the door. There’s no other way to enter, no other entrance, no other way in. Religion can not gain you entrance. RELIGION is from Latin religare = ‘to bind or to re-link. Religion is man’s attempt to re-link by works and rituals with a holy God.  It is impossible for sinners to re-link with God, Who is holy.  It’s impossible.

But there’s a door to that other world.  There’s a door to that fold.  There’s a way — Jesus is that door.  He’s the one who alone can connect us with the True, Living and Holy God.  Paul would write — There’s one mediator between God and man — the man Jesus Christ.  There’s a door, a portal, an opening, through Christ, to Heaven. It is undeserved, unearned, and beyond our ability to purchase — but it’s there! Jesus said — Anybody who enters by me will be saved.

Please note — the definite article.  I AM the door.  It doesn’t say — I’m one of many doors.  Jesus makes it unmistakably clear — I AM, to the exclusion of all others, the one and only door.  That is so not 21^st century inclusive! But as exclusive as it is — it is also an all inclusive invitation. If anyone enters —if any man come to me — whosoever believes.  That is pretty inclusive.

Some find it shocking and remarkable that there is only ONE way — ONE door. It isn’t remarkable that there’s only one way to be saved and enter Heaven.  The remarkable thing is that there is A way to be saved and enter Heaven.

By His sacrifice for us on the cross — He has opened the way through the great barrier and gulf of sin! By His sacrifice for us on the cross — He has turned away the wrath of God (propitiation) and removed the guilt of our sin from us (expiation) for sinners.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh…. ²²let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience…..

Hebrews 7:25 ²⁵Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

In the greatest and most profound sense — Jesus is “the door.” No one can come to the Father but by Him (John 14:6)

QUOTE: J.C. Ryle — Let us take heed that we use this door, and do not merely stand outside looking at it. It is a door free and open to the chief of sinners — If anyone enters by me, he will be saved…. The day comes when this door will be shut forever, and men shall strive to enter in, but not be able. Then let us make sure work of our own salvation. Let us not stand tarrying outside, and halting between two opinions. Let us enter in and be saved.

⁹ …If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I WANT TO LOOK AT THIS FROM SEVERAL ANGLES

THE OBVIOUS — There are those who have bought into the lies of false religious systems. They end up losing their souls and will forever suffer torment in hell.

THERE ARE THOSE who have, and still do look for salvation by way of humanistic, political saviors — the Hitlers, the Stalins, the Maos, the Pol Pots — and it isn’t until it’s too late that they learn that such “saviors”

steal — blatantly confiscate personal property

kill — ruthlessly trample human life under foot

destroy — they savage and ruin all that is valuable.

THIS IS SO HUGE — It is not the Christian doctrine of heaven that is the myth. The real myth — the real lie — is the humanist dream of a utopia created by, governed by, and sustained by man.

Behind ALL of those thieves and robbers is Satan. In John 8:44 Jesus talked about Satan, the god of this world — and Jesus called him a murder, a liar from the beginning. He is the one governing what the New Testament calls the course of this world.

Approximately 600,000 teenagers in American — walking according the course of this world — try to commit suicide every year.  Over 6,000 succeed.  There’s a lie attached to that.  I can’t take it anymore.  I’m going to end this and then the pain will stop.  It’s a way out.  It is not a way out.  It’s just when eternity begins.  It’s not an end at all — the LIE, the DELUSION, is that we’re just physical, and when physical life is ended — we end.  No, no, no, we’re spiritual.  We’re dwelling in a physical body, but we are spiritual.  It’s proved every night! Every night you dream — no light in the room, no sound in the room.  Yet in your dream there’s light and sound.  It’s very real — especially if you’re running from a monster. You wake up — Your heart’s POUNDING! You’re sweating. It was real where you were. You experienced a REALITY beyond the material and beyond the physical.

And there is a very real hell awaiting those who refuse to enter through THE door. And there is someone out there who lies and deceives and would love to take life, physical life and ultimately spiritual life.

he will be saved

They have salvation! This word “saved” means “delivered safe and sound.” We used to use that word about a person who had recovered from severe illness, come through a bad storm, survived a war, or was acquitted at court. Some modern preachers want to do away with an “old-fashioned” word like “saved,” but Jesus used it!

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

HUGE — SAVED — Saved FROM and saved TO.

As the Door, Jesus delivers sinners from bondage and leads them into freedom.

Friday Morning’s Bible Bus — Psalm 18:17-19 he drew me out of many waters.
¹⁷He rescued me from my strong enemy
 and from those who hated me,
  for they were too mighty for me.
¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
 but the LORD was my support.
¹⁹He brought me out into a broad place;
 he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

As the Door, Jesus delivers sinners from bondage and leads them into freedom.

Jesus died on the cross to not only bring us to God — but He died that we might have life and have it abundantly.

Satan would love for you to think that if you enter by Jesus you won’t be saved — you’ll lose all (friends, career). Satan would love for you to think that if you enter by Jesus you will have a miserable life! (never have a good time again — lead a life of dreary religion, carry around a 20 pound Bible, Drink milk and go to bed at 8:00).

The enemy of your soul is a LIAR — He wants to ROB you — rip you off from ETERNAL life, ABUNDANT life.

Jesus IS life — Colossians 3:4 When Christ who IS your life shall appear

Knowing Jesus IS eternal life — John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Knowing Jesus IS abundant life — Abundant Life could be translated —“that they may live completely.” Apart from Jesus we only live physically and emotionally — we merely exist! But knowing Jesus means that we live “completely and wonderfully.” Going in and out speaks of liberty and security! Finding pasture describes the life-sustaining force that is given to the believer. We find in Jesus the bread of life and the water of life — and he provides his sheep with pasture that sustains them.

The Gospel of John

The Good Shepherd

John 10

We pick up in our study of John’s Gospel this morning in John Chapter 10.

We want to begin by setting the context!

We want remember that when John wrote this there was no Chapter 10. There were no chapter divisions in the original manuscripts. They are not Divinely inspired. They were inserted in the early 1200s. This was done for much the same reason your house and my house has numbers in front of them. These chapters are like ADDRESSES by which we can find the location of particular events, persons, or truths.  So John doesn’t say — “I think I’ll write CHAPTER 10.” He simply continues the account of what we call Chapter 9

In John 9 we were introduced to a man born blind. While teaching in the Temple Jesus had declared Himself to be the Light of the World — and if anyone followed Him they would not walk in spiritual darkness, instead they would have the light of life. As they’re leaving the Temple precincts Jesus and His disciples come upon him. He was sitting in the dust of the earth — blind and begging in the temple precincts. His entire life was spent in utter physical darkness. The disciples wanted to talk ABOUT him — not to him. They saw the man as a topic for theological discussion. To Jesus he was a person — a human being to be pitied and needing the healing touch of God. Jesus spits in the dust and makes mud, puts it on the eyes of this man and commands him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The man went and washed and came back seeing. What followed was bizarre. Rather than rejoice over his healing they brought the healed man before the religious leaders. They told the healed man that Jesus was not of God because He had healed on the Sabbath.  Besides that — these religious leaders didn’t even believe that he ever was blind.  They interrogated his parents and they assured the religious leaders that this was indeed their son, and that he was indeed born blind. They bring the healed man back for questioning and he insists that it was Jesus who opened his eyes. They become incensed — Who are you?  You were born in sin. And in 9:34 we are told that they threw him out of the synagogue.  They excommunicated him. They cut him off from Israel. Literally they CAST him out. The word is ἐκβάλλω ekballō. It is a very IMPORTANT WORD because we find it used in John 10. Draw a line in your Bibles from John 9:34 to John 10:4.

Immediately after the man is cut off from his family, and in the mind of the Jews, cut off from God — we are given a beautiful preview of the profound theme of John 10 — John tells us that JESUS FOUND him. Upon finding him Jesus asks —

John 9:35 do you believe in the Son of man (some versions read son of God?)

The healed man says —

John 9:36-38 ³⁶Who is he, Lord that I might believe? ³⁷Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” ³⁸He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

The chapter closes with Jesus blasting the Pharisees — He tells these men who claimed to be the spiritual guides of Israel that their spiritual pride had left them blind and guilty before God.

John then immediately moves into the opening words of what we call Chapter 10 — Truly, truly, I say to you. Again — with these words Jesus sets Himself forward as the truth-teller in a world of lies. Again we are tethered to the prologue — full of grace and truth.

Jesus is claiming to be the only source of truth on the subject matter that is to follow. He challenges us to listen to Him over and above anyone else who has something to say in the subject He is addressing

The Holy Spirit captures this moment of profound revelation and confrontation. Jesus used things incredibly familiar to his listeners to tell them the TRUTH about who they were and who He is.

This teaching moment is taking place is Jerusalem, which is located in the southern region of Israel known as Judah. The heart of Judea was a central plateau that stretched from Bethel to Hebron — a distance of about 35 miles North and South and 14 to 17 miles East and West. The ground was rough and stony — making Judaea much more pastoral than agricultural. Because of that, that the most familiar figure of the Judean uplands was the shepherd.

The life of the shepherd was incredibly hard! No flock ever grazed without a shepherd — that meant that he was never off duty. I used to picture the shepherd/sheep portions of Scripture through the lens of the Yorkshire Dales in England. There you find countless sheep grazing in endless, lush green pastures — the sheep safely hemmed in by hedgerows and dry stonewalls. That was BEFORE I went to Israel and discovered that the pastoral realities in Judea are the antithesis of those in England. Instead of endless fields of green there are endless miles dirt and rock with grass growing up between the rocks. The scarcity of grass causes the sheep to constantly wander in search of places to graze. There are no hedgerows or dry stonewalls to contain and protect the sheep — so the sheep have to be constantly watched. On either side of that long, narrow, plateau you see countless places were the ground drops away — where the sheep can fall and be hurt.

The life of the shepherd was not only daunting in terms of constant watchfulness — it was dangerous. The shepherd had to guard the flock against wild animals — especially against wolves. There were always thieves and robbers ready to steal the sheep. Constant vigilance, courage, and patient love for his flock, were the necessary characteristics of the shepherd.

QOUTE: Sinclair Ferguson — In talking about growing up in Scotland and watching shepherds with sheep — he said that shepherds always mystified him as a kid. He said that growing up he and his friends just wanted to get out of the country into to the city to have a real life.  He said every day he would see these shepherds go out early in the morning into the field with their sheep — sit with their sheep all day long — and then come back again at night.  Ferguson said that for years he wondered — “What in the world would possess anyone to want to be a shepherd?  They smell.  They’re dumb.”  Then he told of how one day, as a grown man, the Lord spoke to his heart and said — “Don’t you understand? These are men who love sheep.”

That is why shepherd and sheep are the perfect metaphor to reveal the heart of God in caring for man — and in particular the nation of Israel.

Psalm 77:20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalm 79:13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever;

Psalm 80:1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock You who are enthroned upon (dwell between) the cherubim, shine forth.

Psalm 95:7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

We also find in the Old Testament that God’s Anointed One, the Messiah, is pictured as the shepherd of the sheep.

Isaiah 40:11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

While shepherd is the perfect metaphor to reveal the heart of God towards man — sheep is the perfect metaphor to describe mankind in general — and the nation of Israel in particular — because the greatest need of the sheep is to have a shepherd.

QUOTE: Phillip Keller: A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 — Among the animal kingdom sheep seem to have come out on the short end. From all accounts they are of limited intelligence. When it comes to finding food, they are definitely uncreative. As creatures of habit, they will follow paths through desolate places even though not far away is excellent forage. Sheep are also given to listless wandering. They are definitely at the lower end of the intelligence scale. There are even accounts of their walking into an open fire! Shepherds confirm that they are timid and stubborn. They can be frightened by the most ridiculous things, though at other times nothing can move them. Furthermore, of all the animals subject to husbandry, they take the most work.^[1]

Sheep have no sense of direction. If they go over the crest of a hill they have no idea where they are or how to get back. Sheep are absolutely defenseless. There is no way a sheep can defend itself. You never hear of attack sheep! I’ve seen a lot of old WW II movies depicting a German soldier walking the fence line of a POW camp — Have you ever ONCE seen one of those guards with a sheep on the end of his a leash instead of a German Shepherd?

To top it all off, sheep are prone to wander. The Bible tells us that All we like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53). Prone to wander — No sense of direction —Defenseless. All of that screams to us that Sheep need a shepherd. God says that HE is the shepherd that man so desperately needs.

The most famous of the Old Testament references to the shepherd heart of God is Psalm 23, which opens with the words — 

יהוה yehôvâh רעה râ‛âh — The Lord is my shepherd.

As we work through the chapter we are going to find Jesus using characters and terms that were (and still are today) wrapped up in that pastoral culture.

The first — and most important figure — is the shepherd (6x in the chapter). Jesus is going to say — I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD (v.14). This is huge — because with the amazing words I am the Good Shepherd, Jesus declares that HE is yehôvâh râ‛âh of Psalm 23.

Here are the other terms and characters that fill the chapter. We are going to read about a SHEEPFOLD (v.1). There is a DOOR and a GATE KEEPER (v.1-3). There are TWO other DOORS (v.7; 9). Throughout the chapter there are 13 references to THE SHEEP. We will learn that there are different FOLDS (v.16) and a single FLOCK (v.16). Then there are those whom Jesus labels as THIEVES and ROBBERS (v1; 8; 10), and WOLVES (v.12) and HIRELINGS (v.12).

Jesus chose to use all of these figures of speech (v.6) to instruct his listeners (and you and me) about the NATURE and BEHAVIOR of THE GOOD SHEPHERD — the NATURE and BEHAVIOR of HIS SHEEP — the NATURE and BEHAVIOR of the FALSE SHEPHERDS and HIRELINGS.

Let’s read through the first section of the chapter

¹“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. ²But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. ⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ¹⁷For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Verse 1 — the sheepfold

Jewish shepherds kept their sheep in two kinds of sheepfolds. If they were out in the country, the sheepfold was like a low-walled corral made of stone with a narrow opening in front. We will come to that sheepfold in a while. If they were in town, the fold was much bigger — it was structurally larger and sturdier. It was essentially an enclosed communal corral. THAT is the sheepfold of Verse1. It was not uncommon for this sheepfold to be part of a family courtyard. There would be several flocks brought into that sheepfold in the evening. Those flocks were committed to the care of the gatekeeper or porter for the night.

Knowing that those listening understood this imagery perfectly — Jesus says

¹ …he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

The only reason anyone would climb over the wall is because they KNEW that the gatekeeper/porter would not recognize them as the legitimate shepherd of one of those flocks.  Jesus used two powerful words to describe those who were not legitimate and true shepherds of those sheep —

κλέπτης kleptēs — THIEF

λστης lēs-tēs — ROBBER.

The difference between thief and robber is that the thief employs stealth and deception to steal, while the robber uses violence to take the property of another.^[2] Here are a couple of insights that can help us to put a face to the thief and the robber —

Judas (the man who embezzled money from the funds given to support Jesus and His disciples, and who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver) is called kleptēs — a THIEF (John 12:6).

Barabbas (the man the Jews chose over Jesus to be released by Pontius Pilate) is called lēs-tēs — a ROBBER (John 18:40).^[3]

The THIEF and the ROBBER — were not truly shepherds. They were only interested in stealing or wounding the sheep. They had no right to the sheep — and had to avoid the gate.

²But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³To him the gatekeeper opens.

The gatekeeper was responsible for protecting the sheep during the night. In the morning he made sure that ONLY THE LEGITIMATE SHEPHERD could enter the sheepfold and have access to the sheep. In contrast to the thief and the robber — Jesus says that the genuine shepherds of the sheep would simply knock on the door of the sheepfold because they knew that the gatekeeper/porter would recognize them as the legitimate shepherds of the sheep and would open to them and they would enter through the gate.

This whole picture is incredibly simple and clear in the minds of those listening — but the application of these familiar images are going to blow their minds!

HERE’S THE PICTURE — The sheepfold (v.1) is not heaven — it’s the nation of Israel. In this chapter Jesus makes it clear that the sheepfold is the nation of Israel

John 10:16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

The Gentiles are the “other sheep.” They are not of the fold of Israel. Remember also —

Psalm 80:1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock You who are enthroned upon (dwell between) the cherubim, shine forth.

Psalm 95:7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Time and again the Old Testament Scriptures referred to the political and religious leaders of Israel as the shepherds of God’s people. The thieves and the robbers represent the men who ruled over Israel that were not legitimate shepherds. They were men who were far from the heart of yehôvâh râ‛âh. Yet they PRETENDED to be shepherds over God’s people out of selfish motives!

Ezekiel 34:1-10 The word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? ³You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. ⁴The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them (sounds like the religious leaders of Chapter 9 in their dealings with the man who had been healed by Jesus). ⁵So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. ⁶My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. ⁷“Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, ⁹therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves.

The men spoken of in Ezekiel 34 were thieves and robbers in the sheepfold of Israel. Here in John 10 Jesus is telling the religious leaders of Chapter 9 that they were cut from the same piece of cloth as the pretend shepherds of Ezekiel 34! Jesus is calling the religious leaders of John 9 thieves and robbers because, like the shepherds of Ezekiel 34, they were more interested in fleecing the sheep than guiding, and guarding them. They fed themselves, and have not fed God’s sheep — with force and harshness they ruled over the healed man, casting him out and cutting him off from the social and religious life in Israel.

After publically branding these men as thieves and robbers — Jesus identifies Himself as the true Shepherd of Israel. In the last line of Ezekiel 34:10 God says — I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. The door in this verse is not Jesus. It represents lawful access to the sheep and recognition as the true shepherd. Jesus is God Incarnate (prologue) come to the sheepfold of Israel. Jesus didn’t need to sneak into the nation and take sheep for Himself by force or guile. Jesus came to Israel just as the Old Testament Scripture had promised (Isaiah 40:11) — the gatekeeper (believed by most scholars to be John the Baptizer) recognized Jesus as the shepherd of Isaiah 40:11 and opened the door for Him.

PRESENT APPLICATION: In a sense those involved as pastors in the Body of Christ should be like the gatekeeper/porter in that they should be quick and vigilant to recognize Jesus as the Good Shepherd and welcome Him into the portion of the flock that He has given them to watch over. Towards the end of the first century Jesus was actually left outside of the Church in Laodicea — Behold I stand at the door and knock (Revelation 3:20). May we never see Jesus outside the door of this assembly, knocking and asking to come in. May He always be recognized as the TRUE and GOOD SHEPHERD. May we always invite Him to speak to His sheep — call His sheep — lead His sheep.

QUOTE: J.C. Ryle — The false shepherd of souls is he who enters the ministerial office with little or no thought about Christ, from worldly and self-exalting motives, but from no desire to exalt Jesus, and the great salvation that is in Him. Christ, in one word, is the grand touchstone of the minister of religion. The man who makes much of Christ is a pastor after God’s own heart, whom God delights to honor. The minister who makes little of Christ is one whom God regards as an impostor–as one who has climbed up to his holy office not by the door, but by “some other way.”

³….The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. ⁷So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

There is so much for us here that we are going to have to walk through it a couple of times.

³….The sheep (all of the sheep in the pen) hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

HIS LISTENERS KNEW HOW THAT WORKED

When the true shepherds arrived at the communal sheepfold in the morning — they didn’t have to separate out their own sheep one by one. Each shepherd would separate his own sheep by merely calling to them —all the sheep heard that one shepherd’s voice, but only that shepherd’s sheep responded. His would push their way through the other sheep and make their way to their own him.

QUOTE: William Barclay — H. V. Morton tells of a scene that he saw in a cave near Bethlehem. Two shepherds had sheltered their flocks in the cave during the night. How were the flocks to be sorted out? One of the shepherds stood some distance away and gave his peculiar call which only his own sheep knew, and soon his whole flock had run to him, because they knew his voice. They would have come for no one else, but they knew the call of their own shepherd.

HERE’S THE PICTURE —

Jesus has already branded these religious leaders as blind in Chapter 9, and as false shepherds, thieves and robbers, here in Chapter 10. Now Jesus declares that He is not only the True Shepherd, but as the promised shepherd of Ezekiel 34 and Isaiah 40 He was leading His own sheep OUT of that sheepfold.

FIRST — Think of the nation of Israel — It is a nation — a political state that is built upon two inseparable things — ethnicity (They descend from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and religion. THAT is the sheepfold that would contain the flock of the Lord — In fact from that sheepfold would come the Lamb of God! Jesus is going to lead His sheep out of THAT sheepfold.

Again — let’s remember the picture — the physical enclosure that Jesus is using as an object lesson. It contained several flocks — each answering to the voice of it’s own shepherd. I can’t help but think of the various sects within Israel. Some in Israel were the followers of the Pharisees (The hyper-legalists who added their man made traditions and laws to the Word of God). Some were followers of the Sadducees (They didn’t believe in miracles or angels or resurrection — they literally subtracted from the Word of God). Some were followers of the Herodians (They were willing to make spiritual compromises for the sake of political favor). Some were followers of the zealots (They advocated the violent overthrow of Roman rule). By way of this metaphor Jesus says — I am the legitimate and true shepherd of Israel; and as such have access to the sheep of Israel. Jesus is saying that among the various sheep in the sheepfold of Israel — He has his own sheep.

THEN — in verse 7 Jesus refers to Himself as “The door of the sheep.” THIS door is not the door into heaven. Jesus declares that He is the door of the sheepfold — and BY HIM it is possible for the sheep to leave the fold (the religion of Judaism) and to enter His flock. So we have the picture of Jesus leading men and women out of the sheepfold of Israel.

BY THE WAY — This is not the end of Israel as a nation. In his letter to the Romans, Paul says in Chapter 11 that there is still a remnant of His sheep in the nation of Israel. The Old Testament promises a yet future day when the Nation of Israel will recognize Jesus. At present, there are individual Jews being led out of that sheepfold (out tour guide in in Israel, Steve – our friend Amir Tsarfati); but Jesus is at this time primarily calling sheep that are not of the fold of Israel.

Here’s how D.A. Carson put it — Jesus comes to the sheep pen of Judaism, and calls his own sheep out individually to constitute his own messianic ‘flock’.

In the very real history of Israel there is an amazing foreshadowing and picture of this. We find it in the Old Testament Book of Numbers. There in Numbers 27:15–17 Moses prays for a successor who will lead the people of God out and bring them in ‘so that the LORD’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd’. Check this out — The name of the man that the Lord says will succeed Moses in Israel’s history is recorded in the very next verse of Numbers 27 — His name is Joshua, which in Greek, is ‘Jesus’.

⁴When he has brought out all his own,

A quick stop on this phrase brought out. We mentioned earlier that it is the same Greek word translated as CAST him out — κβάλλω ekballō — back in Chapter 9. On the human side this man was being CAST OUT by man — but on the heavenly side He was being BROUGHT OUT by Jesus. The Pharisees threw the beggar out of the synagogue, but Jesus led him out of Judaism and into His Messianic flock!

he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

In the western world — shepherds drive the sheep from the back of the flock, often using a sheep dog. The shepherds in the land of the Bible in the day of Jesus (and even today) lead their flocks — they lead by their voice — they lead by calling them on.

⁵A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

STORY: (Unknown Source) — A man in Australia was arrested and charged with stealing a sheep. But he claimed emphatically that it was one of his own that had been missing for many days. When the case went to court, the judge was puzzled, not knowing how to decide the matter. At last he asked that the sheep be brought into the courtroom. Then he ordered the plaintiff (the accuser) to step outside and call the animal. The sheep made no response except to raise its head and look frightened. The judge then instructed the defendant (the man accused of stealing the sheep) to go to the courtyard and call the sheep. When the accused man began to make his distinctive call, the sheep bounded toward the door. It was obvious that he recognized the familiar voice of his master.

HERE’S THE PICTURE — To not know the difference between truth and error…. the doctrine of Christ and the doctrine of man, is a sure proof that you are do not belong to Jesus.

⁶This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. ⁷So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

There are THREE DOORS in this first half of the chapter and we don’t want to confuse them —

“The door into the sheepfold” (v. 1) — Jesus came to Israel through the way appointed in Scripture; the gatekeeper/porter (John the Baptizer) opened the door for Him.

“The door of the sheep” (v. 7) — This is the door that leads people out of their present fold — in this case, Judaism. Jesus, Himself, is the way out. Jesus Himself opened the way for multitudes to leave the old religious system and find new life.

In Verse 9 we find Jesus, Himself, to be The door of salvation (v. 9).

In closing I want us to visit some huge truths about the Shepherd and His sheep.

Concerning the Shepherd —

he calls his own sheep by name

The whole of the Christian life is intensely personal between the individual believer and the Lord Jesus Christ. That life BEGINS with Jesus calling us BY NAME.

He goes before His sheep

In virtually every picture of God shepherding His people in the Old Testament — that is the place we find Him. “He leads me by the still waters — He leads me in the paths of righteousness” — ”You lead thy people like a flock.”

HUGE — Jesus goes before His sheep in everything with one exception — the experience of sin. With this single exception — “He was tempted in all points like as we are.”

He knows what it is to be hungry, tired, persecuted, despised, rejected, and sorrowful. He knows what it is to have a loved one die (we will see this in Chapter 11). He knows what it is suffer physically — and He knows what it is to face death. It is so wonderful and so important for you and me to know this morning that no matter how strange or hard our path might seem — Jesus has gone before us. There is no need for us to fear because we are following the lover of our souls.

QUOTE: F.B. Meyer — It may be that you cannot discern Him; but this makes no real difference. Dare to believe that if you are in his place–that is, if you are treading a path which is clearly marked out for you by inevitable circumstances and by unmistakable inward promptings, although you cannot see Him, and the way seems lonely, yet–that He is just before you; the darkness veils, but does not obliterate Him; the Lord is going before you, and the Holy One is your reward.

There is going to be so much more for us to learn about the Good Shepherd as we study through the rest of this chapter.

Concerning the sheep —

FIRST — I believe that verse 3 certainly implies what theologians call election. It is possible to infer that they were His sheep even prior to being called by Him. But I believe that the context does not stress election — rather it stresses identification — by that I mean that it is stressing the behavior that proves that you belong to Jesus — the trademark, if you would, of those who truly are HIS OWN SHEEP.  Jesus has His own sheep. There are those men and women who belong to Jesus and those who do not belong to Jesus. The thing that identifies you as belonging to Jesus is that you hear His voice and you follow. That is a part of the spiritual DNA, if you would, of the sheep that belong to Jesus.

SECOND — They follow the shepherd anywhere. THAT is a trademark of His sheep. No one has a right to claim to be one of Christ’s sheep if he or she lives in willful, persistent, open disobedience, and refuses to do something about it. Just as there are false shepherds, so there are goats that try to pass for sheep. One day Christ will say to them, “I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23).

Becoming a Christian begins in eternity (Eph 1 – chosen before the foundations of the earth). But it transpires in life with Jesus saying — FOLLOW ME. It implies FAITH and OBEDIENCE and DEPENDENCE. If you belong to Jesus you trust in Him, look to Him for direction and help as each moment needs. Sometimes following Jesus requires us to believe in Him against everything we see and every emotion we feel. If we lean to our own understanding we will end up lost, hungry and wounded.

FOLLOWING JESUS — From the first moment we hear His voice and step out of the fold to follow Him, we embark on a life of faith — in which Jesus goes before us and we follow Him. That’s why we are told that the just shall live by faith. That’s why Paul would say — this life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. That’s why we are told to be looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The Word of God is essential to the life of faith – Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word if God.

RESPONSE

Turn to Psalm 23

In the 23^rd Psalm David is reflecting on the many years he spent in the fields with his father’s sheep.  Perhaps he was even thinking of the patriarch Jacob saying to Pharaoh — the Lord hath led me and fed me these many years. Surely he must have reflected on his own life — all of his failings as well as all of his successes. And yet as an older man he would say — “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Following Jesus offers security that no human achievement or success can provide.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. ³ He restores my soul. How many times has he done that for you and me?  When we’ve been shot at, worn out, discouraged — Jesus restores our soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death — and many of us have walked there, the valley of deepest darkness — I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. That’s the ultimate consolation.  You know — over and over again if you search the Scriptures for the cure to fear — it’s always the same.  Fear not, for I am with thee. I will fear no evil for thou art with me.

As we FOLLOW Jesus we come to know His strength and His power keeping us, His love, His grace.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. I love this —  ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. It can be translated — goodness and mercy shall hunt me all of the days of my life. Isn’t it remarkable that men and women spend their entire life hunting for security or for wealth or for pleasure — but the man or woman who really knows the Lord as a shepherd, KNOWS HIS VOICE and FOLLOWS Him — can say surely goodness and mercy will hunt me.

And if all that weren’t enough — FOLLOWING JESUS ends with and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

QUOTE: F.B. Meyer — The memory of his agony and death shall ever be with us, nerving us to believe that He loves us too much, that we have cost Him too much, for it ever to be possible that we should be forsaken or neglected. And so at last we shall be folded with all the flock beside in those sweet pasture lands, in which the Lamb leads his flock unto living fountains of water, and God wipes away all tears from our eyes.

Jesus is calling men and women this morning!

^[2] Newman, B. M., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on the Gospel of John. Helps for translators; UBS handbook series (323). New York: United Bible Societies.

^[3] Robertson, A. (1997). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Jn 10:1). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems.

The Gospel of John

The Blind Man – Part 3

John 9

¹As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud ⁷and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent).

Last week we made the observation that in this miracle, Jesus took all the initiative. The blind man did not come to Jesus and ask to be healed, Jesus came to Him. Jesus, the Light of the World, is the initiator. Jesus, the Light of the World is the healer. But as we will see in a moment — Though Jesus is the initiator and healer — he expected the blind man to respond in faith —  “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent).

A little history here — In 701 BC Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was about to invade Jerusalem. King Hezekiah knew that he had to secure the water supply for the city in the event that the Assyrians laid siege to the city.  His strategy was to cut through solid rock and make a tunnel or conduit from the spring outside of the city walls into the city (2Chr 32:2-8; 2Chr 32:30; Isa 22:9-11; 2Ki 20:20). Had they cut through the rock in a straight line it would have been a distance of 366 yards (3 ½ football fields) — but because they had to cut in a zig-zag patter, the conduit is actually 583 yards (nearly 6 football fields). The tunnel is at places only about two feet wide, but its average height is about six feet. The engineers began their cutting from both ends and met in the middle — a truly amazing engineering feat.

The Pool of Siloam was the place where the water sent from outside of the city was collected. It was an open air basin twenty by thirty feet. That is how the pool got its name. It was called Siloam — or sent —  because the water in it had been sent — one could almost say in a miraculous way — through the 6 plus football fields of conduit into the city.

NOW — The man born blind was SENT — to wash in this pool called SENT. What a beautiful picture of how the only way to have our spiritual blindness healed is to go to the One miraculously SENT into this world by the Father to WASH us — and SHINE into our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.

We pick up in that same verse —

So he went and washed and came back seeing. ⁸The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” ¹⁰So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹He answered, “The man called Jesus

INTERESTING — They ask HOW! We are going to see that the question HOW were you healed? is going to be asked FOUR times. They were all asking the wrong question! We are so prone to ask THAT question because there is something in our pride that needs to understand the mechanics of a miracle — the mechanics of salvation — rather than simply trusting the Savior — who alone can save — who alone can perform the miracle. Remember — Nicodemus wanted to know how he could reenter his mother’s womb (John 3:4; 9). Rememeber — The people wanted to “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (John 36:52). Intellectual understanding is no guarantee that we have genuine faith — no guarantee that we will experience salvation; experience the miracle.

The people are asking HOW — the healed man answered WHO! Salvation is ALL ABOUT the WHO. Yes, there is a HOW — death on the cross. But the WHO on the cross is most important. Only the sacrifice of the sinless Son of God is sufficient to pay the penalty for our sins. Only the blood of God’s Son can cleanse a man from all sin. Only the sinless Son of God could lay down His life and then take it up again — thus conquering death and guaranteeing our salvation.

made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹²They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

Here we see the role of Jesus  — and the responsibility of man. On another occasion Jesus said to a man with a withered hand —

Luke 6:8-10 “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. ⁹And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored.

In each of those cases their physical healing was conditional on compliance with His conditions.

HERE’S THE PICTURE — Obedience brings sight. He was the recipient of the miracle because he OBEYED the healer. A wonderful picture of what the New Testament calls the “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:15; 16:26) and obeying the Gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17).

Many men and women are still groping in spiritual darkness — without God and having no hope — because in their spiritual pride they insist on knowing HOW God can save us by the bloody and brutal death of a man nailed to a cross in 32 AD in a land filled with dirt and rocks! In their pride they view salvation as a mystery to be unlocked, a riddle to be solved — and if they can only discover the HOW of being saved, they will have “saved “ themselves. That is why so many people buy into very complicated, complex systems of religion that demand they must understand and do so many things!

Jesus didn’t make it complicated —

Mark 1:14-15 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

LISTEN — There are a TON of genuine Christians who are struggling with particular issues because they want to know HOW God is going to save their marriage or their kids or their jobs or whatever. There comes a time when you must lay aside the HOW and trust the WHO! Obey what you do know — husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it (Eph 5:25); Wives be subject to your husbands in all things as unto the Lord (Eph 5:22); children obey your parents in the Lord (Eph. 6:1); Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you (Luke 6:27-28).

Bow you’re mind and your will to the Word of God and the Son of God —  Go and wash and come back seeing! .

¹¹ ….So I went and washed and received my sight.”

He no doubt thought — “wait till everyone hears what happened!” But it didn’t play out that way!

¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.

The THEY would be the neighbors and those who had seen him begging.

What a weird response to a miracle!

You would think they would have been praising God for the miracle — rejoicing with the man or going back into the temple to bring an offering to God.

¹⁴Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” ¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the countless laws and traditions concerning the Sabbath. We won’t take the time to review it — but here are a few notes from William Barclay to reference on your own time

(i) By making clay he had been guilty of working on the Sabbath when even the simplest acts constituted work. Here are some of the things which were forbidden on the Sabbath. “A man may not fill a dish with oil and put it beside a lamp and put the end of the wick in it.” “If a man extinguishes a lamp on the Sabbath to spare the lamp or the oil or the wick, he is culpable.” “A man may not go out on the Sabbath with sandals shod with nails.” (The weight of the nails would have constituted a burden, and to carry a burden was to break the Sabbath.) A man might not cut his finger nails or pull out a hair of his head or his beard. Obviously in the eyes of such a law to make clay was to work and so to break the Sabbath.

(ii) It was forbidden to heal on the Sabbath. Medical attention could be given only if life was in actual danger. Even then it must be only such as to keep the patient from getting worse, not to make him any better. For instance, a man with toothache might not suck vinegar through his teeth. It was forbidden to set a broken limb. “If a man’s hand or foot is dislocated he may not pour cold water over it.” Clearly the man who was born blind was in no danger of his life; therefore Jesus broke the Sabbath when he healed him.

William Barclay — The Daily Bible Study Series: The Gospel of John, Vol. 1

You can also look at our study in John 3 for more reference material on the rules and traditions surrounding the Sabbath.

By THEIR definition Jesus broke the Sabbath law because he MADE mud and then PUT mud on his eyes.

But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. ¹⁷So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

The healed man recognizes Jesus as a MAN and as PROPHET

¹⁸The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

AMAZING — They are laboring really hard to deny the miracle so that they won’t have to believe in Jesus. So it is today — People see you’re changed life — see you walking in the light of the Gospel of Jesus — and they try to say that nothing really happened in your life — it’s all a fabrication — just so they can hold on to their unbelief and idolatry.

DON’T MISS THIS — They were determined not to believe. They were determined that no evidence could or would change their minds. They would controvert or deny any proof that could influence their will to believing in Jesus. It is not that they could not believe — it was that they would not believe. It was not — “I can’t.” It was a matter of  — “I won’t.” We remember the words of Jesus as looked over the city of Jerusalem —

Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you WOULD not!

Later — these same men covered their ears when Stephen preached (Acts 7:59), and refused to listen when Paul made his defense (Acts 22:22)!

²⁰His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. ²¹But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”

John is gong to give the explanation for the parents’ response.

²²(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) ²³Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

The religious authorities held a powerful weapon over the people — the weapon of excommunication. They had the power to completely shut a man or woman off from the congregation of God’s people. All of the way back to the time of Ezra (538 BC / Ezra 10:8) we read of a decree that whosoever did not obey the command of the authorities “his property should be forfeited and he himself banned from the congregation.” Jesus — warned his disciples that their name would be excluded as disreputable (Luke 6:22). He told them that they would be put out of the synagogues (John 16:12). REMEMBER — The first Christians were Jews! They suffered radically for believing that Jesus is the Son of God — promised Messiah of Israel!

Many of the rulers in Jerusalem really believed in Jesus, but were afraid to say so “lest they should be put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42).

QUOTE: William Barclay — There were two kinds of excommunication. There was the ban, the cherem, by which a man was banished from the synagogue for life. In such a case he was publicly anathematized. He was cursed in the presence of the people, and he was cut off from God and from man. There was sentence of temporary excommunication which might last for a month, or for some other fixed period. The terror of such a situation was that a Jew would regard it as shutting him out, not only from the synagogue but from God. The Pharisees were so venomously embittered against Jesus that they were prepared to do what ecclesiastics at their worst have sometimes done–to use ecclesiastical procedure to further their own ends.

That is why the man’s parents answered that their son was quite old enough to be a legal witness and to answer his own questions.

²⁴So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

Here was a man with virtually ZERO information or understanding. He only knew the WHO and the WHAT in connection with what had just happened to him! But there was one thing that he could not deny — and no one could argue — He had experienced the touch of God upon his life

I DO know that though I was blind, now I see!

LISTEN — Even though you might not be an authority on Theology — you are the world’s greatest authority on what Jesus has done for you!

You may not be able to articulate with theologically correct language what you believe about Jesus — but you can bear witness to what Jesus has done in saving them. You might not know what “propitiation” means — but you know in your heart that Jesus has saved you from the wrath that is to come. You may not know what “expiation” means — but you know in your heart that that Jesus has removed the guilt of your sin!

QUOTE: William Barclay — Even when a man cannot understand with his intellect, he can still feel with his heart. It is better to love Jesus than to love theories about him.

QUOTE: J.C. Ryle — There is no kind of evidence so satisfactory as this to the heart of a real Christian. His knowledge may be small. His faith may be feeble. His doctrinal views may be at present confused and indistinct. But if Christ has really wrought a work of grace in his heart by His Spirit, he feels within him something that you cannot overthrow. “I was dark, and now I have light. I was afraid of God, and now I love Him. I was fond of sin, and now I hate it. I was blind, and now I see.” Let us never rest until we know and feel within us some real work of the Holy Spirit. Let us not be content with the name and form of Christianity. Let us desire to have true experimental acquaintance with it. Feelings no doubt, are deceitful, and are not everything in religion. But if we have no inward feelings about spiritual matters, it is a very bad sign. The hungry man eats, and feels strengthened; the thirsty man drinks, and feels refreshed. Surely the man who has within him the grace of God, ought to be able to say, “I feel its power.”

²⁶They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”  ²⁸And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

Very real options: Moses or Jesus — Law or Grace. Once again we are tethered to the prologue —

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

In their pride they were holding on to the Law; which could NEVER save them and ONLY condemn them; while they rejected Jesus — who is the ONLY one who could save them — and if they believed would NEVER condemn them. In your pride are you holding on to anything that can never save you?

²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing!

More amazing miraculously receiving his sight

You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. ³²Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

This man knew perfectly well what the Pharisees thought of Jesus. He knew perfectly well that if he showed himself to be on Jesus’ side he would be excommunicated.

But he made his statement — he took his stand. In essence he said — ”I am going to continue to believe in him, I am going to continue to stand by him because of all that he has done for me.”

³⁵Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him

Jesus knows this guy has suffered a tremendous humiliation and loss because of his loyalty to Jesus. Jesus goes to him! THAT is our Jesus.

This is also a beautiful preview and example of what Jesus is going to say about Himself in the next chapter — I am the good shepherd.

he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Son of Man is a term found in Daniel that refers to the Messiah as the King who will come in glory and power and rule the world.

³⁶He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” ³⁸He said, “Lord, I believe,”

The merciful touch of Jesus on this man’s life in regards to his physical blindness did not bring salvation to this man. It was a SIGN that pointed him to Jesus and led him to recognize and believe in Jesus as MAN — PROPHET — MESSIAH — and LORD.

Loyalty to Jesus can be painful — It can bring persecution or rejection at the hands of men. But when you hold on to Jesus — refuse to deny him for the sake of personal comfort — you discover Jesus drawing near to comfort and strengthen you. The reward of that loyalty is a greater revelation and understanding of Jesus.

and he worshiped him.

WHAT was that like? The OUTPOURING of worship and adoration would have been as OVERFLOWING as the revelation was OVERWHELMING!

We can’t understate the truth that — every aspect of the Christian life is RELATIONAL! It is ALL ABOUT JESUS — Who He is and WHAT He has done for us. Our lives as Christians are the continual RESPONSE to WHO Jesus is and what He has done for us.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

2 Corinthians 5:15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

The Christian life is NOT a matter of what you are doing for Jesus. It begins with and ends with WHO Jesus is and WHAT Jesus has done for you — it is YOUR response to WHO Jesus is and WHAT Jesus has done for you!

BY THE WAY — Would you note that this man BELIEVES Jesus to be fully man, a prophet, the Messiah, and WORSHIPS Jesus as Lord — but we don’t find the word SIN or REPENT here. This man cannot believe those things and worship Jesus as Lord WITHOUT having repented. There are some who are sinfully critical of evangelism that is missing the word repent. I NEVER want to be sloppy with the Gospel. I NEVER want to present Christ in a way that is misleading. But Jesus saved this man without using the words sin or repent. It was the PERSON of Jesus that caused this man to count everything as dung that he might know Jesus!

³⁹Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things,

WOW! They heard Jesus say He was the Son of Man. They heard and saw the man worship Jesus — and saw Jesus receive worship. If Jesus Christ is not God, then why did He accept worship? Peter, Paul, and Barnabas certainly didn’t accept worship (Acts 10:25–26; 14:11–15).

What a radical warning to you and me this morning — In these men we see the possibility of being SO NEAR to Jesus — so NEAR to being healed of spiritual blindness —  yet in reality be SO FAR in our hearts and remain in darkness

Isaiah 29:13 “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from m

and said to him, “Are we also blind?” ⁴¹Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

These men were blind because they had no sense of how dark their own hearts were and how desperately they needed Jesus to heal them of their spiritual blindness! Jesus opened His Sermon on the Mount with the words — “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Life in the Kingdom of heaven BEGINS when you realize you have nothing within yourself that can commend you to God.

NEXT WEEK — John 10. John 10 is actually a continuation of our Lord’s ministry to the Pharisees. The healing of the man born blind provides the backdrop for it

John 10:21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

The man born blind was cast out of the synagogue by man — but taken by the Good Shepherd and added to His flock!

The Gospel of John

The Blind Man – Part 2

John 9

Last Sunday we began our study of John 9 in which John gives to us the record of the SIXTH SIGN performed by Jesus — The Healing of the Blind Man.

We began by reading the entire chapter. I made some running comments as we read through the chapter. Then we spent the majority of our time working our way through the first four verses of the Chapter.

First we made note of the fact that this event is connected in subject-matter, in time, place, occasion, and theme, with the events of chapters 7-8 in which Jesus revealed Himself as the Light of the World. From that revelation of Himself He deliberately walks into the life of a man who had been sitting in physical darkness for his entire life — blind from birth

The phrase blind from birth brought us face to face with the question — Why there is suffering in the world? The disciples of Jesus — like most Jews of their day — believed that sin and suffering were intimately connected. In the broadest sense they are absolutely correct. Suffering and death are directly tied to the fall of man and the entrance of sin into this world, recorded in Genesis 3. But they made the grave error of moving from the general connection between sin and suffering to explaining all specific suffering is the result of specific sin.

²And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”— literally “who sinned, this man or his parents, in order that he should be born blind?”

³Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents,

Jesus wasn’t saying that they were sinless — He knew every one of their sins! But He was being very clear in saying that their sin was not the cause of the man’s blindness. We learned that on the basis of grammar and context that the passage could be read —

³ “His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents’ sins. PERIOD But that God’s power might be seen at work in him, ⁴ we must keep on doing the works of him who sent me as long as it is day.”

Here is Jesus — who is the SUBJECT of Biblical theology! The very subject of our theology becomes a man! Which would make Jesus the ULTIMATE theologian.

Colossians 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

But the ultimate theologian ONLY addresses their theological error

He DOES NOT give us the definitive answer to the question that has plagued man from the beginning of human history.  THAT answer falls under Deuteronomy 29:29

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Instead, Jesus simply says that the man’s blindness offers an opportunity to show God’s power at work in him, and that Jesus himself has come to reveal that power at work in history.

QUOTE: William Barclay — God never so fully reveals his glory as when he reveals his pity…..Affliction, sorrow, pain, disappointment, loss always are opportunities for displaying God’s grace.

We closed by looking at how our theological error or theological pride can hinder us from seeing the pathos of the human condition in this lost world! To the disciples the blind man was the occasion for theological speculation. The disciples were moved by theological controversy and curiosity rather than tenderhearted compassion.

To Jesus he was a person — a human being living under the curse desperately needing the healing touch of God.

Right before their eyes was a man suffering under the Curse of Genesis 3 — sitting in the dust of the earth — blind and begging — and these followers of Jesus — wanted to stop to talk about him — not talk to him.  Unlike the disciples, Jesus didn’t treat this guy as some theological dilemma!

So let’s work our way through the chapter again — and re-visit in greater detail some of the comments we made in our overview.

¹As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents (period), but that the works of God might be displayed in him ⁴We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

The disciples wanted to talk theology — Jesus said WE have work to do.

⁴We must work

1.) Jesus includes us in the work that the Father sent Him to do.

⁴We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day;

After His resurrection, Jesus said — As the Father has sent Me, so I send you!

We are co-laboring together with the risen Jesus. 1 Corinthians 3:9 ⁹For we are God’s fellow workers.

2.) It is not EASY work.

work = to engage in activity that involves effort — to work with one’s hands 1 Cor 4:12; 1 Th 4:11; 1 Th 2:9; 2 Th 3:8 Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed.) (389). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

For a lot of Christians, serving the Lord is O.K. as long as it isn’t WORK!

This word should make us remember Jesus in John 4 — Exhausted — hungry — thirsty at Jacob’s well. John told us that Jesus HAD to make that exhausting journey. His Father had a work for Him to do there: The work of introducing a woman to living water; the work of introducing her to true worship; the work of introducing her to Himself, the Messiah. Jesus EXHAUSTED HIMSELF in getting to her!

Jesus — our LORD — has set the example.  Jesus — Our LORD said — As the Father SENT Him, He SENDS us! The apostle Paul would say — Follow me as I FOLLOW Christ (1 Corinthains 11:1). Paul followed Christ’s example of working hard in the word the Father sent Jesus to do.

1 Thessalonians 2:9 For you remember, brothers, our labor (same word as John 9:4) and toil:

2 Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

3.) We only have so much time to work.

⁴We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day;

A number of commentators spent time trying to define exactly is meant by the terms DAY and NIGHT. I don’t think we have to labor over what is meant by day and what is meant by night. Work in Biblical times was essentially limited to daylight hours. Apart from rare exceptions (such as shepherds, night watchmen, or special messengers), no one works in the dark. They didn’t have electricity or those massive generators and light trees that Cal Trans workers use enabling them to work through the night on freeway construction and repair as if it were mid-day. Simply put we only have so much time to get the job done.

We make the error of compartmentalizing our time on earth. There is my time and there is God’s time. God gets church time — Sunday morning and maybe Monday night. Some people think themselves generous with their time and money if they add a Thursday night and — they think they are extraordinarily generous if they throw in some short-term missions trip. Listen — It ALL belongs to God. The part of our lives that we call “CHURCH-life” is the most obvious place that we should be co-laboring with Jesus in the work that the Father sent Him to do. We trust that whenever we gather in the Name of Jesus that we will RECEIVE from the Lord. It is our prayer that because of what happens within these walls at Metro, others, countless others, will RECEIVE from the Lord. Though we receive from the Lord, we should never come as takers — we should come as givers. It is my prayer that Metro will mature into a family of GIVERS — men and women who see our time together as an extension of the work that the Father sent Jesus to do —the work that Jesus says is also OUR WORK!

But 1660 E. Roseville Pkwy., Suite 100 is not the single compartment that encompasses our labor in the Lord. Outside of these walls our lives are to be a non-stop expression of worship that transforms the secular moments of life into sacred moments. We get to participate in the work the Father gave Jesus to do EVERYDAY and in EVERY PLACE.

The apostle Paul used a great word to help us see the reality of time constraints in our work in the Kingdom

Ephesians 5:16 KJV Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Redeeming= ἐξαγοράζω (exagorazō)

Thayers Greek Dictionary — by payment of a price to recover from the power of another, to ransom, buy off — to buy up, to buy up for one’s self, for one’s use. We are to do that with our TIME!

HERE’S THE PICTURE — What if I told you that I was going to open a checking account for every one of you today. I’m going to deposit in that account $1,440 every day. But here’s the catch. You cannot carry over any balance. If you don’t uses every penny of that $1,440 dollars within a 24 hour period, you account is zeroed out at midnight and then another $1,440 dollars is deposited, on the same terms. I can guarantee that you would make sure that you spent every penny, every day. You’d be scouring eBay and Craig’s list and newspapers looking for the best deals on the best stuff.

LISTEN — God has given to us an account that is infinitely more valuable. Everyday He deposits in YOUR LIFE 1,440 MINUTES. Everyday He deposits into YOUR LIFE 1,440 MINUTES. You cannot carry over ONE second of those minutes to tomorrow’s balance. The minutes you didn’t use today in that work is LOST. I’m not saying that you can’t or shouldn’t go golfing or surfing or riding. I’m not saying you can’t or shouldn’t go to the beach or to the pool. God made the Sabbath for man! We see the way that He ordained seasons for us to move through — seasons of labor and seasons for rest. The question is — How do we use those minutes — and what amount of those 1,440 minutes do we co-labor with Jesus in the works of the Father.

QUOTE: J.C. RYLE — Opportunities once lost can never be retrieved. A second lease of life is granted to no man. Then let us resist procrastination as we would resist the devil. Whatever our hand finds to do, let us do it with our might. “The night comes, when no man can work.”

Jesus knew that his earthly ministry would only last three years — and knowing that He redeemed the time. Every single day — morning, noon, and night — He poured Himself out in His Father’s business. It was His food and drink to do His Father’s will, and to finish His work.

QUOTE: J.C. Ryle — His whole life breathed one sentiment–”I must work–the night comes, when no man can work.”

⁶Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud

A FEW THOUGHTS HERE —

1.) Having said these things — The phrase “having said these things” ties 9:6 tightly to 9:5. So this sixth miracle/sign is the practical example of what Jesus had just said. They wanted to talk theology, Jesus said — I have been SENT — and WE have work to do — and we have to do it now. THEN — without procrastination — Jesus immediately sets out to heal the man born blind.

2.) In THIS miracle, Jesus took all the initiative. The blind man did not come to Jesus and ask to be healed, Jesus came to Him. Jesus, the Light of the World, is the initiator. Jesus, the Light of the World is the healer. But as we will see in a moment — Though Jesus is the initiator and healer — he expected the blind man to respond in faith (Go, wash in the pool of Siloam).

3.) he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud — In THIS miracle Jesus used spit and dirt — and then a specific location (Pool of Siloam) in the healing of THIS blind man. Once Jesus healed two blind men by merely touching their eyes (Matt. 9:27-31). He healed another blind man by putting spittle on his eyes (Mark 8:22-26). Jesus healed a blind man named Bartimaeus by merely speaking (Mark 10:46). Again — everything that Jesus did was deliberate. He deliberately chose different ways and different locations to heal so that we could never reduce Jesus to a METHOD or a FORMULA. There is no formula; no methodology; no anything to save us from spiritual blindness except to look to Jesus. Once again — It really is ALL ABOUT JESUS!

Following from that — He worked in different ways in different peoples’ lives so that we could never measure the saving and healing work of God in someone else’s life by comparing it to the way Jesus saved or healed us! “Did you pray this prayer….. If not you can’t really be saved!” “Did you raise your hand or come forward?” “Did you feel warm and tingly all over? Well then you weren’t really healed.” Jesus worked in such diverse ways in the lives of such diverse people that we can’t use our personal testimony as the benchmark for genuine salvation or healing. The great question is not HOW (remember that was the foremost concern of the skeptics in this event) — nor is it WHAT did you feel. The great question is — Are the eyes of our understanding opened? Do we see?

REMEMBER — John refers to these miracles as SIGNS — the healing, the person healed, the means by which Jesus healed — is packed with meaning.

As Jesus uses the dust of the ground we are pointed Jesus as the creator of man. Then one who formed man from the dust (Genesis 2) now extends compassion and healing to fallen man — by using the dust of the earth.

We also learn from this that Jesus sometimes sovereignly chooses to use THINGS He has created to be a part of His life changing work! Did jesus NEED to use spit and dirt to heal this blind man? No! But He chose to use spit and dirt in this man’s healing. I’m reminded of how Paul says that we are just jars of clay

2 Corinthains 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Clay is just a bunch if spit and dirt. Amazingly Jesus chooses to use lumps of spit and dirt like you and me to be a part of His compassionate, life-changing work in this dark world. No matter the ability of the clay jar — it is only Jesus who can heal, who can save. That means that our greatest ABILITY is our AVAILABILITY!

BOTTOM LINE — We must simply leave it to the great Physician to choose the instrument, the means, the manner and the place in which He saves and heals.

4.)The means of the healing also serves as a great picture for the work of God in salvation through the preaching of the Gospel. I’m pretty certain that NO ONE here would appreciate it if I made mud out of my spit and rubbed it in your eyes. I’m pretty certain that NO ONE here would appreciate it if I made mud out of my spit and rubbed it in your eyes. You would say — Isn’t there a better way to fix me than THIS? Or — Hey, I’ve got a better idea! A lot of people don’t appreciate the way that God has chosen to save us! They are constantly offering what they think is a “better way” to be saved.

Many look at how Jesus did this miracle and find it offensive. In the same way, some feel that the gospel is offensive — Jesus being brutally murdered because of my sin is offensive. Surely there could have been a less offensive and less bloody way to save me. Not only is the cross offensive because it unthinkably violent and grotesque — but it offends me because the brutality of His death tells me how horrible MY sin is! He was wounded for our transgressions; crushed for our iniquities.

It is true that the cross offends human pride and human wisdom — but it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:21).

Not only would you find it disgusting if I made mud from spit and put it in your eyes; you would find it irritating. But the reason for the clay was to create an irritation that would move the man to believe and obey — move him to the Pool of Siloam! If you have ever got dirt or sand I your eye — the pain and irritation moved you to quickly seek irrigation to cleanse it out! When the Holy Spirit uses God’s Law to bring lost man under the conviction of sin it is very uncomfortable — it is irritating! That irritation / conviction is designed to move you to run to the “water of the Word” for irrigation — run to the promise of the forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus.

The Gospel of John

The Blind Man – Part 1

John 9

In his account of the life of Jesus, John records for us SEVEN MIRACLES. Six of these miracles are not mentioned in the first three Gospels. In recording these miracles John uses the Greek word “sēmeion” (say-mi’-on) — which means “SIGN” — because every single miracle that Jesus ever performed was packed with meaning and significance. Each miracle was intended to POINT us to, and TEACH us something about Jesus — His glory and His Divine Nature. These signs also served as catalysts for great teaching moments in the ministry of Jesus. Nicodemus came to Christ because of the signs He had performed (3:2); the healing of the paralytic (5:1-9) led to the discourse in 5:10-47; the feeding of the 5,000 was the basis for the sermon on the Bread of Life in Chapter 6 which included the first of His I AM declarations

This morning we come to John 9 and in it we are given the record of the SIXTH SIGN performed by Jesus — The Healing of the Blind Man.

SIDE NOTE — In the four Gospels we find that Jesus performed more miracles in giving sight to the blind than any other miracle (11 references in the 4 Gospels to Jesus healing the blind). This is because some 700 years before Jesus, the prophet Isaiah foretold that this particular miracle would be one of the trademarks of the Messiah (Is.35:5; 29:18; 42:7). It’s also because this specific miracle reveals Jesus as the one who came to heal those who were spiritually blind — to bring fallen man out of darkness and into the light of God.

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Matthew 4:13-16 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ¹⁵ “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — ¹⁶ the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light,and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

I have found this chapter to be absolutely overwhelming and profound in how it captures the PATHOS of the human condition and the MERCY and POWER of Jesus towards a world in the grip of death and darkness.

Every time I stand before you I feel a deep sense of my inadequacy — but this chapter has left me undone. More than ever I pray that for your sake and for His glory, God will overlook my inadequacies.

So I’m going to read the whole story — and make some running comments — that I hope will turn on some light bulbs — and that we will re-visit next week in greater detail.

¹As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud ⁷and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

⁸The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” ¹⁰So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹He answered, “The man called Jesus

INTERESTING — They ask HOW — He answered WHO! Some are interested in the ways of God — HOW God works. Others want to know God — the One who did the work!

made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’

So I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹²They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

Here we see the role of Jesus  — and the responsibility of man.

¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.

The THEY would be the neighbors and those who had seen him begging

What a weird response to a miracle — you would think they would have been praising God for the miracle — rejoicing with the man or going back into the temple to bring an offering to God.

¹⁴Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

Again — Jesus is the healer — Jesus did the work that only He could do — but the man had to respond — he was the recipient of the miracle because he OBEYED the healer. A wonderful picture of what the New Testament calls the “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:15; 16:26) and obeying the Gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17).

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. ¹⁷So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

The healed man recognizes Jesus as a MAN and as PROPHET

¹⁸The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. ²¹But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”

John is gong to give the explanation for the parents’ response.

²²(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) ²³Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

Here was a man with virtually ZERO information or understanding. He only knew the WHO and the WHAT in connection with what had just happened to him! But there was one thing that he could not deny — and no one could argue — He had experienced the touch of God upon his life

I DO know that though I was blind, now I see!

²⁶They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”

That would be sarcasm!

²⁸And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

Very real options — Moses or Jesus — Law or Grace. Once again we are tethered to the prologue —

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing!

More amazing miraculously receiving his sight

You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. ³²Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him

Jesus knows this guy has suffered a tremendous humiliation and loss because of his loyalty to Jesus. Jesus goes to the him! THAT is our Jesus.

he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Son of Man is a term found in Daniel that refers to the Messiah as the King who will come in glory and power and rule the world.

³⁶He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”

The man recognizes and believes in Jesus as MAN — PROPHET and MESSIAH.

³⁷Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” ³⁸He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

WHAT was that like? The OUTPOURING of worship and adoration would have been as OVERFLOWING as the revelation was OVERWHELMING!

³⁹Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things,

WOW! They heard Jesus say He was the Son of Man. They heard and saw the man worship Jesus — and saw Jesus receive worship.

and said to him, “Are we also blind?” ⁴¹Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

WE WANT TO REMEMBER THE CONTEXT. The chapter opens by saying

¹As he passed by,

The grammatical structure creates a “relation both in subject-matter, in time, place, occasion, and theme, with that which had preceded.” The Pulpit Commentary: St.John Vol. II. 2004 (H. D. M. Spence-Jones, Ed.) (2). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

This moment was preceded by Feast of Booths (John 7) that included the Illumination of the Temple on the evening of the first day of the feast — commemorating how God manifested Himself to the Israelites during their 40 years in the wilderness as a Pillar of Fire by night.

This moment was also preceded by the second great I AM statement of Jesus in Chapter 8.

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Chapter 8 closed with the Jews wanting to kill Jesus .

John 8:59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

¹As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

As He was leaving the Temple — Jesus sees by this Blind Man. DON’T MISS THIS — Jesus was deliberate in everything He did  — everything He said  — everywhere He went. The one who said I am the Light of the World deliberately makes his way to a man who from birth had only known darkness — so that He could heal the man and reveal Himself to be the light of the World!

John tells us that this man was blind from birth

Immediately we are brought face to face with age old question — Why is there suffering in the world? Answers of every kind have been given — the most common of which is that suffering is the result of KARMA. Even the monotheistic Jews in the day of Jesus viewed suffering in that light. Listen to the disciples of Jesus.

²And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi,

They are addressing Jesus as TEACHER. They want to know the answer to this ancient question.

who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

QUOTE: A Handbook on the Gospel of John — literally “who sinned, this man or his parents, in order that he should be born blind?”

Newman, B. M., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on the Gospel of John. Helps for translators; UBS handbook series (299). New York: United Bible Societies.

The disciples of Jesus — like most Jews of their day — believed that sin and suffering were intimately connected. In the broadest sense they are absolutely correct. Suffering and death are directly tied to the fall of man and the entrance of sin into this world, recorded in Genesis 3. At the close of the creation account, God looked at the world and said it was very good. Since Genesis 3 forward we cannot look at the world and say — it is very good. We can’t watch the news at 10:00 and say of the world — it is very good. There, in Genesis 3, DEATH and SUFFERING were introduced to the world. In the final analysis, all physical problems are the result of our fall in Adam. His disobedience brought sin and death into the world (Rom. 5:12).

Listen to what the old Anglican bishop, J.C. Ryle had to say on the tragic condition of this man

We should observe, first, in this passage, how much sorrow sin has brought into the world. A sorrowful case is brought before us. We are told of a man “who was blind from his birth.” A more serious affliction can hardly be conceived. Of all the bodily crosses that can be laid on man, without taking away life, none perhaps is greater than the loss of sight. It cuts us off from some of the greatest enjoyments of life. It shuts us up within a narrow world of our own. It makes us painfully helpless and dependent on others. In fact, until men lose their eyesight, they never fully realize its value.

Now blindness, like every other bodily infirmity, is one of the fruits of sin. If Adam had never fallen, we cannot doubt that people would never have been blind, or deaf, or mute. The many ills that flesh is heir to, the countless pains, and diseases, and physical defects to which we are all liable, came in when the curse came upon the earth. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” (Rom. 5:12.)

Let us learn to hate sin with a godly hatred, as the root of more than half of our cares and sorrows. Let us fight against it, mortify it, crucify it, and abhor it both in ourselves and others. There cannot be a clearer proof that man is a fallen creature than the fact that he can love sin and take pleasure in it.

So the disciples’ prevailing theology of suffering was correct in understanding the broad connection between sin and suffering in the world. But here is where they went wrong — They made a giant leap from the broad and general connection between sin and suffering in the world — to making a tight connection between the specific sins and the specific sufferings of an individual.

They looked at this man — blind from birth — and they conclude that he was BORN BLIND because his parents sinned in some way that implicated him (perhaps his mother went to a pagan temple while pregnant with him); or because he had actually committed some sin while in his mother’s womb.

Their assumptions make the disciples much the same as Job’s “miserable comforters” — who insisted that Job’s suffering was tightly connected to some particular sin he had committed.

³Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents,

Jesus is not saying that they are sinless. Certainly both the man and his parents had at some time committed sin. And we cannot deny the fact that some specific illness or suffering can be the direct consequence of a specific sin. We have the record of Miriam’s leprosy being the direct consequence of her rebellion (Numbers 12). Jesus himself made the direct connection between a man’s paralysis and his sin (John. 5:14). Paul made the same connection between sin and suffering and even death in 1 Cor. 11:30.

Jesus is not saying that they are sinless — He knows every one of their sins! But He is being very clear in saying that their sin was not the cause of the man’s blindness. If all blindness was directly linked to our sin, EVERYONE in this room would be blind and all of our kids would be blind!

So Jesus eliminates that as an explanation — and he then addresses the even harder theological question  — How do we explain birth defects in the light of our belief that God is good? There is not a parent who has had a child born with a birth defect who hasn’t asked the question  — WHY did God allow my child to be born this way?

³ …“It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Some read this as meaning that God purposefully MADE the man blind in his mother’s womb so that God might be glorified in his healing.

Newman and Nida — in their comments on John’s Gospel — a work intended to help Bible translators  — give this reading of the Greek text —

³ “His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents’ sins. PERIOD But that God’s power might be seen at work in him, ⁴ we must keep on doing the works of him who sent me as long as it is day.”

And then they make this comment — 

On the basis of the Greek, it is not only grammatically possible to translate in this way; it also suits the context well.

Newman, B. M., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on the Gospel of John. Helps for translators; UBS handbook series (299). New York: United Bible Societies.

So — on the one hand Jesus rejects their erroneous belief that the man’s blindness MUST BE the direct consequence of his parents’ sin or his own sin. On the other hand — Jesus makes no judgment as to the reason that the man was born blind.

Some people are sick — or are hurt and suffering — or die — because of someone else’s sin — drunk driving

Some children are born sick and suffering — some die — because of their parents’ sin —crack babies / fetal alcohol syndrome / AIDS

Some are born sick — some are suffering — some die — because of Adam’s sin — genetic birth defects — biological life decaying in a fallen world —

Some are sick and suffering — and we don’t know why — like Job.

This is amazing! Here is Jesus — the WORD become man (John 1:14). Here is Jesus — The very WISDOM OF GOD (1 Corinthians 1:24). John tells us that the Word of God; the Wisdom of God, DOES address their theological error — but He DOES NOT give to them the definitive answer to the theological question of suffering! Instead, Jesus simply says that the man’s blindness offers an opportunity to show God’s power at work in him, and that Jesus himself has come to reveal that power at work in history.

THEN — Jesus associates US with HIM in that task committed to him by the Father. Robertson, A. (1997). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Jn 9:4). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems.

LISTEN TO THIS —

Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Jesus DOESN’T give us the answer to the question that has plagued man from the beginning of human history.  THAT answer is a secret — it belongs to the Lord our God. Jesus has revealed to us the WRONG way to process the question. And Jesus has revealed to us the amazing reality that He wants us to be a part of the work God sent Him to do — the work of God in touching lives in a wrecked world.

But that God’s power might be seen at work in him (a lost man living and suffering under the curse), ⁴ we must keep on doing the works of him who sent me as long as it is day.”

We need to be on guard against having a wrong attitude and approach to the secret things. We want to love and guard the TRUTH. We want to love the Scriptures and hold fast to them. We want to earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude v3). We want to be able to look at our faith and our practice and be able to say, as Peter did on the Day of Pentecost  — “this is that which the Holy Spirit spoke of….”. But we MUST realize that there are some theological issues that are going to belong to the Lord. And we need to guard against thinking that we have figured out the things that God has not revealed. The theological error of the disciples was that they made a system that drew conclusions that were not revealed by God.

We must also never allow our theological pride to hinder us from the great privilege of being a part of men and women seeing the power of God in the person of Jesus!

We must never allow our theological pride to hinder us from seeing the pathos of the human condition in this lost world!

You might be asking — WHAT do you mean by that? You might be asking HOW would that ever happen? Well let me show you what that looks like right here in John 9

¹As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

The disciples regarded this man as an unsolved riddle; but Jesus regarded him as a suffering person needing relief. Jesus saw a man — the disciples asked about him. To the disciples the blind man was the occasion for theological speculation. To Jesus he was a person — a human being to be pitied and needing the healing touch of God. These guys were like the medieval theologians who argued over how many angels could fit on the head of a pin — while men and women were going to hell! The were moved to theological controversy rather than tenderhearted compassion.

Imagine the AFFRONT these men (they we definitely Jesus’ men) were to this man in his condition!

Here is a man who from his earliest childhood memories only experienced life in utter darkness. Terrified of going to bed at night — hearing sounds but incapable knowing what or who it was.  He would have grown up without the simplest of childhood pleasures — and would have experienced the realities of childhood cruelties.

As we read in the account, his parents were devout in their Judaism —they treasured their religious life in the synagogue. This man would have grown up knowing that his mom and dad feared and loved God. He would have known that every time someone looked at him, they would have wondered what sin his mom and dad must have committed for him to be born blind.

As he grew up he would have concluded that he would never marry — never be a dad — never have a career. There was no such thing as brail in that day. There was no such thing as the Jews with Disabilities Acts.

It was customary in that day for young men to become financially independent and responsible at a very young age. He would have been ashamed that his career would be that of a beggar.

Having resigned himself to a life of begging — discovered that one of the better places to beg was in the Temple precincts (we remember the man lame from birth begging at the Beautiful Gate in Acts 3). He also would have discovered that the best day to beg was on the Sabbath — because he knew that as men and women were coming to and going from the Temple they would be prone to act out of religious sympathy (genuine or not). That’s why he was begging on the Sabbath, and particularly near the temple.

It was customary that teachers — rabbis — and their students would be coming and going at the temple. Students gathered there around their rabbis and asked questions — their rabbis gave answers. We remember Jesus

Luke 2:46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

AGAIN — ¹As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

He would have HEARD their question!

There he was sitting in the dust of the earth — blind and begging — and these men — probably like many other students who had walked past him with their rabbi — wanted to stop to talk about him — not talk to him.

IMAGINE the ache of growing up in utter pitch black darkness — IMAGINE the ache of knowing your parents heart ache over you — IMAGINE the ache being reduced to a beggar — and you are treated as a theological problem — puzzle not a person.

Then IMAGINE the ache when countless rabbis — who didn’t even know you or your parents — would pontificate and speculate about your darkness and the aching in your heart.

This day in John 9 — and this question by the followers of Jesus — was just another insult added to injury.

They stopped right in front of him and began asking questions about his condition as if he wasn’t even there!

We need to be so careful to never reduce the very real ache of a very real and very lost human to a theological issue to be discussed. We must guard against letting their lost condition become a concern merely because of theological or practical considerations. Let’s not spend our time talking ABOUT them —

Why all the tattoos? Why all the piercings? I think they are destroying the temple of God!

Why all the cosmetic surgery? How could anyone be so self absorbed and spend all of that money fixing the outward appearances.

How could a boy hold the hand of another boy?

They aren’t theological cadavers in a theological lab to be dissected and analyzed! They are humans living in fallen world with out God and having no hope! Let’s not spend our time talking ABOUT them — Let’s spend time talking TO them! IF we are going spend time talking about them — let’s be talking to Jesus about them!

Jesus didn’t treat this guy as some theological dilemma!

This rabbi was unlike any that he had ever encountered! Rather than hearing another rabbi speculate about his condition — the blind man sensed this rabbi kneeling down in front of him. With his heightened auditory senses the blind man could hear Jesus spit on the ground — and could hear Jesus hands moving in the dust of the earth.

Then he was startled as Jesus took mud and placed his hands over the blind man’s eyes.

The last thing he expected was that Jesus would touch him — or command him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

EVERY TIME that blind man was treated as a theological lab rat — the object for rabbinical instruction on the relationship between sin and suffering — the ACHE of being a blind man in a fallen world was exacerbated. He was not better for it — only bitter and more hopeless. The same is true when Christians look at the lost and only material for theological discussion and debate.

But when he was TOUCHED by Jesus — went to the pool — bent over and filled his hands with water — washed the mud out of his eyes — he was stunned. IMAGINE the TRANSFORMATION of everything he had known about life.

Instead of darkness — everything was light.  His whole life he had smelled things — but never saw them. He had touched things but never saw them. He had heard things but never saw them. All of a sudden he was able to connect all of the sounds and all of the smells and all of the shapes with color and shadow and light and movement.

Jesus saw a man — Oh that we would be men and women as Jesus sees them. Oh that we would be seeing the works of God displayed in the lives of lost men and women — see their lives transformed on every level — as this guys was. I’m reminded of my pastor (Chuck Smith) and his wife, Kay. In the 1960’s they would go to the Huntington Beach Pier and watch the hippies. Chuck would ask WHY don’t they take a bath, get a haircut, get a job? Kay would WEEP! That preceded an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that I believe saved a nation that was ready to implode socially, morally and spiritually. It was such a profound work of God that it was called “The Jesus Movement.” There is a reason why it was called “The Jesus Movement.” While it was taking place, a lot of people wanted to know HOW so many teens and young adults were getting off drugs. While a lot of people were asking how, there were countless young men and women who could only talk about WHO! All they could talk about was JESUS. And those countless transformed lives became worshippers of Jesus. People could see the reality of their transformed lives as clearly as men and women say the blind man had received his sight. They became a part of the WE of verse 4 — We must work the works of him who sent me. Those whose eyes had been opened by Jesus began to serve Jesus and co-labor with Jesus in the work of bringing sight to the spiritually blind world they once lived in.

Next week we will walk through the account again!

But now we want to RESPOND

GIVING — COMMUNION — WORSHIP — PRAYER

Think of the response of this man born blind to Jesus — LORD I BELIEVE — and he WORSHIPPED Jesus!

Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see Jesus. To reach out and touch him, and say that we love him. Open our ears, Lord, and help us to listen. Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see Jesus.

The Gospel of John

True Identity

John 8:48-59

Related Topics: Discipleship; Abiding in the Word; Knowing the Truth; True Freedom; Slaves to Sin; Pride; The Condition of Sin; Jesus: The Source of True Freedom; True Sonship; The Harshness of Jesus; The Tenderness of Jesus; The True Identity of Jesus

This morning we come to the closing section of John 8.

As we noted last week, every chapter of John’s account of the life of Jesus is tethered to his prologue — and here in Chapter 8 John has recorded events in the life of Jesus that took place in Jerusalem around the Feast of Booths — and each of them defines and proves what John has to say about Jesus in the Prologue (1:1-18)

John 1:1-18 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. ⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world… ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth….¹⁶And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

In this Chapter Jesus has revealed Himself to be THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. He has addressed revealed the essence of what it means to be a TRUE DISCIPLE. He has revealed to them the fact that men and women are SLAVES TO SIN. He revealed the meaning of TRUE FREEDOM. He has revealed to them what it means to be a TRUE SON of God. As the Chapter closes the crowd is going to ask Jesus the question — Who do you think you are? In His answer, Jesus is going divulge in the clearest of terms His TRUE IDENTITY. It is, I believe, the clearest declaration in all of the Bible, that Jesus is indeed God incarnate!

We pick up in VERSE 48

This is so helpful! If any of you have ever tried talking to someone about Jesus — you know what can often happen. You begin to talk to them about the reality of sin and the need to be set free from sin. You tell them about the reality of God’s great love in sending Jesus to be the One and Only remedy for sin. They contest your claims — but you keep giving them a reason for the hope that lies within you. And as their arguments begin to crumble — where does the conversation go?  It suddenly goes completely off topic and they begin to attack you! They begin to vent all of their pent up animosity against those so-called “Christians” who blow up abortion clinics and murder homosexuals — against YOU and Jesus! They vent their hatred for genuine Christians who offend them simply because they simply love Jesus and believe that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God to obeyed and trusted.  It’s not about Jesus and sin anymore.  It’s about you.  Do not feel bad! Jesus had the same thing happen to Him!

⁴⁸The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

We spent a great deal of time in the Fourth Chapter of John’s Gospel studying the ancient animosity that existed between Jews and Samaritans. The Jews hated the Samaritans because after the Northern Kingdom was led into captivity by the Assyrians; some of those Jews remained in Samaria and were assimilated into the culture of the pagans who were sent to occupy that region.  The result was a syncretism between Judaism and pagan religion. The Samaritans rejected big chunks of the Old Testament. They had all kinds of aberrant theology. They set up their own temple.  They had their own priesthood.  They were involved in occultic practices — perhaps even human sacrifice — all the while claiming to be worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For THAT the Jews hated them!

So this is the worst possible accusation and insult! They are calling Jesus a heretic, a demon possessed lunatic! They’re essentially telling Jesus that He needs to go to seminary and have that demon cast out before he can talk to them about God.  So if someone starts to attack you personally don’t feel bad, you’re in really good company.  Jesus had one of “those” days! This is so important to us — That is what makes Jesus our great high priest.

Hebrews 4:14-16 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

⁴⁹Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge

AGAIN — We are brought back to the Prologue —We beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus is the Truth Teller in a world of lies.

I tell you the truth.  I came to honor God and you dishonor me.

By dishonoring me, you dishonor God.

I came to serve God.

I came to speak God’s truth.

DON’T MISS THIS — Jesus is declaring that He is all about His Father’s business and His Father’s glory! He is telling them that if they have a problem with Him, they really have a problem with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If they have a problem with Jesus they need to take it up with the God they claim to worship — because HE is the One who sent Jesus! So they should stop calling Him dirty names!

⁵¹Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

TWO THINGS HERE —

1.) Jesus actually CONTINUES to speak to them! They have already insinuated that He was illegitimate. Now they hurl the biggest possible insult at him — and He still engages them! THAT is our Jesus. What a challenge to us — because when someone calls us an illegitimate, lying, demon possessed heretic — we call it a day and ask God to make sure He reserves a special place in hell for them!!

2.) Jesus not only continues — but he makes them a promise! Commit yourself to my teachings, you’ll never taste death.

THIS IS HUGE — Here in this chapter Jesus has now addressed the two great enemies of mankind — Sin and Death.

⁵²The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon!

Before it was a close vote.  Now it’s unanimous.

Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ ⁵³Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”

This is great! Here are the professional theologians arguing with Jesus.  Well who in the world do you think you are? Jesus is going to tell them — and you might find yourself deeply troubled by what He is going to say! Jesus is going to declare His TRUE IDENTITY.

Before we get there I want us to consider how Jesus is dealing with the crowd. There are times in the Gospels when we find Jesus to be incredibly HARSH. There are also times when we find Jesus to be the most tender and gentle man in all of human history.  What we discover is that the response of Jesus is directly associated with the attitudes of those He is dealing with. When people come to Jesus broken — at the end of their rope — fully aware of the fact that they have blown it — desperate for grace — not trying to excuse themselves but begging for forgiveness and mercy — we find Jesus responding with compassion, patience, loving kindness.  But, when the self-righteous person comes — angry and deaf to anything He says — wanting only to debate and make a fool of him — He is incredibly harsh. He has just told a group of people — who are the equivalent of modern day church-going, don’t drink, don’t own a TV, don’t go to movies kind of people — that their father is the Devil.  And by the way — if you have not trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins — you can go to church, not drink, not do drugs — not own a TV — not go to movies — belong to PETA and home school your kids — and YOUR father is the devil. If you have not trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, YOU are by nature children of wrath — just as much as someone who is a drunk, or a drug user, or someone involved in pornography or adultery or a homosexual lifestyle!

So — as we watch Jesus continue — he is going to get even harsher with them.  He is going to press them concerning their condition before Him.  And THAT is the way Jesus deals with anyone today who tries to maintain the notion that they are a basically good and spiritual person. Jesus will not let you escape the fact that apart from being born again you belong to Satan.

So Jesus continues.

⁵⁴Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.

If I came here to make a reputation — make a name for myself — that wouldn’t be anything special.  That is what every man and woman does by nature.

It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’

Jesus says — Your own Scriptures declare that the God of Israel shares His glory with no one — that Glory belongs to God alone. But the One, True and Living God, that you claim as your God— He is my Father. And My Father gives me glory. He adores Me, and confers glory upon Me!

⁵⁵But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.

Can’t you just feel the temperature rising in that crowd?

HUGE — They have indignantly asked Jesus — Who in the world do you think you are! Jesus is going to divulge His TRUE IDENTITY. He is going to make, what I believe to be, the clearest declaration in all of the Bible that he is indeed God Incarnate.

⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

You guys want to talk about Abraham — how about this? Abraham was looking forward to Me! Thousands of years ago — when he laid in his bed at night — Abraham was thinking about me!

Here’s the back story. We talked a lot about Abraham last week — we saw that he was a man who believed and received the Word of God and the promises of God. Abraham’s wife was named Sarah.  God had promised Abraham that he was going to make a nation through Abraham — that through Abraham God would bless all the nations of the earth. Abraham believed the promise of God —  but Sarah was barren. A lot of time passes without Abraham and Sarah conceiving. Then God shows up and makes a promise.

Genesis 17:15-19 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” ¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ¹⁹God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

About 10 years after that

Genesis 18:9-15 ¹⁰The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. ¹²So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” ¹³The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

What does God name the child?  Laughter — that is what Isaac means. They love this boy — He was a living miracle. 100 year old people aren’t even supposed to be doing the kind of things that make babies — let alone have babies!

They have the boy — they love the boy.  Then in Genesis 22 we read

Genesis 22:1-3 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” ²He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

The land of Canaan was inhabited by pagan people groups. They would offer their children as human sacrifices to their pagan gods.  God’s people never were NEVER to offer to God human sacrifices. Abraham obeys God — not knowing the end of the story. Abraham did not know that God was not going to allow him to slay Isaac.

So he takes his son up to Mount Moriah. This was a very real event in the life of Abraham and his son. But it was also a powerful prophetic picture of John 3:16 —

In Genesis 22— Take now your son, your only son whom you love….

In John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son… (We spent an entire Monday night looking at Genesis 22 and John 3:16 back in 2005).

Isaac carries his own wood on his own back — looking forward to day that the Son of God would carry the cross.

Along the way

Genesis 22:7-8 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. (KJV = God will provide Himself for a burnt offering)

When they get there

Genesis 22:9 ⁹….Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

Isaac was a young man at this moment in time. He could have said — I have a better idea dad — how bout if I put YOU on the altar! There is no way he couldn’t have beat up his 120-130 year old dad.  Even if he couldn’t — he could have at least outrun him.  If you’re a 20-30 year old guy and you can’t outrun a 120-130 year old man you need to go to the gym and work out on the elliptical trainer.

So we know that Isaac could have definitely gotten out of this deal had he wanted. Isaac willingly lays himself down on the altar — and is willing to die at the hands of his father. Just like Jesus.

Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Just when Abraham was ready to slay his son —

Genesis 22:11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

In the Old Testament the phrase AN angel of the Lord is a reference to an angelic being.  THE angel of the Lord usually is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus.

Genesis 22:11-12 And he said, “Here am I.” ¹²He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

So right there in the Book of Genesis — Jesus shows up and says to Abraham —don’t kill your son.

Genesis 22:13-14 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹³And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide” (Jehovah Jireh); as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Abraham prophesies that God will provide His only begotten Son as a sacrifice on that very spot. HUGE — The temple Mount and Golgotha are at the pinnacle of Mount Moriah.

And then God makes a promise — the same promise that is made to Abraham in Genesis 12 and 15— that through his descendents all nations of the earth would be blessed, that all races and cultures and tribes and languages, nations of people, including our own, would be blessed through the descendents of Abraham — from whom would come the person of Jesus Christ, who is standing before them in John 8 saying — Abraham was looking forward to my day.  I am the means by which all nations of the earth will be blessed — I’m the sacrifice for sin that God promised to provide on Mount Moriah.

⁵⁷So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”

You’re a 30-year old man! What are you talking about?

⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you…”

He’s very emphatic — He’s  very deliberate — I tell you the truth.

⁵⁸ ….before Abraham was, I am.”

“Before Abraham even came into existence — I AM.”

We have touched on this NAME on a number of occasions in our study of John 8.

Back in Exodus 3 — we find Moses tending sheep on the “backside of the desert” (KJV). Moses was raised in Egypt as the “son of Pharaoh’s daughter” in palace of Pharaoh. He kills an Egyptian taskmaster for beating a Hebrew slave. He ends up running for his life and ends up in a not so palatial spot called Midian. There at the well of Midian he comes to the rescue of a bunch of women and they take him home to meet dad — a guy named Jethro. Moses settles down in Midian and marries one of Jethro’s daughters and has a couple boys. He works for his father-in-law by tending his sheep. So — from man’s point of view  Moses was a man on the DOWNSIDE of life. He has gone from Pharaoh’s palace —to tending sheep on the BACKSIDE of the desert.  One day while Moses is tending sheep God appears to Moses in a burning bush.  The bush was on fire but it wasn’t being consumed.  As Moses goes to get a close look at it — the bush speaks to him — and gives to Moses a very strange and daunting job to do —  Go into Egypt, the most powerful nation in the earth, tell Pharaoh, the most powerful man on the planet, that he has to let My people go — all 3 million of them.

Moses understands that you can’t stand before Pharaoh and several million Hebrews and say — THE BUSH SENT ME TO TELL YOU THIS! So Moses asks the obvious question — Who should I say has sent me? God answers Moses and reveals his holy name.

THIS IS SO AMAZING — SO HUGE! Fallen man does not know God. He can only speculate as to the nature of God and the ways of God and the way to God.

The only way fallen man can know about God is if God reveals himself (See Credo Series – REVELATION: God Speaks). And at that moment in Exodus 3 God reveals himself to Moses — and reveals to Moses His holy name — I AM.

Wrapped up in this name is the ETERNALITY of God. It’s not that God was or God will be.  God simply IS. God is always in the present. He is outside of time.  He is the great I AM. He works in time — but He is eternal — without beginning or end.  The Name of God — Yahweh — was so sacred that the Jews wouldn’t speak it for fear that they would blaspheme God.  Even when they would write it in the Scriptures they would take out the vowels so that no one would be able to pronounce it — YHVH — the tetragrammaton. Even today, an Orthodox Jew writes “G_d.”

WE CAN NOT MISS THIS — Here is Jesus, a young man, a good Jew, a Bible teacher —  and He says that before Abraham was born I AM.  He is effectively saying that HE is the self-existent, eternal God, come in the flesh.  He is telling them that they are looking upon God who spoke the universe into existence. He is telling them that HE created Abraham. He is telling them that HE spoke to Moses in the burning bush!

This declaration of Jesus stands in utter contrast to the popular takes on Jesus.

Sources like John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, Harold Funk, The Jesus Seminar, John Shelby Spong, Peter Jennings and his project on the search for Jesus — they all say that Jesus was a really nice guy, a simple teacher, and a decent moral man. They say that Jesus taught practical living principles — but He never taught that He was God — and never believed Himself that He was God.  They say that it wasn’t until after His death that his followers began to promote the myth that Jesus was God.

John 8 tells us the exact opposite! It wasn’t the followers of Jesus who made up the idea that he was God. Jesus openly declared His TRUE IDENTITY!

Jesus was either a liar (and if Jesus was lying— according to his own words —His father was the Devil) or a demon possessed lunatic, or He is the Truth Teller — and He really is God Incarnate.

DON’T MISS THIS — John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, Harold Funk, The Jesus Seminar, John Shelby Spong, and Peter Jennings might have missed it. But the Jews in John 8 understood perfectly what Jesus had just said!

⁵⁹So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

They knew that he had just declared himself to be God — which according to Jewish Old Testament Law — was blasphemy — a crime punishable by stoning to death (Leviticus).

If Jesus did not mean that He was the Great I AM — it would have made perfect sense for Jesus to clear up the misunderstanding!

From this point forward the rulers of the Jews are totally committed to seeking his death. This statement will cost Jesus Christ his life. Jesus knows that. He paused to let them know that he was telling the truth.  He was very clear and very emphatic in revealing His TRUE IDENTITY — knowing that it would ultimately cause his death.  HUGE — Yet Jesus loved them so much that He would not leave them in the dark as to His TRUE IDENTITY. It was left to them to reject Him or embrace Him as God who became man!

We have to ask the reasonable question — Why in the world would Jesus be willing to die a brutal and bloody death and suffer the flames of Hell as a blasphemer if this was not His TRUE IDENTITY?

So we have in this magnificent chapter of this magnificent book of John’s Gospel, the bread and butter of Christianity.

In this chapter Jesus has taught us about TRUE FREEDOM. This lost world has a very untrue concept of freedom. We think that freedom means that we can do whatever we want. WRONG — that just brings us right back to be a slave to our own sin again — we’re right back under Satan.

Jesus wants us to experience TRUE FREEDOM

Jesus wants us to be free from serving sin; and free to serve God.

Jesus wants us to be free from Death.  Paul says death is our enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26). What God wants for us is eternal life.  He wants to give us life.

Jesus wants to free us from Lies.  The enemy tells us all kinds of lies about God and about ourselves that are not true. And Jesus wants to break through that and free us from lies.

Jesus wants to free us from the Devil so that we can be free to be adopted as children of God.

Jesus wants us to be free from slavery so we can be sons.

REALITY — You and I are contingent beings.  Only God is self existent and truly independent (I AM). God doesn’t need us — but we need Him. God can certainly live independent of us.  God was just fine without us for eternity before he created us.  God is fine without me.  But I am not fine without God.  I need God.  Someone say — well Jesus is just a crutch for weak people.  He’s not a crutch — He’s the stretcher — He’s the whole ICU! If you have broken arms and broken legs and you’ve stopped breathing you NEED to have someone pick you up.

So Jesus frees us from sin, Satan, lies, death, slavery. THEN — He frees us to serve God, and righteousness — free to worship, free us to the truth.

NONE OF THIS could happen without God INITIATING — God SENDING Jesus

NONE OF THIS could happen without God REVEALING to us TRUTH

REVEALING to us our TRUE IDENTITY: We were in the dark. God became man in the person of Jesus — the Light of the World. God shined into our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. God called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. He has translated us out of darkness into the Kingdom of His Son.

REVEALING to us our TRUE IDENTITY: We were slaves to the presence and power of sin — which kills!

REVEALING to us the TRUE IDENTITY OF JESUS: “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, IAM”

The only one who could save the Jews from bondage in Egypt under Pharaoh was the One, True and Living God. He revealed His name to Moses — I AM. In the Bible Egypt is a picture of this lost world and Pharaoh is a picture of Satan.

Jesus is the Great I AM who became man! Once again we are taken back to the prologue — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. The Great IAM is the only one who can save us — set us free. Because of the cross of Jesus we go from Satan to God, lies to truth, death to life, slavery to sonship.

And then He invites us to be TRUE DISCIPLES: He invites us to CONTINUE in His Word — continue to throw ourselves into his instruction and abide in that.

TWO CLOSING THOUGHTS — And neither sits well with our pride.

1.) You cannot master your own life. We are desperately in need of depending upon God.

2.) We need to understand that the real issue is Sin.  Do you sin?  YES, you do. What will you do about it?  It’s an offense against God.  It is a problem that God has with you. Jesus invites you to take your sin and give it to him. Jesus says — I’m without sin. You and I have sinned. Jesus conquers sin and death by living a sinless life and dying in our place — our sin was laid upon Jesus.  He lived the life we should — but don’t. He died the death we should—but will never have to — if we believe the good News.

RESPOND

The Gospel of John

True Sons

John 8:37-47

Related Topics: Discipleship; Abiding in the Word; Knowing the Truth; Freedom; Slaves to Sin; Pride; The Condition of Sin; Jesus: The Source of True Freedom; True Sonship

We are continuing in our study of John’s Gospel. We are in Chapter 8.

Carried along by the Holy Spirit, John records an event in the life of Jesus that further defines what John has to say about Jesus in the Prologue (1:1-8)

John 1:1-9 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. ⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

In Verses 12-30 of John 8 — Jesus declared that He is the Light of the World, and that those who would follow Him would not walk in darkness but have the light of life! After these words of Jesus there were a lot of people — powerful and influential RELIGIOUS people — who rejected Jesus and His Words — they rejected the Light of the World. They hated Jesus for what He had to say. They opposed Jesus because Jesus has called them into his light so that their darkness would be exposed. 

While the religious movers and shakers were rejecting Jesus — There were people listening in who professed to believe what Jesus said about Himself

³⁰As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

For those who believed what Jesus had to say — made and radical declaration and gave an awesome promise — 

³¹So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

So last week we examined in Verses 31-36 two major issues — True Discipleship and True Freedom.

Jesus defined the TRUE DISCIPLE — If you abide in my word you are truly my disciples. Discipleship begins with belief. But it doesn’t end there. It consists in abiding in the Word. A true disciple is one who REMAINS and STAYS in the Word. A true disciple is one who LIVES in the Word as if it were his home! We learned that the true disciple did not merely believe — but also made His teaching the basis of their conduct.

QUOTE: William Barclay — The disciple is the learner who learns in order to do. The truth which Jesus brought is designed for action.

Jesus said that true discipleship RESULTS in knowledge of the truth.

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³²and you will know the truth,

And then in Verse 32 Jesus said that as a result of knowing the truth, freedom will be yours as a gift — you experience TRUE FREEDOM.

REMEMBER — If you abide in my word you are truly my disciples. In other words — Your future loyalty to my teaching will prove the reality of your present profession.

³³They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Many of those who had professed to believe that Jesus is the Light of the World had a problem continuing in His Word. They couldn’t understand why Jesus would say that THEY — the descendants of Abraham — needed to be set free! Jesus then spoke words that exposed them as something they could not imagine themselves to be — SLAVES!

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

Here was the second great issue — the issue of True Freedom.

True Freedom is not a matter of political and social liberty (which we should never take for granted). True freedom is not a matter of religious heritage.

“Truly, truly, I say to you

Sin exists.  People are slaves to sin — and as a result they do bad things.  Jesus tells them that there is only ONE way to be set free from the power of sin —

HUGE — The conversation shifts from sin to Him

³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

We learned how Jesus frees us from the power of sin and the penalty of sin. We learned how Jesus frees us to a life of serving God.

Romans 6:22 ²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

We pick now in VERSE 37 where Jesus challenges the validity of claiming Abraham as their father.

They said — Here’s our ethnic and religious pedigree. We are descendants of Abraham! Jesus says —

³⁷I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ³⁸I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” ³⁹They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, ⁴⁰but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹You are doing what your father did.”

Verse 37 — offspring = Greek word sperma

I know you are biologically connected to Abraham — his genetic material is in you! If they could have checked DNA in that day they would have proven their biological identity. BUT HERE’S THE DEAL — When it comes to spiritual identity — relationship with God — biological and even religious heritage means NOTHING. It has been said that God has no grand kids; He only has children! Having a biological parent that has been born again into the family of God does not make you a child of God.

Abraham had a living relationship with God based upon faith in the promises of God. He was good with God.

Jesus says to them — Don’t say that you’re the friends of God because you’re the biological descendant of a man who was the friend of God.

THIS IS HUGE — You do not get into the family of God by borrowing someone else’s relationship with God. You have to have your own faith —your own relationship with God.

James 2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.

So in no uncertain terms Jesus tells them that even though they have a biological relationship to Abraham they have ZERO spiritual relationship to him! In a spiritual sense — they couldn’t pass the paternity test!

What, specifically, proves that they don’t share Abraham’s spiritual DNA?

³⁷ My word has no place in you.

Again — remember the emphasis that Jesus has placed upon believing and abiding in the Word of Jesus

From the first time we are introduced to the patriarch of the nation of Israel we find him receiving and believing the Word of God. That is why the Bible calls Abraham “the father of all who believe.” (Romans 4:11ESV; Rom4:16 NLT)

UNLIKE those listening to Jesus — The Word of God had a place in Abraham’s heart even when it made zero sense to him. He was a pagan living in pagan central (The Ur of the Chaldees – the birthplace of every false religious system on the planet.) Yet here’s what the Bible says

Genesis 12:1-4 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ²And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” ⁴So Abram went, as the Lord had told him

No idea WHERE God was going to lead him — or HOW God would bless him — or HOW God would bless all the families of the earth through him. But Abraham picked up and WENT.

Granted — His faith sometimes waivered. Sometimes he tried to fulfill the promise of God with his own fleshly plans. But his faith was so genuine that we are told that

Genesis 15:5-6 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir(speaking of Ishmael – the son he conceived with his servant Hagar); your very own son shall be your heir.” ⁵And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ⁶And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Listen to Paul’s commentary on this in Romans 4

Romans 4:19-21 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

He came to so believe and abide in the Word of God and the Promises of God that we read

Genesis 22:1-8 ¹After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” ²He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” ³So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. ⁵Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” ⁶And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. ⁷And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

HERE’S THE POINT — If they had Abraham’s spiritual DNA (which is the only thing that counts with God) they would have ROOM IN THEIR HEARTS for the words of Jesus.

Jesus takes it even further —

³⁹ …“If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, ⁴⁰but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹You are doing what your father did.”

He says that Abraham was their biological dad — but they had a different spiritual dad! More on that in a moment.

They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” ⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.

Jesus says — Don’t tell me that God is your father and then act completely contrary to the way that a child of God should.

One guy put it like this — If you don’t quack and you can’t float maybe you shouldn’t call yourself a duck.  A real duck can quack and float.  And if you can’t quack and float maybe you have to consider the possibility that you’re actually a brick and not a duck.

Jesus has already proved that they have no spiritual ties with Abraham because His Word has no place in their hearts. NOW Jesus tells them why it is impossible for them to claim that God is their father.

⁴² If God were your Father, you would love me,

HUGE QUESTION — How do you know if God’s your father? Simple answer — Do you love Jesus?  The crowd wants to talk theology and tradition and family and history.  Jesus says — Let’s keep this very simple.  God sent me.  Do you love me?  If you love me God’s your father.  If you don’t love me God is not your father.

Lots of people will say — I really love God.  I’m just not down with Jesus. I don’t like the narrow minded view that Jesus is the only way to God. I love God in my own way. I have my own path to God.

The Bible says

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all

If you want to love God — you have to go through Jesus.  If you want to know God — you have to go through Jesus.  If you want to be adopted into God’s family and have God be your father — you have to go through Jesus. Jesus keeps it very basic (which is the beauty of Jesus).  Do you love me?  If you loved me, God would be your father.

HUGE APPLICATION — The greatest question you can ask yourself is — Do I love Jesus?

QUOTE: J.C. RYLE — We can only come to one conclusion — Where there is no love to Christ, there is no sonship to God.

Now we come to some of the most RADICAL and ARRESTING words in Scripture — right from the lips of Jesus. And again we are taken back to the John’s prologue.

John 1:14; 16-17 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… ¹⁶And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

We cannot compartmentalize Jesus. We cannot have a redacted Jesus. We love the fact that Jesus is full of grace. But Jesus is also full of truth. We love that fact that grace came through Jesus. But truth also came through Jesus. HERE is the truth.

⁴³Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. ⁴⁴You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

FIRST — Jesus sets forth in no uncertain terms the REALITY and the NATURE of the devil.

He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

QUOTE: J.C. RYLE — There is a devil! We have a mighty invisible enemy always near us–one who never slumbers and never sleeps–one who is about our path and about our bed, and spies out all our ways, and will never leave us until we die. He is a murderer! His great aim and object is, to ruin us forever and kill our souls. To destroy, to rob us of eternal life, to bring us down to the second death in hell, are the things for which he is unceasingly working. He is ever going about, seeking whom he may devour. He is a liar! He is continually trying to deceive us by false representations, just as he deceived Eve at the beginning. He is always telling us that good is evil and evil good–truth is falsehood and falsehood truth–the broad way good and the narrow way bad. Millions are led captive by his deceit, and follow him, both rich and poor, both high and low, both learned and unlearned. Lies are his chosen weapons. By lies he slays many.

SECOND — Jesus tells this crowd that their father is not God — their father is the devil.

They not only have ZERO RESEMBLANCE to Abraham and his faith — and ZERO RESEMBLANCE to God. They RESEMBLE the devil.

How do you know if Satan is your father? Check your desires.  What are your desires? You see — when a man or woman becomes a Christian their desires change.

Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

That doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily perfect, but it means that their desires change.  When you are born again you become an adopted child of God. When you sin, as a child of God, it bothers you; not because you got caught or it adversely effects you; but because it grieves your heavenly father.

A Christian and a non-Christian might do the same thing — but because their desires are different one ends up loving it and the other ends up hating it.  Your desires change.  You don’t want to do certain things anymore. Your desires are supposed to change if God is your father.

Jesus says that Satan is a liar and the father of lies — And his kids are liars. Satan can’t tell the truth.  Lying is his native language.  If you hate the truth and you love lies, if you hate righteousness and you love sin, you have zero resemblance to God. You resemble your father the devil. Is your life governed by lies? Not just in saying things that are untrue; but in living a life that is untrue – pretending to be someone or something that you are not. If you believe lies and you participate in lies you have to question whether or not God is your father.

Jesus says that the Devil is a murderer. God brings life, Satan brings death.  Everything he touches dies. His whole purpose is to kill things. He wants people to die.  He’s a murderer from the beginning — all the way back to Cain killing his brother Abel.  And from that moment forward he has sought to bring about death.

HUGE — Wherever God seeks to bring life and healing and reconciliation. Satan is seeking to kill and destroy. Where God is seeking to bring healing and wholeness and reconciliation and love to relationships and families and marriages and communities and churches — Satan brings lies and just wants to kill it.  He’s a murderer.

So Jesus says — You guys say that God is your father but your desires are don’t look like God’s. Your lies are evident and you reject the truth. I’m here to reconcile man to God and you’re trying to kill me and put to death the saving work of God.

⁴⁵But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ⁴⁷Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

I’m going to tackle VERSE 47 first — and then close with Verses 45-46

Verse 47 is a hard bit of Scripture.

The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

There are those who interpret this passage in light of John 6:44

⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

That passage of Scripture speaks inescapably about predestination and election. We cannot come to Jesus UNLESS God chooses us. There is no argument to be made. As hard as it is on human pride and intellect — the meaning can not be avoided.

However — There are those who say that the phrase “you are not of God” means that they are incapable of hearing with understanding because the Father is not drawing them —

QUOTE: John Piper — Being “of God” would refer to the choice of God to draw them….. In other words, no one can come to me unless they are “of God”—the God who then draws them to me.

The assumption is that the men and women of John 8:47 will NEVER hear with understanding and NEVER be capable of believing — because in the matter of election God those who them Father does not draw — cannot ever hear with understanding and believe!

QUOTE: Wayne Grudem — Reprobation is the sovereign decision of God before creation to pass over some persons, in sorrow deciding not to save them, and to punish them for their sins, and thereby to manifest his justice.

Grudem, W. A. (1994). Systematic theology : An introduction to biblical doctrine (685). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.

In that point of view man is morally accountable for something he could NEVER grasp. He is punished for sins that are incapable of being understood as God sees sin. I have trouble finding that plainly taught in the Bible unless I look at a certain passages with a particular bias.

Let me quote D.A. Carson on the matter of election from his comments on Deuteronomy 7 —

Three observations: (1) In the Bible, God’s utter sovereignty does not diminish human responsibility; conversely, human beings are moral agents who choose, believe, obey, disbelieve, and disobey, and this fact does not make God’s sovereignty finally contingent. That is clear from the way God’s sovereignty manifests itself in this chapter, that is, in election, even while the chapter bristles with the responsibilities laid on the people. People who do not believe both truths—that God is sovereign and human beings are responsible—sooner or later introduce some intolerable wobbles into the structure of their faith.

Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God : A daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. Volume 1. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

I think the Pulpit Commentary is very helpful here —

Others insist that here Jesus speaks of the regenerated man, the true child of God, who has power to believe, who has come to the Father, being predestinated unto eternal life. Even this interpretation does not leave sufficiently ample play to the human freedom, and the personal self-responsibility, which pervades the teaching of the gospel.

The author than quotes the passage again — The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God — i.e. seeing that ye do not hear the words of God, it is evident that ye are not of God. They are not excluded from becoming so by any irreversible fate, but their present obtuseness of spiritual perception, their refusal to accept truth on its clearest exposition, shows that… they are not being drawn to him by in working of the Father’s grace. The very form of the expression was once more meant to touch their conscience.

The Pulpit Commentary: St.John Vol. I. 2004 (H. D. M. Spence-Jones, Ed.) (368–369). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

In other words — We cannot assume that these were never going to be drawn by the Father to Jesus. Nor can we assume that their failure to hear with understanding at that moment means that they would always be — not of God.

There are a lot of people present this morning (myself included) who have made room for the Word of God in their hearts, and love Jesus. And by that — they prove that God is indeed their Father. But nearly every one of those people can attest that that there was a time — and that there were numerous occasions that we did not hear the Word of God — didn’t get it and didn’t want it! As Jesus said in Verse 43 — It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. There was simply no room in our hearts for His message (v.37 NLT).

At that time we most certainly were not of God. At that time we were in the same family group as the crowd in John 8

Ephesians 2:1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

BUT — Those moments did not prove that the Father was not drawing us to Jesus — nor did they prove our reprobation. God kept pursuing!

THIS MORNING’S BIBLE BUS READING gives to us the quintessential illustration of this fact.

Acts 9:1-7 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” ⁵And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

Saul was working for the very men who handed Jesus over to Pilate to be crucified. He was complicit with them in it all. He was in charge of murdering Stephen for his faith in Jesus. And now He was on his way to do more of the same. The Word of God had no place in his heart — he had no love for Jesus — and in his violence and murder he looked like his father the devil. That did not prove that the father would NEVER draw him to Jesus — that he was forever not of God — reprobate — passed over by God.

GOD PURSUED HIM!

CLOSING

⁴⁵But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

Jesus declares that He is perfect and sinless — and by that declaration He claims the authority to speak into our lives and tell us that we are wrong.  People hate that. But it is only in the light of His holiness that we can understand the nature of our sinfulness — and see our need for a Savior. That is why Satan, the Father of lies, has so many false representations of Jesus. He is the inventor of the nice guy Jesus; the good teacher Jesus; the new age ascended master Jesus — any Jesus except for the sinless Son of God. Because we can put ourselves alongside of those other versions of Jesus, and perhaps see the need for a little self-reformation — the need to try a little harder at being good. It is only along side of the sinless Son of God that we see ourselves as sinners without any hope of saving ourselves apart from His sinless sacrifice for us on the cross.

Jesus is speaking to men and women in this room at this very moment! Up until this moment you have not been able to stand the Word of God. Up until this moment you have been of your father the devil. Your life has been one big lie and one non-stop rejection of the Truth.  But this morning you are hearing Jesus — who IS the TRUTH. You find yourself standing in the light of who Jesus is — and you KNOW that you are a sinner with no hope of saving yourself.

HERE IS THE GREAT NEWS!

Romans 5:6-11 For while we were still weak (NLT – utterly helpless), at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Acts 2:37-38 Now when they heard this (the message of the cross and resurrection of Jesus) they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel of John

True Disciples – True Freedom

John 8:31-36

Related Topics: Discipleship; Abiding in the Word; Knowing the Truth; Freedom; Slaves to Sin; Pride; The Condition of Sin; Jesus: The Source of True Freedom

The 8^th chapter of John’s Gospel has been PACKED with profound and powerful events and truth. It is filled with Jesus making radical claims and the ensuing conflicts. Remember the chapter follows the Feast of Booths. The chapter began with the account of the Jesus teaching in the Temple precincts. His teaching was disrupted when the religious leaders dragged through the crowd a woman that had been caught in the very act of adultery.

⁴they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.

Jesus dealt with her accusers and then He addressed her —

¹⁰Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Many like to think that point of this event is to let us know that Jesus is the champion of the victim — ready to give a sinner a break. But that is not what the event teaches us about Jesus. Jesus could let her go without invoking the Old Testament penalty of death — without violating Old Testament law — because the penalty of death would be exacted! Her sin will be punished with death — But not her own death.  Jesus is punished in her place. Penal Substitutionary Atonement!

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In Verse 12 we then came to one of the seven I AM statements of Jesus

John 8:12 ….“I am the light of the world.

We made a broad study of the theme and concept of light, and the contrast between light and darkness in the Scriptures.

Jesus declared that HE is — in and of Himself — the one who gives the LIGHT of the presence of God. Jesus not only says that He is — in and of Himself — the source of LIGHT in this dark world; He says that the ONLY way to EXPERIENCE that Light and BE in that light is to Follow HIM!

John 8:12 ….Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

We spent one Sunday considering what it means to follow Jesus. Last Sunday we studied THE RESPONSE OF THE CROWD.

The Pharisees didn’t like the tone of authority in the words of Jesus — So they challenged His authority. They attempted to invalidate the authority of His words by claiming that Jesus was bearing witness of Himself (Deuteronomy 19:15).

Jesus responded by bringing God the Father forward as a corroborating witness — the Sent One calls on the Sender. They refused to acknowledge the God of Israel as the Father of Jesus. Jesus said that they would die in the SINGULAR SIN of rejecting Him as the Son of God and Messiah of Israel.

²¹So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

He went even further by saying

²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am (he) you will die in your sins.”

Unless you recognize Me as God — And bring your sin into the light of who I am — and into the light of my nature as messiah and redeemer — you will die in your sin.

After these words of Jesus we see saw that a lot of people — powerful and influential RELIGIOUS people — reject the Light of the World . They hate Jesus for what He has to say. They are opposing Jesus because Jesus has called them into his light so that their darkness would be exposed.

In the face of this rejection John left us with some words that give us a glimmer of hope —

³⁰As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

While the religious movers and shakers were rejecting Jesus — There were people listening in on this whole exchange who said —

It’s here that we pick up this morning —

³¹So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him,

For those who believed what Jesus had to say — Jesus gives this awesome promise

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

We are going to spend our time this morning looking at two things — TRUE DISCIPLES and TRUE FREEDOM.

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

Jesus said that there is something that defines an individual as a TRUE DISCIPLE — If you abide in my word.

QUOTE: William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of John volume 1

Discipleship begins with belief.

Discipleship begins with belief. But it doesn’t end there. It consists in abiding in the Word.

HUGE QUESTION: What does it mean to ABIDE in the Words of Jesus? The Greek word here is μένω meno. Here is what the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3^rd Edition (also referred to as BDAG) — has to say about this Greek word, meno

= Remain, Stay, Luke 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

= Dwell — In ­ John 1:38 we are told that John and Andrew asked Jesus “where are you staying — (meno) — abiding or living?”

So a true disciple is one who REMAINS and STAYS in the Word, like one would STAY in the house. A true disciple is one who LIVES in the Word as if it were his home! Being a TRUE DISCIPLE involves remaining in the place of listening to the Word of Jesus — living in the word of Jesus. To be a TRUE DISCIPLE means that we have a continuing — on-going relationship with Jesus — in which we come under his instruction and we sit in it and we steep in it!

Such an approach to living is inextricably bound up in the term DISCIPLE. The Greek word for disciple is μαθητής mathētēs (mah-thae-tase)

DISCIPLE (mathētēs) is literally — the learner. A disciple does not merely believe — a disciple is someone who is constantly learning from Jesus. As we read the New Testament we find that a disciple was more than a mere pupil or learner. A disciple was an adherent who accepts the instruction given to him and makes it his rule of conduct

EXAMPLE — there were the disciples of John (Matt. 11:2; Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33; 7:18; John 3:25)

EXAMPLE — there were the disciples of the Pharisees (Mark 2:18).

EXAMPLE — In John 9:28, the Pharisees told the healed blind man, “Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.”

So Jesus says that the true disciple did not merely believe — but also made His teaching the basis of their conduct.

QUOTE: William Barclay — The disciple is the learner who learns in order to do. The truth which Jesus brought is designed for action.

BIG IDEA HERE — Christians are to remain, stay and dwell in the Word of Jesus — not simply for academic satisfaction or for intellectual appreciation, but in order to find out what God wishes us to do — and then doing it!
Jesus said that true discipleship RESULTS in knowledge of the truth.

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³²and you will know the truth,

To remain in the words of Jesus; live in the words of Jesus; is what makes one a true learner/disciple of Jesus. To learn from — the truth teller in a world of lies — is to learn the truth.

A few thoughts on the truth —

1.) Many philosophies ideologies claim to be based on truth — but the truth Jesus is speaking of here is not intellectual assent to some philosophical proposition. It is trust in Jesus Himself who said — “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

2.) The Word of God does not claim to just contain truth, but is truth; It is not simply true, but is truth itself! The bible itself is the final standard of truth. In John 17:17 Jesus doesn’t say — Your word is true. He says — Your word is truth.

Once again we find that Christianity really is ALL ABOUT JESUS! It is only in the truth of Jesus we see God for Who He truly is. It is only in the truth of Jesus we see this world for what it really is. It is only in the truth of Jesus we see ourselves for who we really are. It is only in the truth of Jesus we see what things are of real value, eternal value. It is only in the truth of Jesus we see what is right and what is wrong; what is truly good or truly bad. It is only in the truth of Jesus we see what things are really important and what things are not.

APPLICATION — Most every professed believer has, at one time or another, slipped into a certain pattern in their spiritual life. Jesus will blow your mind with some truth or some passage of Scripture. You’ll be so stoked about it — it will make so much sense of your life — it will bring such clarity to a situation or relationship. You have an almost euphoric rush because of that truth. But you don’t continue it.  You don’t abide in it. Not long after you cycle back down to where you began before that incredible learning moment! Life for a lot of Christians ends up being a series of emotional highs and lows — peaks and valleys. Their Christian life is a continual cycle of God speaking to them and teaching them something — and them failing to live in it — and then running back in that cycle over and over and over.

Jesus says that the key to being a TRUE DISCIPLE is to continue.  When Jesus teaches you something — remain in it, live in it. One guy called it “A long obedience in the same direction.”

THAT is true discipleship — and Jesus said that true discipleship RESULTS in knowledge of the truth — and then He said

³² ….and the truth will set you free.”

He says that a true disciple remains in/lives in His Word — and as a result of being a true disciple you come to knowledge of the truth. And as a result of knowing the truth, freedom will be yours as a gift — you experience TRUE FREEDOM.

One of this world’s highest virtues, noblest values and greatest desires, is freedom.  The amazing thing is that the world has NO IDEA what freedom really is.  Apart from the truth of Scripture we have no concept of what freedom is.  We tend to think of freedom as being free from rules or standards that might prevent us from doing whatever feels good. Jesus — the Truth-Teller in a world of lies — is going to tell us that TRUE FREEDOM involves two things — It involves God freeing us from one thing so that you can be free to the right thing.

They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Some wonder if the THEY of this verse are the MANY of Verse 30 — the BELIEVERS of Verse 31.

Warren Wiersbe — whom I greatly respect as a commentator, said — It is not likely that the pronoun they refers to these new believers, for they would probably not argue with their Savior.

Imagine that — a believer arguing with the Lord! Besides myself — I know that the apostle Peter argued with the Lord at least 4 times that I can think of! AT Caesarea Philippi; twice at the last supper (feet washing and denial); and in Acts 10. There Peter was on the roof top of the Simon the Tanner’s house. The Lord told Peter to eat non-kosher food. Peter said — NOT SO LORD — I’ve never eaten anything unclean!

Listen to how the Greek Scholar A.T. Robertson reads the language of Jesus in His comment to those who believed.

QUOTE: A.T. Robertson — Your future loyalty to my teaching will prove the reality of your present profession. Continuance in the word (teaching) proves the sincerity or insincerity of the profession. It is the acid test of life. Robertson, A. (1997). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Jn 8:31). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems.

So as we consider the language of the text  — I believe it is possible that some of these are from the MANY of Verse 30. They have made a profession of faith in Jesus — and at least intellectually — believed that He is indeed the Light of the World and that if they followed Him they would not walk in darkness but have the light of life.

This moment will show the professed faith of some of the “many” in Verse 30 for what it really was. By addressing the subject of discipleship, truth and freedom — Jesus sheds more light on their hearts — and in so doing elicits an interesting response from a number of them. For some of them it is as if Jesus has just dropped on them truth that is a bit hard to get their hearts and minds around — and exposes their pride and resistance to the truth. It is the truth about real freedom and the truth about being slaves to sin.

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus says that True Freedom comes from knowing the truth — from abiding in his Word. And immediately their pride — and unbelief in regards to His Word is revealed.

³³They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Wait a minute — we’re descendents of Abraham, we’re Jews.  We don’t need any deliverance.  When were we ever slaves? We were never in bondage to any man — unless you count that 400 years in Egypt — or Assyria, or Babylon, or Persia! Other than that we’ve never been in bondage to any man.  By the way — don’t mind those Roman soldiers you see everywhere. At that very moment they were in bondage to Rome — but could not bring themselves to admit it. That was their problem.

They were descendants of Abraham. They had been hand selected by the One, True and Living God to be His chosen people. The One, True and Living God had entrusted THEM with His Law and His Word in the Old Testament Scriptures.

Why are you talking to US about freedom?

BY THE WAY — This theme of TRUE FREEDOM would have really struck a chord with John’s audience — the Greek culture of the 1^st Century AD — because their great philosophers were always talking about the subject of freedom. The Stoics said — “Only the wise man is free; the foolish man is a slave.” Socrates had demanded — “How can you call a man free when his pleasures rule over him?”

So His audience asks — Why are you talking to US about freedom?

³⁴Jesus answered them,

So here comes His Word — Here comes the Light of His Word to expose them as something they could not imagine themselves to be — SLAVES!

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

In Southern California — on the 91 Freeway going towards Riverside there is a dam on the opposite side of the freeway with a big Liberty Bell painted on it along with the words — 1776-1976  200 years of freedom.

But here’s the problem — We can live in a “free country” and yet still not have True Freedom.  The people of John 8 were the apple of God’s eye — and yet they weren’t free.

True Freedom is not a matter of political and social liberty (which we should never take for granted). True freedom is not a matter of religious heritage. You can live in the “land of the free and the home of the brave” — you can be a descendant of Abraham, or a descendant of Baptists or Methodists or Presbyterians, or Evangelicals — but NONE of that makes you Truly Free!

“Truly, truly, I say to you

Here is the Truth-Teller in a world of lies — He is giving them HIS Word. He has said if they would remain in and live in these Word they would be true disciples — and they would know the truth — and the truth would make them free!

Everyone who sins is a slave δουλος to sin.

A.T. Robertson points out that the grammar does not refer to a single act of sin — but rather a continuous habit or practice Robertson, A. (1997). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Jn 8:34). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems.

“Whosoever keeps on practicing sin [literal translation] is the servant δουλος of sin.”

And this is the bottom line issue. Jesus gets right to the point.  The issue is the practice of sin. The fact that we sin continuously and habitually proves that we are enslaved to sin. We spoke about this in the previous section of John 8. If you want to prove that you are not in bondage to sin — stop sinning. By NOT sinning you can prove that sin is not your master. The excuse — “Well nobody is perfect” only confirms the fact that we are slaves to sin. Nobody is perfect because everybody is a slave to sin. To be a slave to sin means that sin owns you — it governs you — it seeks nothing but to abuse you.

Here is the interesting thing — When we talk about sin we tend to talk in terms of specific sins — murder, drunkenness, anger, stealing, sexual sin.  Those are sins — but those are a by-product of something much deeper. Jesus is addressing the heart of the issue here — He is addressing the condition of sin.  Sin is a condition.  It is a state of being. It is a state of being in rebellion against God. It is a state of being obstinate towards God.  It is a state of being hard of heart towards God. It’s a state of rejecting God’s truth. It is the state of being in which we live as if we were God. As D.A Carson puts it — the root problem is our rebellion against God….. our grotesque de-godding of God.

It is out of that state of being that sinful activities, specific sins flow.

As descendants of Adam we are born into that state of being! We sin by nature and by choice. That’s why Paul could write in Romans

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Jesus said that we are all slaves to sin — slaves to its presence and its power. Those listening to Jesus protested.  You may protest.  We all protest. We tend to see ourselves as basically good people who occasionally do bad things.  We have this estimation of ourselves because we compare ourselves to others. Before I became a Christian people told me I needed to be saved and I would ask them — Why? I’m a pretty good person. I’m not perfect but I’m not a serial killer either. I’m somewhere between Mother Teresa and Adolf Hitler.

Jesus says — No, you’re bad people who once in a while do something nice. And when we do happen to do something good we tell ourselves how good we are and we ruin it with our pride — basically turning that good moment into sin! So we’re back to the reality that we are slaves to sin.

Again — We are so much like those listening to Jesus! We are great at minimizing our enslavement. “It’s not so bad. I just have to make a few adjustments.” In fact in our culture “sin” is virtually banned from our vocabulary. Kent Hughes noted that he once heard a TV news commentator refer to a societal sin a “cultural neurosis.” Tragically — in contemporary church culture there is a frighteningly insufficient view of sin. It has virtually ignored or redefined the depths of the hold of sin upon us leaving men and women in a theological Disneyland. As a result men and women look at Jesus as a cosmic counselor or therapist prescribing a little “chicken soup for the soul” when needed by way of a Bible verse here and a Bible verse there.  In modern Christianity, the great point of faith in Jesus is not True Freedom — not to be liberated from the presence and power of sin — it is to the end of personal happiness.

³⁵The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

His audience has referenced their relationship to Abraham. Perhaps Jesus talks about the difference between a slave and a son knowing that they would think of Isaac (Abraham’s son) and Ishmael (the son of Abraham’s slave.) Paul spoke of Isaac and Ishmael in Galatians 4 and made this statement

Galatians 4:30 “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”

The concept of slave is so foreign to us — but not to the men and women of John 8. They understood this language. They knew that a slave was not a part of the family. They knew that a slave didn’t get the family name — couldn’t touch the family inheritance.  They knew that at any point in time a slave could be cast out and mistreated.  But a son was completely different.  A son was loved.  A son was given the family name.  A son was beloved by the father. The son is in the house and has access to everything. He can go wherever he wants to go. He can stay as long as he wants to stay. But the slave has no rights. If you are a slave to sin, the son’s freedoms are not yours.

Jesus is saying — THAT is what you want.  You want a relationship with God whereby He is your Father — and He adopts you into his family.

Jesus is essentially telling them that the reason they are slaves is because they are not sons of God. He essentially says — Since you are a slave to sin, you are not a child of God.

Sin exists.  People are slaves to sin — and as a result they do bad things.  I do bad things.  What in the world do we do with that problem?

HUGE — The conversation shifts from sin to Him

³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

QUOTE: J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, vol.8 — Liberty, most Englishmen know, is rightly esteemed one of the highest temporal blessings. Freedom from foreign dominion, a free constitution, free trade, a free press, civil and religious liberty–what a world of meaning lies beneath these phrases! How many would sacrifice life and fortune to maintain the things which they represent! Yet, after all our boasting, there are many so-called freemen who are nothing better than slaves. There are many who are totally ignorant of the highest, purest form of liberty. The noblest liberty is that which is the property of the true Christian. Those only are perfectly free people whom the Son of God “makes free.” All else will sooner or later be found slaves.

Only Jesus can give True Freedom. That freedom is a freedom FROM one thing and a freedom TO another.

Jesus frees us from the power of sin and the penalty of sin.

Romans 8:2 “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus frees from the law of sin and death”

Jesus frees us to a life of serving God.

Romans 6:17-22 ¹⁷But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves δουλος of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves δουλος to righteousness leading to sanctification.²⁰When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. ²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves δουλος of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

The Greek thought was that a man found his true worth only in being conscious of himself and in the free development of his potential. Thus he placed great value on the right to be independent of others and to live just as he pleased. The Greek felt only revulsion and contempt for the position of a slave — the doulos — because the slave was subordinate and dependent. His position was looked upon with contempt. You see the doulos belongs by nature not to himself, but to someone else. To the Greek that was awful.

But the early Christians understood that they had BEEN SLAVES of SIN. But Jesus had set them FREE! They saw themselves not as set free to live for themselves. They saw themselves set free to SERVE their Savior. In that light the concept of Doulos became something wonderful

The apostles — Paul; Peter; James; Jude — all used the word in reference to themselves. The called themselves the doulos — the bondslaves of Christ! They saw it as an honored and privileged position. They saw themselves as belonging lock, stock and barrel to the Lord.

QUOTE: J.C. Ryle — Liberty, like this, is the portion of all true Christians in the day that they flee to Christ by faith, and commit their souls to Him. That day they become free men. Liberty, like this, is their portion forevermore. Death cannot stop it. The grave cannot even hold their bodies for more than a little season. Those whom Christ makes free are free to all eternity.

Are you a TRUE DISCIPLE?

REMEMBER A.T. Robertson — Your future loyalty to my teaching will prove the reality of your present profession.

Are you abiding in the Word, feeding yourself on it? Are you obeying the Word? Have you been freed from sin but you’re living for self?

Are you a TRULY FREE? Only Jesus can set you free!

The Gospel of John

Jesus: Light of the World – Part 2

John 8:12-30

Related Topics: “Light” in Genesis; “Light” in Exodus; “Light” in Psalms; “Light” in Isaiah; “Light” as a metaphor for the Word of God; “Light” as a metaphor for Law of God; “Light” as a metaphor for salvation; the “Light” of God’s presence necessary for living the redeemed life; “Light” exposing sin; The “Light” of God comforting us in dark times; “Light” as a metaphor for wisdom; “Light” in the book of Isaiah; “Light” speaking of the Messiah; “Light” as a metaphor for the Justice of God; “Darkness” as a metaphor for sin; “Darkness” not comprehending the “Light”; Following Jesus; “I Am”; Jesus Claims Divinity; The Hour of His Death; Pleasing the Father

We began our study of these words by looking at the theme of light through the Old Testament and into John’s Gospel. We found the first mention of this theme and concept at the beginning of the Book of Beginnings — Genesis. There (Genesis 1:3) God created light and then separated the light from the darkness. From that point forward — the theme of light — and of God separating light from darkness — becomes a metaphor through the Bible of what God does in human lives and in human history. This theme hyperlinks itself throughout the rest of the Scriptures. If you missed the first 2 studies of this passage I would encourage you to get the media resources (metrocalvary.org) for those studies to get the theological concepts wrapped up in the term LIGHT.

We saw that these words were framed against the backdrop of the the Feast of Booths — one of the three great feasts in the Jewish calendar; in particular the backdrop of the opening night of the feast. On that first night of the Feast of Booths there was a ceremony called The Illumination of the Temple. In that ceremony they lit a series of massive candelabras — the brilliant light they produced symbolized all of the Old Testament theology about God being light — His Word being light — walking with Him in the light.

With that ceremony still be fresh in the minds and hearts of His audience on the Temple Mount Jesus declared —

John 8:12 ….“I am the light of the world.

Jesus — in the vicinity of those massive candelabras —  says I am the light of the world. Again — one of the seven I AM statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John. Jesus is saying that HE is — in and of Himself — the one who gives the LIGHT of the presence of God.

John 8:12 ….Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus not only says that He is — in and of Himself — the source of LIGHT in this dark world; He says that the ONLY way to EXPERIENCE that Light and BE in that light is to Follow HIM!

We spent virtually the whole of our time together last Sunday walking around in the personal and powerful implications of that word FOLLOW. We learned that this Greek word that had five different usages.

This one Greek word is FILLED with powerful and personal implications! It’s a Greek word that had five different usages.

1.) It was used in speaking of a soldier following his captain. It’s a military term that meant there was someone in authority over you who had the right to command conduct and action from you — and discipline you for disobedience.

2.) The word was also used in speaking of a slave accompanying his master. We saw how the Scriptures say that everyone is a slave. You’re either a slave to Sin, Satan and death; Or you’re a slave to Jesus, Grace and Life. You either belong to Satan or you belong to God.  You either belong to sin or you belong to grace.  You either belong to death or you belong to life.  You are not free — You are a slave.  The question is — Who is your master?  Who owns you?  Who possesses you?

3.) The third use of this word was to refer to a person following the counsel of a wise teacher. Its use implied that for all of our academic and scientific and technological advances — we are all lost — we are all stumbling around in darkness. Jesus says that if we follow Him we won’t WALK in darkness. Paul tells us (1 Corinthians 1:24) that Jesus is the very wisdom of God. Following Jesus means that we are following Him as our teacher.

4.) It was also used to speak of a citizen obeying the laws of his king and his kingdom.  To follow Jesus means that we recognize Jesus as King. He sits on the throne — we are his faithful subjects. Following Jesus means that we do what Jesus says because the King and His glory supersedes the subjects, that God’s glory is more important than our own.

5.) William Barclay states the last meaning with great clarity —

Quote: William Barclay —The Christian is the man who has understood the meaning of the teaching of Christ…. He takes the message into his mind and understands, receives the words into his memory and remembers, and hides them in his heart and obeys.
THAT IS WHAT IT MEANS TO FOLLOW JESUS. It means that we recognize the authority of Jesus as general — as king — as teacher.

We noted that THAT kind of authority totally undoes any churchy or romantic concept of claiming to follow Jesus! Do I really follow Jesus — As king?  As Master/Lord?  As God?  As judge?  As ruler?  As commander?  As teacher?

NOW WE COME TO THE RESPONSE OF THE CROWD

Everyone in this room will find themselves identifying with one of these 2 groups.

The Pharisees challenged him.

¹³So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”

The Pharisees didn’t like the tone of authority in the words of Jesus — So they challenged His authority. In essence — “You’re appearing as your own witness — that invalidates your testimony.”  You see in the Old Testament God established the rule for valid  testimony —

Deuteronomy 19:15 “A single witness shall not suffice …. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.

That’s makes great sense — You wouldn’t let somebody get off on his or her own testimony.  Hey, did you back into my car in the parking lot? No! Do you have any witnesses? No, just take my word for it.  I’m not going to take your word for it.  You have a vested interest in telling the lie.

So these guys are saying — You say you’re the light of the world?  Bring in some witnesses.

¹⁴Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.

Jesus says — You know what?  God doesn’t need witnesses. God is THE truth teller.  When God says something He doesn’t need to haul in a bunch of other people to support him.  I’m God — My testimony is true in and of itself — but you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.

¹⁵You judge according to the flesh;

You judge by human standards — 

I judge no one. ¹⁶Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.

Jesus now brings the Father forward as a corroborating witness — the Sent One calls on the Sender.

¹⁷In your Law it is written that the testimony of two men is true. ¹⁸I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”

You want a witness?  How about God the Father.  Let’s bring Him to the bar and He can put His hand on His own book and He can make an oath that He’ll tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth — so help Himself!  Do you want a witness?  How about God, the Father?

Jesus says — Here’s your two witnesses — Me and My Father!

And then they try to insult Jesus.

¹⁹They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?”

They are inferring that Jesus was illegitimate! Where’s your dad? Oh — That’s right — you don’t even know who your father is. Your mother was a loose woman and you don’t even know who Your dad is!

That’s what people thought about Jesus and His mother throughout the course of His life. These guys thought they had just shredded on Jesus by outing Him as illegitimate. But God Incarnate has some radical words for these religious professionals!

Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

Your problem is you don’t know God!

Lots of people will say — Well I don’t necessarily buy into Jesus — but I really believe in God. Jesus says that we can’t say that!

Jesus says, “If you knew me you’d know the father.” You cannot know the Father except through the Son.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

²⁰These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

It wasn’t yet time for him to die. On a number of occasions John points out that human attempts to kill Jesus were thwarted because their plans did not conform to God’s timetable for the suffering and death of Jesus.

John 12:23-24; 27; 31-32 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit…..²⁷“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour….. ³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

²¹So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

KEY INSIGHT: The word SIN is singular.

QUOTE: D.A. Carson New Bible commentary — this would refer to the sin of rejecting the Messiah.

By rejecting Jesus they were rejecting the one and only remedy for your sin you are

²²So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

They think he’s talking about killing himself.  Jesus is talking about his death and resurrection and return to the Father.

But he continued.

²³He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

Jesus points out the infinite gulf between Himself and fallen man — even the most religious of men!

You live in the darkness.  I am from above — I bring the light.  You are of this world — dark.  I am not of this world — light. If you will not bring your sin into my light, you will die in your sin.

²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

QUOTE: A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament

Jesus can mean either “unless you believe that I am from above” (verse 23), “unless you believe that that I am the one sent from the Father or the Messiah” (7:18, 28), “unless you believe that I am the Light of the World” (8:12), “unless you believe that I am the Deliverer from the bondage of sin” — You will die in your sins.

HUGE INSIGHT: The Greek text has simply — Unless you believe that I am — period

I am = ego eimi

A.T. Robertson notes that — The phrase [ego eimi] occurs three times in this chapter (8:24, 28, and especially 58)

VERSE 58 - Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Robertson also says that the Old Testament scriptures used the language in relationship to Yahweh/Jehovah (Deut. 32:39 Isa. 43:10)

Jesus is asserting that He is the great ‘I am’ of the OT (Ex. 3:14). He is declaring that He is the Self-Existent God of Israel! Jesus is saying to this crowd —

Unless you recognize Me as God — And bring your sin into the light of who I am — and into the light of my nature as messiah and redeemer — you will die in your sin.

THIS IS HUGE — Unless we step into the light of God — as revealed in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6) — we can never know our sin — and as a result we will never see our need for a savior

QUOTE: D.A. Carson, Scandalous — ….the hardest truth to get across to this generation is what the Bible says about sin….. There is so much in our culture that teaches us that we define our own sins, either individually or socially…. We live in an age where the one wrong thing to say is that somebody else is wrong.… we all have our own independent points of view, and we look at things from the perspective of our own small interpretive communities. What is sin to one group is not sin to another group. But not only does the Bible insist that there is such a thing as sin, it insists that the heart of its ugly offensiveness is its horrible odiousness to God—how it offends God.

²⁵So they said to him, “Who are you?”

Literally — “You, who are you?” He had virtually claimed to be the Messiah; equal in nature with God. They want to pin him down and to charge him with blasphemy.

Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶I have much to say about you and much to judge,

I could sit here and judge you for a really long time — I have a lot to say about your judgment, but I’ll answer your question.

but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” ²⁷They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.

²⁸So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man,

Jesus is pointing to His death — being lifted up on a cross outside of the walls of Jerusalem.

then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. ²⁹And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

What a sweet and succinct summary of the life of Jesus — I just do what pleases him. THAT is what living under the light of God looks like —  just doing what pleases Him.

And in this moment we see that a lot of people — powerful and influential RELIGIOUS people reject this. They hate Jesus for what He has to say. They are opposing Jesus because Jesus has called them into his light so that their darkness would be exposed.

In the face of this rejection John adds these words — words that give us a glimmer of hope —

³⁰As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

While the religious movers and shakers were rejecting Jesus — There were people listening in on this whole exchange who said — Well then, that’s it.  I’m making my choice right here and now — I’m going to live in the light of God. Here’s my sin, here’s what I’ve done.  Here’s how messed up I’ve been.  Here is my pride.  Here are all of my futile attempts at trying to be a good person and hold my life together. I’m in.

By the way — when you are sharing Jesus with a group of people — and they are shutting down — don’t limit the Lord. You never know who is listening in — the person or persons on the fringe that are drinking it in and are going to step in to the light!

So there were MANY who put their faith in him, who said —  I trust you.  I don’t know where this is going.  I don’t know what you’re going to do with me — but I trust You!  Whatever you say — that’s what I’m going to do.  You do whatever pleases the Father.  I’ll do whatever pleases you.  That way I’ll be doing whatever pleases the Father.

It is so amazing — so incredible — to step into the light of God.

As we close — I want you to hear what happens to those who step into and abide in the light of God. And if I weren’t reading to you from the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God, all of this would be unbelievable.

Acts 26:18 ¹⁸to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Here is what God does for you the moment you step into the light of God —

You are delivered from the power of Satan to God.  Your sins are forgiven.  You are cleansed, and set apart unto God — your life is transformed by the grace and the power of God and his light.

2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God…. ⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

When you step into the light of God and you remain in the light of God you get the privilege of seeing clearly the Gospel of Christ, what he has accomplished on your behalf.  The whole world looks at Christ in the story and is blinded and does not see it, and you get the joy of seeing the Gospel and the glory of Christ who is the image of God.  You see Jesus for who he is and what he has done.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The light of God is not just something that operates apart from us.  It is a personal and relational knowledge of God that is placed into the very essence of who we are.

Ephesians 5:8-9 ⁸for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),

As you live in the light of God you discover new life by God’s grace.  It is governed by righteousness — by that which is right by God. Truth comes so you no longer need to live in lies and in darkness. There is goodness instead of selfishness and wickedness and rebellion.  ALL of that by living under the light of God.

Don’t misunderstand me —  We will not be perfect in this life — but at that same time I do believe that as we live under the light of God — we begin to discover that the darkness bothers us as much as the light used to — because even as we used to be accustomed to the dark — now in Jesus we have become accustomed to goodness, righteousness and truth. And though we are tempted by that darkness — we now see it for what it really is and it is distasteful to the child of God.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

Following Jesus — walking in the light of life causes you to recognize that you are a son or a daughter, an adopted member of God’s family, and that God is your father.

Titus 1:2-3 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began ³and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

Part of what you receive as a benefit of God’s grace under his light is the preaching of his Word.  As you remain in the light — God will continue to reveal himself to you through the preaching of his Word.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

This is so RADICAL — As a bi-product of living under the light of God you are a new people, part of the work and family and plan of the kingdom of God. In the Old Testament the priests served God in the Temple. Following Jesus, the Light of the World, brings us into the place of serving God in the House of God — the Body of Christ.

This is HUGE — If you are a follower of Jesus you have been given work to do as a priest serving your God. You now have this wonderful opportunity to give praise to His glory for those ways that His light has flooded into your life and transformed you.  ALL of your darkness was forgiven.  ALL of your darkness was healed.  The darkness was overcome.  Christ showed up.  And I now get to praise him and work for Jesus!

1 John 2:9-10 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. ¹⁰Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

If you live under the light then, you love the people of God and when they sin against you — you extend the same light and grace and forgiveness of the gospel that God, in Christ, has given to you. Living like results in there being no darkness between you and others in your relationships — because now the light of God is coming through you to permeate that space that has separated you and that other person, and now you are reconciled as the light of Jesus in and through you comes into that darkness and overcomes it by God’s grace. And if you don’t live that way you are not exercising the beautiful power of the light that Christ has given you.

FINALLY — We’re told in 2 Peter 3:10 that there is coming a day when the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. There is going to be a new creation — a new heaven, a new earth, a New Jerusalem.” Even as God spoke light into the first creation — God will have light in his second creation.  For those who allowed the LIGHT of God expose their sin and then received the grace of Jesus who died and rose on their behalf — here is what we receive at the end.

Revelation 21:23-25 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, ²⁵and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.

“The city” – that’s the New Jerusalem,” does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives its light and the lamb as it’s lamp.”  THAT is what we — as men and women who have given our hearts to Jesus, the Light of the World, are going to walk into!

When Jesus came to this earth in His first coming — His glory was veiled in a tent of Humanity. But in that day we will see Christ face to face — and his glory will be completely unveiled for us! It is such glorious light that it will illuminate all of the new creation.  There will be no darkness whatsoever.  Sin is gone.  Spiritual, Moral and Physical Darkness is gone.

Revelation 22:5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

God’s light permeates all of His new creation — and we become lamps through which His light shines to all of His new creation.  And we reign with him.  And there is no darkness in us.  There is no darkness around us, nor will there ever be — forever and ever and ever.  THAT is what we were MADE for! THAT is why we should hate the darkness — because it works against everything that we were created for.  It works against the ultimate plan and purpose of God.

We want to RESPOND now to the Word of God.

We’ll respond in giving — in communion — in song and in prayer.

We’ll respond by seeking to address the darkness within us — so that we can go out into the world — and the light of Christ can shine through us into the darkness that is out there.

HUGE — The Christian life is a life defined by movement. It begins with a man or woman moving away from darkness into the Light of Jesus. Then there is a movement back towards the world of darkness with the light of the Gospel — Even as Jesus left His throne of glory to shine into this lost world the light of the knowledge of the glory of God

The Gospel of John

Jesus: Light of the World – Part 2

John 8:12

Related Topics: “Light” in Genesis; “Light” in Exodus; “Light” in Psalms; “Light” in Isaiah; “Light” as a metaphor for the Word of God; “Light” as a metaphor for Law of God; “Light” as a metaphor for salvation; the “Light” of God’s presence necessary for living the redeemed life; “Light” exposing sin; The “Light” of God comforting us in dark times; “Light” as a metaphor for wisdom; “Light” in the book of Isaiah; “Light” speaking of the Messiah; “Light” as a metaphor for the Justice of God; “Darkness” as a metaphor for sin; “Darkness” not comprehending the “Light”; Following Jesus

This morning we continue our study through John 8:12-30. We dove into the passage by following the theme of light through the Old Testament and into John’s Gospel.

We saw the beginning of the concept in the Book of Beginnings — Genesis Creation begins with God making, creating light.  And God separates the light from the darkness — and throughout the Scriptures this becomes a metaphor of what God does in human lives and in human history. In our computer vernacular we would say that this theme hyperlinks itself throughout the rest of the Scriptures.

We followed that theme through Exodus; Psalms; Ecclesiastes and Isaiah and right up into the Prologue of John’s Gospel.

We then set the immediate context for the passage. The backdrop for John 8:12 was the Feast of Booths — one of the three great feasts in the Jewish calendar. John 7 gives to us the record of Jesus in Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths. The Feast of Booths commemorated and celebrated how God delivered His people from bondage and slavery in Egypt and sustained them during their 40 year journey into the land of promise! They remembered that during that journey God was with them in that pillar of fire — He was with them to LIGHT the way — to guide their journey.

On the evening of the first day of that feast there was a ceremony in the Court of the Women called The Illumination of the Temple.

QUOTE: William Barclay — It took place in the Court of the Women. The court was surrounded with deep galleries, erected to hold the spectators. In the centre four great candelabra were prepared. When the dark came the four great candelabra were lit and, it was said, they sent such a blaze of light throughout Jerusalem that every courtyard was lit up with their brilliance. Then all night long, until cock-crow the next morning, the greatest and the wisest and the holiest men in Israel danced before the Lord and sang psalms of joy and praise while the people watched.

This was all a celebration and recognition of the fact that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. It was a celebration and commemoration of how God’s light had led his people out of bondage and slavery and death in Egypt.  And in a secondary way these blazing candelabras signified all of the theology about God being light — and His Word being light — and walking with Him in the light —  and how His light exposes sin.  It takes all these concepts and brings them together.

As we pick up in John 8:12, the Feast of Booths is over. But that ceremony would still be fresh in the minds and hearts of His audience on the Temple Mount.

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.

Here is Jesus — in the vicinity of those massive candelabras — and He says I am the light of the world. Jesus is saying that HE is — in and of Himself —the one who gives the LIGHT of the presence of God; the LIGHT of salvation, the LIGHT of life, the LIGHT that shows us how and where to walk, the LIGHT that exposes our sin, the LIGHT that exposes our darkness, the LIGHT that shows us God, the LIGHT that gives us God’s wisdom, the LIGHT that shows us God’s justice.

QUOTE: William Barclay — Jesus is saying: “You have seen the blaze of the Temple illuminations piercing the darkness of the night. I am the Light of the World, and, for the man who follows me there will be light, not only for one exciting night, but for all the pathway of his life. The light in the Temple is a brilliant light, but in the end it flickers and dies. I am the Light which lasts forever.”

REMEMBER Isaiah 9 — 700 years before this moment in John 8 God said that the Messiah will be a light to the Gentiles, not just to the Jews, but all nations of the world, all nations of the Earth.  Jesus says, ”I am the light of the world,”

And then He declares

John 8:12 ….Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

This is HUGE! How do you come into the light?  How do you partake of the light?  How do you benefit from being in the light?  Jesus says it all comes down to this one issue.  Follow me.

In our culture we have this notion that if someone “makes a decision” for Jesus — or cries — or raises their hand or comes forward — that somehow they have relationship with God.  They may or may not.  The litmus test is simple: Do they follow Jesus? It’s not a matter of a momentary understanding, but it’s a habitual life practice and pattern that is following after Jesus Christ.

QUOTE: A Handbook on the Gospel of John — Whoever follows me must be understood in the sense of “whoever becomes my disciple.” It is often expressed more clearly in some languages as “if anyone becomes my adherent” or “… joins himself with me.”

Newman, B. M., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on the Gospel of John. Helps for translators; UBS handbook series (264–265). New York: United Bible Societies.

This one Greek word, follow, is FILLED with powerful and personal implications! It’s a Greek word that had five different usages.

1.) It was used in speaking of a soldier following his captain. It’s a military term that meant there was someone in authority over you who had the right to command conduct and action from you — and discipline you for disobedience. The New Testament calls Jesus the captain of our salvation (Hebrews) and refers to Christians as soldiers (Phil.; 2 Tim.; Philemon). The New Testament says that as the captain of our salvation He is leading many sons to glory (Hebrews).

The point is that Jesus is the general and you are a private.  When He speaks and gives an order — you’re supposed to do what he tells you to do.  You’re under authority.  The problem is — that runs against the grain of lost mankind and contemporary culture. We live in an age that seeks to throw off all authority, including God’s.  Many professed followers of Jesus struggle with seeing Jesus as having authority over them. In modern church culture men and women love the concept of Jesus as friend — but they resist or reject Jesus as commander-in-chief. To follow means to be under his authority and follow his command.

If you disliked the first usage of the word — you’ll really dislike the second one!

2.) The word was also used in speaking of a slave accompanying his master. Fallen man takes the position stated in the famous poem, “Invictus” — My head is bloody, but unbowed…. I am the master of my fate : I am the captain of my soul. Scripture does not teach that.  Scripture says that everyone is a slave.  You’re either a slave to sin, Satan and death, or you’re a slave to Jesus, grace and life.  If someone wants to argue the point challenge them — Prove your freedom — Never sin.  If you can stop sinning then you are free.  If you cannot stop sinning then you are a slave to sin because you cannot stop. The common response is — Well, no one is perfect. That’s right.  That’s because everyone is a slave to sin.  And no one can stop sinning.  We’re in bondage to the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the boastful pride of our life.  So we are all in slavery.  Next week we will hear Jesus say that for some people Satan is their father.  They’re not free.  They belong to the enemy.  You either belong to Satan or you belong to God.  You either belong to sin or you belong to grace.  You either belong to death or you belong to life.  You are not free.  You are a slave.  The only question is who is your master?  Who owns you?  Who possesses you?

Romans 6:19 For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

The whole concept of redemption is that Jesus has died to redeem us — buy us back — out of our slavery to Satan, sin and death so that you can live as you were intended and created to live — in God and under God and with God and by God’s grace.  That’s freedom. To follow Christ means to recognize and submit to the fact that you belong to God and Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

3.) The third use of this word was to refer to a person following the counsel of a wise teacher.  Its use implied that we don’t know what we are doing with our life, that we are lost, that we are all stumbling around in darkness. Not necessarily in regards to a profession or a career; but in relationship to God and Truth and Eternity. Jesus says that if we follow Him we won’t WALK in darkness. Walk = to go here and there — Meandering — Walking with no purpose or direction. Paul tells us (1 Corinthians 1:24) that Jesus is the very wisdom of God. Following Jesus means that we are following Him as our teacher.

Today’s Bible Bus — John 13:12-14 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

Everyone is being taught by someone — We’re all following someone’s lead — Who are you following? Jesus calls men and women to let Him direct our lives — sometimes it is counter intuitive!

QUOTE: Elisabeth Elliot — Keep a Quiet Heart p.56

4.) It was also used to speak of a citizen obeying the laws of their king and his kingdom.  To follow Jesus means that we recognize Jesus as King. He sits on the throne — we are his faithful subjects.

Philippians 1:27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ

Only = Now, the important thing is — NLT = Above all

Let = Phillips Translation = “make sure that”

(make sure that) your manner of life = “behave as citizens.”

So following Jesus means that we do what Jesus says because the King and His glory supersedes the subjects, that God’s glory is more important than our own.

5.) William Barclay states the last meaning with great clarity —

Quote: William Barclay — It is often used of following a teacher’s line of argument…. The Christian is the man who has understood the meaning of the teaching of Christ. He has not listened in dull incomprehension or with slack inattention. He takes the message into his mind and understands, receives the words into his memory and remembers, and hides them in his heart and obeys.
THAT IS WHAT IT MEANS TO FOLLOW JESUS. It means that we recognize the authority of Jesus as general — as king — as teacher.

If you are anything like me — there’s something in you that is taken aback by that.  We look at those terms and we think  — That’s a lot of authority, that’s a lot of submission! That kind of authority assumes that if my heart takes issue with His leading that I’m always the one in the wrong!

That kind of authority totally undoes any churchy or romantic concept of claiming to follow Jesus! Do I really follow Jesus — As king?  As Lord?  As God?  As judge?  As ruler?  As commander?  As teacher? Why do we fight against that following Jesus on those terms?  Because we have darkness. There is not just darkness out there.  There is darkness in here (in my heart) that somehow finds the authority of God an offense to my own pride and my own glory.

Jesus said —  I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me — we just defined that term —  will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

The Gospel of John

Jesus: Light of the World

John 8:12

Related Topics: “Light” in Genesis; “Light” in Exodus; “Light” in Psalms; “Light” in Isaiah; “Light” as a metaphor for the Word of God; “Light” as a metaphor for Law of God; “Light” as a metaphor for salvation; the “Light” of God’s presence necessary for living the redeemed life; “Light” exposing sin; The “Light” of God comforting us in dark times; “Light” as a metaphor for wisdom; “Light” in the book of Isaiah; “Light” speaking of the Messiah; “Light” as a metaphor for the Justice of God; “Darkness” as a metaphor for sin; “Darkness” not comprehending the “Light”; Following Jesus

This morning we continue our study through John 8. We’re going to grab one word — and we are going to follow that single theme/concept throughout the entire Bible from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22. We especially want to set the Old Testament context so that when we read the words of Jesus in John 8 we will have a sense of what those words meant to His listeners.

The single concept is LIGHT.

“LIGHT” IN GENESIS

We are introduced to the concept in the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible — The book of Genesis (The Book of Beginnings). We are told there that God created light and he separated it from darkness.

Genesis 1:3-4 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Creation begins with God creating light.  Then God separates the light from the darkness — and throughout the Scriptures this becomes a metaphor of what God does in human lives and in human history. In our computer vernacular we would say that this theme hyperlinks itself throughout the rest of the Scriptures.

As we look at the origins of life we find that life begins with God — and it begins with light. In the physical realm God creates light as a foundational element on which all life is built.  Our life, the life that surrounds us on this planet, is dependent upon the light that God gives it. The same is true regarding spirituallife.

“LIGHT” IN EXODUS

The theme of LIGHT shows up in a huge way in the second book of the Bible — the Exodus.

Exodus 13:21-22 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. ²²The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Exodus 14:19-20 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: ²⁰And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that no one came near the other all the night.

That cloud by day and pillar of fire by night was the manifestation of God’s presence among them — that pillar of fire would guide them on their journey as they came out of bondage and slavery in Egypt and began their journey into the freedom that God had for them.

LIGHT also plays a huge role at the end of the book of Exodus. God gave Moses detailed instructions for the building of the Tabernacle. God’s glory comes to dwell among them at the Tabernacle.

Exodus 40:38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

Also — within the Tabernacle was a golden lamp stand giving light within the Holy Place. And Finally — in the Holy of holies — where there were no openings for light — there was the manifest presence of God — the Shekinah Glory — giving light!

“LIGHT” IN THE PSALMS

We see this theme continued throughout the Book of Psalms. Throughout the Psalms “Light” is used as a metaphor for the Word of God; the teachings of God, and the commands that He gives us that are to govern our conduct and our behavior and our life.  And so we are told that when God speaks, He is bringing light into our life to illuminate our path.

Psalm 19:8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

In the Psalms the metaphor of LIGHT is tied salvation — that the LIGHT of God brings salvation.

Psalm  27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

In the New Testament we are told that we are dead in our sins and separated from God — and then

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

That light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is the means by which God will cleanse us, heal us, forgive us, and provide for our salvation and ultimately relationship with God.

We also see in the Psalms that LIGHT is not only a metaphor for the Word of God and Salvation — it is also necessary for living the redeemed life.

Psalm 56:13 For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

God delivers us from sin and it’s power and penalty so that we can walk with Him in freedom. That is the LIGHT of God at work in practical ways.

Psalm 89:15 KJV Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

The light of God is something that we are to walk in. As we walk through the course of our daily life — God’s LIGHT is supposed to shine on us and show us those ways in which we are to walk practically (finances, sexuality, employment, marriage, child rearing, education).

We also see in the Psalms that LIGHT addresses the issue of SIN

Psalm 90:8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

This is a dominant theme in John’s First Letter. If we are struggling with sin the real core issue lies in the fact that we are struggling with relating to the light of God that has come to illuminate the darkness in our own life.

LIGHT is also used in the Psalms to speak about God’s presence and comfort in the face of the dark moments of life

Psalm 112:4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.

Psalm 118:27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.

So if you find yourself in a difficult place in life, either because of sins that you have committed or sins that others have committed against you, or just by virtue of the fact that you’re living in a cursed world — God’s light — His very presence — will still come and illuminate your situation

The concept here is that God is light.  In the Book of 1 John he tells us that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. It is like that moment after the grey wet days of winter when the sun comes out and shines on your face. You just close your eyes and you just enjoy that light that brings warmth. It almost feels as if it’s cleansing you and healing you.  THAT is how God is with us — HE comes and SHINES on us!

“LIGHT” IN ECCLESIASTES

As we move forward into the Book of Ecclesiastes we find that LIGHT is a metaphor for WISDOM

Ecclesiastes 2:13-14 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. ¹⁴The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in

Wisdom is the proper application of knowledge. Wisdom is a form of light that God gives.

“LIGHT” IN ISAIAH

As we move forward into the prophet Isaiah — we see that LIGHT related to the coming of the promised Messiah of Israel.

Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.

Matthew — writing to a Jewish audience — explains that Jesus is fulfillment of Isaiah

Matthew 4:13-15 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ¹⁵ “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles ¹⁶ the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

In Isaiah 9:2 we see LIGHT related to the Law of God and the Justice of God

Isaiah 51:4 “Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.

The law of God — that convicts us of our sin — and the justice of God that appropriates a right punishment for our sin — are referred to by God as LIGHT.

So this is a very brief glimpse at the theme of LIGHT in the Old Testament. It is related to the commands of God, the teachings of God.  LIGHT provides salvation, life, and deliverance.  LIGHT shows us how to walk.  LIGHT exposes our sin.  LIGHT exposes our darkness.  LIGHT shows us God.  LIGHT gives us God’s wisdom.  LIGHT is God’s law.  LIGHT shows us God’s justice. Light comes in the person of the Messiah. All of that is bound up in the concept of light.

Then a guy named John comes along — the youngest of Jesus’ disciples. John uses the term LIGHT time and again in his writings — His account of the life of Jesus — his three epistles (letters) and the Book of Revelation.

In those books of Scripture we find a large number of references and inferences to LIGHT and the relationship of LIGHT and DARKNESS.

Revelation 21:23-25 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, ²⁵and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.

Here in his account of the life of Jesus, John takes the Old Testament concept of light and appropriates it to Jesus.

John 1:4-5 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

HUGE — All that the Old Testament had to say about LIGHT was a foreshadowing of the light of God coming in the person of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Jesus comes into the spiritual and moral darkness of this world and He shines in that darkness.  The term darkness is a metaphor for sin, for rebellion, for lost-ness.  It’s a metaphor for all that is opposed to God. It is a picture of lost mankind wandering and groping aimlessly in that darkness — totally oblivious to the fact that they are completely blind.

Then all of a sudden — Jesus came into the world and He turned the light switch on.  And they didn’t understand it — They didn’t like it! We can understand that reaction if we think of what it’s like to be in the deepest part of your sleep — the room is pitch black — and someone turns a light on! What’s your first reaction?  Close your eyes, hide from it, put the pillow over your head, and throw anything you can in the general direction of the light switch. THAT is what it’s like when the light of Jesus is flipped on in our lost-ness! The first reaction is — this is offensive — it’s shocking — it’s hurting me — it’s imposing itself upon me — It needs to be snuffed out.

Look at John 3:19-20

John 3:19-20 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

REMEMBER the contrast between LIGHT and DARKNESS in Genesis 1. Jesus uses DARKNESS as a metaphor for our sin because sin is in total opposition to God, who is light; because people say and do things in the dark that they would never say or do in midday; because people love to operate under the cover of darkness because it reduces the opportunity of being exposed — seen and caught.

The reason that we hate the light is because it exposes our sin — literally and metaphorically. Jesus says that the whole world is filled with this darkness and that people hate Him because the light of Who He is shines into that darkness and exposes their sin.

Jesus intrudes upon this world that is comfortable in the dark — and the darkness hates that.  It’s like someone who is committing a crime under the cover of darkness and then a spotlight comes down. Growing up in Southern California (Orange County) we heard the sound of helicopters every night. THAT is how they catch criminals. They circle the area where the crime was committed and shine a powerful light in the neighborhood.

THAT is lost man — They’re sinning and running under the cover of the darkness of their own life — and all of a sudden this light comes down and is looking for them — and they’re running in panic trying to hide as long as they can.

HUGE QUESTION: Why do we run from that light? Why don’t we just step out and say — I’m guilty, I surrender.

1.) Some of us fear the punishment of God. We’re scared that if we get caught we’ll get punished. But really, think about that! It’s like saying that God doesn’t know unless He catches me — or — God has to catch me to punish me.  God could drop an 18 wheeler on us if He wanted to punish us. He doesn’t need to handcuff you and bring you back.

Why do we run? When God’s light comes down upon the darkness of our own life and our own sin, why do we flee from that light?  Why do we do that?

2.) Because it is PAINFUL! The TRUTH (remember Psalms) is painful. The delusion that I’m a fairly good person can be maintained in darkness.  I can get a few dark friends, and we can live a dark life and I could compare myself to them and say — See, I’m a pretty good guy. Some people surround themselves with such people because there is nothing to live up to in that crowd — in that crowd they ARE the up. They could have a bad day and still be ahead of the curve.

It’s hard for some of us to look at ourselves honestly because we think we’re a pretty good person doing a pretty good job.  We think that our good deeds outweigh our bad — and then suddenly Jesus shows up — turns the light on — and we’re standing there with our best stuff looking like “filthy menstrual rags.” Our first reaction is to be ashamed because you’ve been exposed.

There’s another reason we flee from that LIGHT that God gives

3.) Sometimes we do hate the light. What right does God have telling me what to do?  What right does God have to just sort of poke himself into my life, tell me where I’m good, tell me where I’m bad, tell me what to do.  What right does God have to do that?

4.) Sometimes we hate the light because if we come into the light we have to relinquish the authority over our own life — we are surrendering and submitting our life to God.   We hate the light because we hate the thought that we would not have ultimate, full and complete control of our lives even though we have always and only proved that when we are behind the wheel we make a complete mess of it.

There’s another reason we run from the LIGHT.

5.) Fear of rejection. The fear that IF I go in to that LIGHT — I will been seen for how bad I truly am — and surely God will not love me — God will not forgive me — God’s grace will not be present there in the midst of my need.  And that’s a lie.  It’s a lie to think that God didn’t know all of that it to begin with.  God already knows.  But there is a fear that somehow if I get exposed things will go south.

Here’s another reason why we run from the LIGHT

6.) We are concerned about what are other people going to think. We have seen time and again in John’s Gospel Jesus using the phrase — Truly, truly — I tell you the truth. Jesus is the TRUTH TELLER in a WORLD OF LIES. Have you ever met someone who was perfectly honest?  The answer is no.  We are all liars. God is the only one that tells the truth.  We lie because we are worried about reputation, image and the impression that we project.  It is wonderful to see a brand new Christian —  they are so honest. You ask them — How are you doing? They say — Bad. But once you’re in church for a while you learn to speak Christianese. Someone asks — How are you? You learn to say — “I’m O.K.” That’s Christianese for “lousy!” We used to construct a false perception of ourselves before Christ — But now that we’re Christians we construct a “Christian” version of who we think other Christians think we should be. Coming to the light means that everybody’s going to know that you’re a sinner that needs Jesus!

Sometimes we think we’re doing great until you step into the light of God and then we realize that half the things that we didn’t have a problem with God does — And the half that you did have a problem with — He didn’t.  The LIGHT of Jesus can be uncomfortable because He turns your world upside down — actually right-side-up.

7.) Some will not come to the LIGHT because they know there are things to lose! You could lose some friends and acquaintances.  Before coming to Jesus my entire social network was built around sin! For most guys, this is how their friendships are built.  If it wasn’t for sin most guys would have no friends — no one to hang out with and drink and curse and talk about women. I didn’t know there was anything else guys could do. Some of you, when you decided to turn from the darkness you were living in and step into God’s light and live by the truth — you lost people that you thought you were close to. You lost them because it was your sin that held you together. For me I lost virtually every friend except one. He is still a dear friend to this day.

Keep all of this in mind and let’s turn back to John 8.

For those who are just joining us we’ll set the context for where we pick up in John 8:12.

John 7 records Jesus in Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths — one of the three great feasts in the Jewish calendar. The Feast of Booths commemorated and celebrated how God delivered His people from bondage and slavery in Egypt and sustained them during their 40 year journey into the land of promise! They remembered that during that journey they lived in tents or booths and that God was with them in that pillar of fire — He was with them to LIGHT the way — to guide their journey. As they went up to the Temple they came to multiple courts within the temple.  There was the Court of the Gentiles where non-Jews could go.  There was the Court of the Women where a lot of the offerings were given and the women would come to worship.  There was the Court of the Men where the Jewish men would go to worship.  And then there was the inner portion — the Holy of Holies — the place where the great high priest could go once a year in the inner sanction.

On the evening of the first day of that feast there was a ceremony called The Illumination of the Temple.

QUOTE: William Barclay — It took place in the Court of the Women. The court was surrounded with deep galleries, erected to hold the spectators. In the centre four great candelabra were prepared. When the dark came the four great candelabra were lit and, it was said, they sent such a blaze of light throughout Jerusalem that every courtyard was lit up with their brilliance. Then all night long, until cock-crow the next morning, the greatest and the wisest and the holiest men in Israel danced before the Lord and sang psalms of joy and praise while the people watched.

As we pick up in John 8:12, the Feast of Booths is over. But that ceremony would still be fresh in the minds and hearts of His audience on the Temple Mount.

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Here is Jesus — He is in the vicinity of those massive candelabras – and He says I am the light of the world.

Next week we will pick up here and examine HOW it is that one comes to experience the LIGHT of Jesus — and WHAT that looks like! But I want to close with this little insight to whet your appetite for next week.

QUOTE: A Handbook on the Gospel of John — Whoever follows me must be understood in the sense of “whoever becomes my disciple.” It is often expressed more clearly in some languages as “if anyone becomes my adherent” or “… joins himself with me.”

Newman, B. M., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on the Gospel of John. Helps for translators; UBS handbook series (264–265). New York: United Bible Societies.

THAT is the person who will not walk in darkness.

THAT is the person who will have the light of life.

The Gospel of John

The Woman Caught in Adultery – Part 2

John 7:53-8:11

Related Topics: Inspiration of Scripture; Transmission of Scripture; Translation of Scripture; Application of Scripture;  Jerome; Augustine; Scribes; Pharisees; Attempting To Trap Jesus; Adultery; Law of Moses; Destructiveness of Adultery; Punishment for Adultery; The Wisdom of Jesus; The Tenderness of Jesus; The Basis of Forgiveness; Jesus the Friend of Sinners;

REVIEW

This morning we are going to finish our study of the first 11 verses of John 8 — which give to us the record of a Woman caught in the act of adultery and brought before Jesus. This account actually had it’s beginning back in Chapter 7, verse 53.

In the first 2 verses of Chapter 8 we find Jesus going to the temple early in the morning and All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. Suddenly there was a disturbance — the Scribes and Pharisees show up dragging a woman right through the crowd.

³ …. and placing her in the midst ⁴ they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

In order for us to get the full impact of what was going on in all of this, we spent the major part of our time together last week setting the HISTORICAL, THEOLOGICAL, and CULTURAL CONTEXT in regards to the subject of Adultery. In the Old Testament adultery was a capital offense. The crowd in John 8 understood that in the eyes of God adultery is as grievous as premeditated murder!

WHAT WAS THE PLOT IN ALL OF THIS? WHY are these men bringing this woman before Jesus?

REMEMBER the events of Chapter 7. Jesus had disrupted the last day, the great day of the Feats of Booths.

John 7:37-38; 40-41 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”…..  ⁴⁰When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” ⁴¹Others said, “This is the Christ.”

The Scribes and Pharisees had sent the temple police to take him and to incarcerate him.

John 7:45-49 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? ⁴⁸Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

So the religious leaders are going out of their minds! They go home and come back the next day with a fresh plan to trap Jesus — one they thought — and surely appeared to be inescapable!

They catch this woman in the very act of adultery.  They bring her to Jesus and what they ask Jesus what to do with her. They believe they have got him locked on the horns of three-fold dilemma.

1.) The people revered Moses. He was their great prophet and law-giver. The people revered the law of God — and so had Jesus. Jesus said, “I’m not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law.” If Jesus says, “Don’t stone her,” (by the way, they had rocks in hand) they would’ve said, “This guy is not of God, for He defies Moses’ law, and we all know that God gave Moses the law.”

2.) If Jesus says — You’re right, that’s what the law says, stone her! — Jesus will destroy His reputation as the prophet from Galilee who is the friend of tax collectors and sinners. The Gospels tell us that the common people heard him gladly.  He ate with prostitutes and sinners — they were comfortable in His presence.  He had told the people that His Father had sent Him into the world — not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

3.) More than that — Rome had taken from Israel the right to exercise the death sentence. In John 18 these same men are going to bring Jesus to Pilate.

John 18:31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”

These men know that.  They don’t care about any of that. By the end of the chapter (v.59) these same Pharisees and Scribes want to stone the Messiah.

It would appear that they have Jesus coming and going!

THE RESPONSE OF JESUS

I love what Jesus does.  The first thing Jesus does is IGNORE THEM! Which, by the way, is always a great place to begin with legalists.  He ignores them and begins to write in the dirt!  As far as I can recall it’s the only thing we’re told that Jesus ever wrote — and we’re not told what He wrote! There’s been tons of speculation on what He wrote. There is a Biblical reference that can help us here.

Deuteronomy 9:10 And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God,

I believe we have the same thing going on here.

John 8:6 …..Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

I believe that Jesus is doing as God the Father did — He is writing the law in the ground. Perhaps Jesus wrote the first line of the Tenth Commandment, Exodus 20:17 “…..you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. After all — If you have a bunch of heterosexual guys looking through a window, watching a naked woman have sex, there are going to be lust issues. Perhaps Jesus wrote with His finger the Seventh Commandment, Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery

⁷And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

He stands up and tells them — okay, fine, we will impose Old Testament law and we will put her to death. According to the Old Testament someone needed to step forward to cast the first stone. The Old Testament mandated that that the accuser had to be the first one to impose the penalty (Deuteronomy 17:7).  So if you wanted someone put to death you brought the accusation and you had to throw the first stone.  But you had to be very careful because if your accusation was proven false they impose upon you the same penalty you had sought against them (Deuteronomy 19:19).  So you didn’t mess around with this. 

“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Jesus is not saying that you must be perfect to bring judgment upon people for their sin. In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul tells us that we should judge those who are in the household of God. Jesus had just said in the last chapter Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment (John 7:24). In order to judge rightly Jesus said that we should be taking care of the things that render us incapable of rightly dealing with sin in anyone else’s life.

Matthew 7:3-5 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

So Jesus is not saying you must be perfect to point out sin in the life of another person.  Otherwise no one would be able to point out sin in anyone’s life because no one is perfect.  He is saying that these men were the quintessential hypocrites. They are judging this woman for a sin they had at least committed in their heart, or had been guilty of the very act. Jesus may have known that these men were unfaithful to their own wives and were self-righteous hypocrites. It is very possible that since this woman was living a life of sexual sin (v.11) that she may have been a women that most of these men have been with themselves.  In a way, Jesus is saying,  — well if you want to put her to death, how many of you have slept with her? How many of you have been unfaithful to your wives? And how many of you were looking through the window seeing her in the very act of adultery didn’t at least commit adultery with her in your own heart?

A GLARING ABSENCE

Have you noticed something missing in all of this? Where is the guy involved in this act of adultery? Hey Jesus, we caught this woman committing adultery all by herself — and we would like you to punish her. By definition adultery requires someone else to be there.  The question is where is the guy? We have no guy — which leads us to believe that this was a set up from the get-go. In all likelihood they knew that this was a promiscuous woman. So they found a guy who would be willing to cheat on his wife with the understanding that they would not drag him before Jesus.

⁸And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

THE ONLY MAN LEFT WITH THE WOMAN

Now there is only one man that is remaining with this convicted woman — Jesus.
HUGE QUESTION: Could Jesus have put her to death?  Does Jesus have a right to put her to death?  He does. Jesus hasn’t committed sexual sin.  Jesus is in fact without sin.  If anyone could ever invoke capital punishment it would be Jesus.  He is the sinless Son of God, God incarnate. It is His glory that has been robbed by her sin. It is His law that she has broken. But Jesus doesn’t carry out the death penalty.  We will get to that in a moment.

THE ONLY MAN WHO DIDN’T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HER

DON’T MISS THIS — Jesus is the only man in the story that does not take advantage of, or abuse this woman.  Men had used her for sex.  The religious leaders used her as a piece of evidence in their attempt to take down Jesus.  EVERY OTHER MAN involved is seeking to rob this woman of her dignity and use her for selfish gain.  Jesus is the only exception.

DON’T MISS THIS — Jesus is a young man — in His early 30’s — standing there with a half-naked woman who is morally loose, willing to do anything to get out of her predicament.  Any other man would use that leverage for his own selfish ends. But Jesus is not just any other man. He is the PERFECT man! He doesn’t think — how can I use this woman to my own advantage?

SHE WAS NOT A VICTIM

Having said all of that — we can’t make this woman out to be a complete victim.  You can’t.  She was set up, but she went willingly.  Jesus os going to tell her to stop living the way she had been living. Adultery was pattern of conduct for this woman.  She was a woman who loved to destroy marriages.  This was a woman who loved to degrade wives and to rob children of their father.  This is a woman who had devastated a multitude of homes.  And now she’s simply been caught in doing it.  Again — The reason she is in this scene is because they knew that they could catch her in adultery.  She’s a sexually promiscuous, adulterous woman.  We can’t look at her and say — oh poor lady, she’s a victim, Jesus is just giving a victim a break — and THAT is the big lesson here!

¹⁰Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

DON’T MISS THIS — Jesus looks upon her with compassion. Jesus forgives her for her sin. But it is here that MANY misunderstand what Jesus really did and why Jesus could do it. Jesus does not merely let her off the hook.

In this moment we find the answer to the great theological dilemma of many a man and woman — How does God harmonize His justice with His mercy? If God is a God of righteousness and a God of justice and a God of judgment by His holy nature, she must die. If God is a God of love and of grace and of kindness and of mercy and forgiveness, she must live.

How could Jesus let her go on her way and not invoke the Old Testament penalty of death? How could Jesus let her go without violating Old Testament law? The answer is this — The penalty of death will be exacted! Paul tells us that the wage of sin is death. Death is the consequence of sin.  There is spiritual death — Cessation of life with God; there is physical death —Cessation of biological life.  Jesus can forgive this woman because Jesus is going to DIE in her place for her sin.

Hebrews 2:9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

From this moment forward Jesus will continue to live a sinless life to the glory and honor of the Father, and then He will be nailed to a cross. The apostle Paul tells us what happened on that cross.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

There was a great exchange that transpired on the cross.  You have heard it said — Jesus died for your sin. That is not cliché. That means that every time you have told a lie, every time you have had sex outside of marriage, every time you have lusted in your heart, every time you have been greedy or covetous or gluttonous, every time you have done anything that is an offense and a transgression against God — Jesus paid the penalty in your place.

DON’T MISS THIS — As Jesus hangs on the cross suffering, beaten, broken, bleeding and dying, it’s because that woman went to bed with that man.  That’s why Jesus was there on the cross.  And Jesus will pay in His own body and with His own blood for her sin.  And so the Old Testament will be upheld.  Her sin will be punished with death — But not her own death.  Jesus is punished in her place — Like the innocent lamb being sacrificed in the Old Testament.

THAT is why Jesus can forgive her.  THAT is why Jesus can give her the opportunity to leave her life of sin and live in the newness of a redeemed life.

¹⁰Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman……

I love how Jesus refers to her.  He does not call her a whore.  He does not call her a slut.  He does not call her a prostitute.  He does not call her a home wrecker.  He calls her Woman.  It is a term of respect. THAT is the very same term that he used in John 2 to refer to his own mother.  He would use it again speaking from the cross in John 19. Don’t you love that?  He speaks to her with dignity. He speaks to her with honor and grace and love because He saw her as no man could. He knew her as no man ever knew her. She didn’t come out of the womb with long eye lashes and black eye makeup and lipstick and all of the perfumes.  She was a little girl.  She was somebody’s little girl. In our cultural terms — there was a time in her life when she got her first dress and her first pair of patent leather shoes. There was a time when she loved grilled cheese sandwiches and PB and Js.  There was a time when her mom let her wear lipstick for the first time in her life. And there was a time through one experience or another when her heart began to harden (We all have our own story). And she was used by someone who walked away and it made it easier the second time — but it made her a little harder so she wouldn’t feel the pain.  And she became accustomed to giving herself away and discovered how to put all the walls up.  She was a woman that so badly needed a Savior! And Jesus knew that.  And I can’t even begin to imagine the tone of His voice when He said, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” This may have been the first time in a great number of years that any man has spoken to her in a tone of love with dignity and with affection, not seeking to manipulate her I order to use her body. Tremendous dignity.  But Jesus does not wink at her sin.  He addresses it.

¹¹ …. And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Look carefully at this. He didn’t say — go and sin no more and I won’t condemn you. That is legalism — not grace.

Jesus said — Neither do I condemn you; go and be continuing in sin as a lifestyle no longer. Those are the tenses. I don’t condemn —so now leave your life of sin and go live like a woman, like a dignified, forgiven, cleansed woman.  Go live that life.

Every man and woman who has ever known what it is to look with the eye of faith into the eyes of Jesus and hear with your heart the tone of His voice saying — I’m not going to bring judgment on you, I’m not going to condemn you, don’t live this way anymore — they have walked away empowered and changed.  You’re no longer spending your time on trying to sin and not get caught. Your spending your time trying to live for Jesus!

Did she cry?  Did she fall at his feet?  I love the Depiction of her in The Passion of the Christ.

I love what one author said — The tears would come, but they would come later, years afterwards as she watched her husband go out the door to work, as she looked in the face of her children, as over and over again she heard his voice, neither do I condemn you.  Don’t live this way anymore.

CLOSING

As we take time to respond to the Word — I think of how Jesus changes the lives of ALL who would come to Him. I think of the great forgiveness He extends to us. I think of the great forgiveness Jesus has extended to me.  I would have never met Valerie, our lives would have never crossed paths, if Jesus hadn’t saved us.  I would have never looked in the face of any of my kids if Jesus hadn’t said to me — Neither do I condemn thee.  I would have never known any of the guys on staff here. ALL of that is given as a gift because of Jesus Christ.

As we take time to respond to the Word — If you have been judgmental and casting stones, get things in perspective.

As we take time to respond to the Word — If you’ve been living in sexual sin, pornography, look, those are serious issues.  The Lord doesn’t remove the seriousness of them, but He upholds before us the emblems of the vicarious power of His redemption.

For those who don’t know Jesus — The Bible holds in front of us the fact that through Jesus Christ you can be forgiven.  It doesn’t matter what you’ve done today.  Adultery was a capital crime.  Jesus said — I don’t condemn you, but don’t live this way anymore. You can come to him today.

If you don’t know Jesus — you have to understand that religious organizations are never going to do anything for you.  It is Jesus who forgives — and he forgives so powerfully and so thoroughly that religious organizations — self-righteous people — stumble at it. No strings attached. If your heart is genuine He forgives.

The Gospel of John

The Woman Caught in Adultery

John 7:53-8:11

Related Topics: Inspiration of Scripture; Transmission of Scripture; Translation of Scripture; Application of Scripture;  Jerome; Augustine; Scribes; Pharisees; Attempting To Trap Jesus; Adultery; Law of Moses; Destructiveness of Adultery; Punishment for Adultery; The Wisdom of Jesus; The Tenderness of Jesus; The Basis of Forgiveness; Jesus the Friend of Sinners;

This morning we pick up in our study of the Gospel of John in Chapter 8. We are going to look at the Verses 1-11 in which we have the record of a Woman caught in the act of adultery and brought before Jesus. This account actually begins back in Chapter 7, verse 53.

Some of you might see in your Bibles a footnote at Chapter 7, verse 53, that says that the oldest manuscripts do not include John 7:53-8:11. I think that it is worth taking time to explain that a little bit before we get to the text itself.

We need to begin with the fact that the True and Living God has REVEALED Himself to fallen man — SPOKEN to fallen man. (For a detailed study on the subject of Divine Revelation and the Inspiration of Scripture please see the resource from the CREDO Series — REVELATION: God Speaks)

Apart from this divine REVELATION fallen man would be left to SPECULATION as to the nature of God and the way to God. God does not leave us to human speculation. God desires to reveal himself to us — and He has done that through scripture.  Here’s how we got the Bible. God would inspire individuals to write portions of the Bible. God did not inspire them to record ideas — but He inspired the very words of the Scripture. We believe this because Jesus Himself referenced the smallest markings of the Scriptures (the crossing of a t – the dotting of an i) were inspired. That’s the concept we get from 2 Timothy 3:16 where it says that all scripture is God breathed — inspired by God.  It says in 2 Peter 1:20-21 that no one who wrote scripture wrote it from their own vantage point or their own self interest — but rather they were carried along by the Spirit of God.  So God reveals himself — inspires someone to write a portion of the Scriptures.

Once that Word of God was written down there was a desire among a great number of people to read what God has communicated.  That brought the necessity of transmission — meaning that someone had to sit and hand copy what God had inspired the author to write.  This would happen over and over and over. Lots of manuscripts — or lots of copies — get distributed to lots of people so that they can read it.

Over time — people in other languages wanted to read the Word of God as well — but they didn’t have access to it because it was originally written in a language that is foreign to them.  So what happens at that point is translation occurs.  People sat down and translated the Scriptures from one language to another.  The Bible we hold in our hands this morning is a translation.  Originally the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek, and some smaller sections in Aramaic.  Men and women DIED so that we could read the Bible in English.

Once we have a copy of the Scriptures in our hands we can sit down with that translation and we interpret it and make application. We open it up to figure out what it means.  Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would lead us into truth — and as we are instructed by the Holy Spirit — we then apply it to our lives.

All of this begins with God’s thoughts being revealed — God’s thoughts being revealed — God inspiring people to write them down. Then people make copies. Then other translations are made from those copies. Finally you and I read them and with the help of the Holy Spirit we interpret what they say — and then apply them to our life.

Some have suggested that maybe we shouldn’t trust the manuscripts or the copies that we have. But that is patently false because throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament and the teaching of Jesus, we see men and women being taught from manuscripts.  A great example of this is Ezra in the book of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 8:4-8 ⁴And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose….. ⁵And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood…. ⁷the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. ⁸They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

Another is Josiah

2 Kings 22:8-11 And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it….¹⁰Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. ¹¹When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes.

Most importantly — Jesus treated those manuscripts as authoritative — and so should we.

Luke 4:16-17 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. ¹⁷And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

The section that he read was a copy, handed down over the course of hundreds of years.

All that to say that the section that we’re going to study tonight in John’s gospel does not appear in the earlier manuscripts.  It shows up 300+ years later in church history. So people are wondering — should that be there?  Why do the early copies not have the story and the later copies do?  How do we explain that?

FIRST — For someone to say that these passages are not in the original manuscripts is intellectually dishonest — because nobody’s ever seen the originals —nor have they seen the copies that predate the earliest extant copies.  The academic discipline of textual criticism is not free from theological presuppositions and predispositions.

SECOND — A man named Jerome (late 4^th century – early 5^th century) took the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament and translated them into Latin. His translation is called the Vulgate. Jerome included this section of John’s gospel.  Jerome made that inclusion because he believed that it was an accurate, truthful portrayal of an actual event.

THIRD — One of the early church fathers named Augustine — Augustine says in the third century the reason that this part was taken out of John is because so many men were afraid that their wives would think they could commit adultery and Jesus would just forgive them and no big deal.  So what may have happened in the early church was they took this section out of John’s gospel because people were abusing and misusing it — and at a later date the Church realized that they didn’t have any right to be messing with scripture in that way — and so it was re-introduced in the manuscripts as we have it in it’s present form.

All that said — It still is in complete agreement with all the rest of scripture.  And in addition to that there’s no debated doctrine.

QUOTE: F.B. Meyer — It reveals in our Saviour’s character a wisdom so profound, a tenderness to sinners so delicate, a hatred of sin so intense, an insight into human hearts so searching, that it is impossible to suppose the mind of man could have conceived, or the hand of man invented, this most pathetic story.

All that is said so that you know what that little footnote in your Bible means.

So here we go.

⁵³ [They went each to his own house, ^1: but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.

Now that was the practice in the day of Jesus — the teacher SAT and the students STOOD!

³The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴they said to him,

“Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

FIRST — Just try to imagine THAT kind of an interruption! This was not the first time for Jesus. Once (Mark 2; Luke 5), when He was teaching in a house in Capernaum the roof starts to tear apart and dust and stuff starts falling down — and right in front of him a man is lowered down on a stretcher from the ceiling!

But this would have been pretty crazy. The Pharisees have caught this woman in the very act of adultery. They didn’t say — Well we caught you.  How about we go up to the temple and let everybody know? And she didn’t say — That would be a great idea.  Let’s go on up there and just tell everybody I was commiting adultery this morning. No.  They drag her up there to the temple court where Jesus is by the treasury (v.20) teaching.  Everybody’s listening.  And here comes this big ruckus! They’re dragging this woman — kicking and screaming — scratching — a wreck from the struggle. The crowd must have parted as they brought her in.  And it says they bring her right into the midst of the Bible study. Imagine that happening here this morning.

⁵Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]

THEOLOGICAL, HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT

We NEED SOME very important THEOLOGICAL, HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT — Without which we will never get the intensity of this moment. The huge impact of this event can easily be lost on us because adultery is so commonplace in our culture.  In fact, in our culture adultery is practically viewed as a virtue; it is a form of self-expression and freedom and liberation. Just this week the series TV series “HOUSE” involved the practice of “open marriage.” In our culture — Adultery is NO BIG DEAL! It was a HUGE THING to these people.

HISTORICALLY — Israel had a very clear understanding of the severity with which God viewed adultery. In Biblical understanding it is a grievous sin, the wage for which can only be death.

THEOLOGICALLY — Adultery is such an significant issue that God includes it as one of the Ten Commandments (7^th)

Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.

Also in the 10^th commandment

Exodus 20:17 “…..you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife

In the Old Testament adultery was a capital offense.  Adultery is as grievous to God as premeditated murder! Adultery robs God of His glory!

It’s an offense to God because in marriage a man and a woman come into covenant relationship before God and with one to another. Adultery is the most severe breach of that covenant possible.

It’s an offense to God because of