John 8 (2) — Stuart Thompson

John chapter 8, please. Now, we read the full chapter last evening. I don't think we'll be doing that tonight. I want to try and be sure to wrap up in good time. The chapter begins with that occasion when the opposers, those that were after the Lord Jesus, desiring that he be put to death, sought to find a legal basis on which they could charge him and find a reason within their legal parameters to see him found guilty and put to death.

And they brought that woman that was taken in adultery and sought to trip him up. And we looked at that last night. Hopefully saw something of its relevance to us here today as well. And then from there down from verses 12, pretty well we wrapped up, I think, last night at verse 27 or there.

Jesus as the Light of the World

And the Lord Jesus gave us that second I am that is recorded in John's Gospel. I am the light of the world. We saw how that would relate to the very woman who had been taken in adultery. Now that she would follow him, we see as well then the relevance of it to us today and even a basis for preaching the gospel for those that are just lost in this world in the darkness of this age without a Savior, how it should speak to their hearts, too.

Then we looked at the record of Christ. If you've got the outline there in front of you under the heading I am the light of the world. He bore witness of himself, so the religious leaders thought and then he brought it down to show the distinction in destinies, where he was going, they could not come, and then he showed that the basis for even that argument was based on the fact that there was a distinction in their origins.

He was from above, they were from beneath, they were of the world, he was not of the world. And the conclusion of that really, I take it, is the overriding theme, if you would, for the rest of the chapter, that if a person refuses to recognize, to believe the distinction both in origins of persons, he compared to all men, and thus the destiny that is before them, they will die in their sins.

The consequence of refusing to believe the distinction. So let's begin reading just from that note, from verse 24, and we'll read to the close of the chapter. I said therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins.

For if you believe not that I am he, if you believe not that I am the Eternal, the Son of the Father, ye shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him, who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.

He has constantly said things that speak of his relationship with the Father, so therefore he's the Son of the Father, the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father, and not only has spoken that way, but he has demonstrated it in the works, the miracles that he has done.

Verse 26, I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. And so that statement really carries with it a tremendous sense of mercy.

We saw last night that it really echoes what the Savior said to Nicodemus in chapter 3 and verse 17, where he says that God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

And so the Lord Jesus speaks to those men and says, I've got a lot to say and I could judge you at this point, but it isn't happening. It's not the will of the Father at this point and this first advent in the world.

He that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. So we're just in a summary statement, the Lord tells us that he was there for the blessing of men, not their condemnation.

Verse 27, they understood not that he spake to them of the Father. So they, it seems from John's comment then, not just in their dark unbelief, but there is a sincere or genuine, maybe I should put it in sincerity.

I don't think it's on their part. There is a genuine misunderstanding of what he's saying. But we're gonna see tonight that what was introduced in chapter 7, 17 is going to be revisited by the Lord. Why don't they understand?

The Son of Man Lifted Up and the Father's Presence

And hopefully we'll be able to get a feel for that. Let's read then from verse 28 to the end. Then said Jesus unto them, when you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things, and he that sent me is with me.

The Father has not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

They answered him, we be Abraham's seed, and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou you shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is a servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but ye seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father, and you do that which you have seen with your Father.

They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, if ye were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God.

This did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, we be not born of fornication, we have one Father, even God. Jesus saith unto them, if God were your father, you would love me.

For I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. Ye of your father the devil, and the loss of your father you will do.

He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of that is out from his own. For he is a liar, and the father of it.

Because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Then answered the Jews and said unto him, say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil, a demon? Jesus answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my father, and ye do dishonor me. And I seek not mine own glory.

There is one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead in the prophets, and thou sayest, if a man keep my saying, he will never taste of death.

Art thou greater than our father? Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets are dead. Whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that honoreth me, of whom ye say that he is your God.

Yet ye have not known him, but I know him. And if I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you, but I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad.

Then said the Jews unto him, thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Again, as we have mentioned earlier the other evenings, is one of those chapters that we have those little portions, and I wouldn't call them tidbits because they're very significant parts, but there are those verses that have become well used.

We're not going to say overused, just well used. We're familiar with them. But it's nice when you have the occasion then to look at the overall context in the setting where they're found, and to get even a better feel perhaps than what we might have had in the past as to how relevant they were to the occasion, and that would enhance our appreciation even the more of the Lord Jesus.

So if we pick up then on the outline, if you have it there in front of you, verse 37 to 47, behavior demonstrates distinct relations. The Lord Jesus had spoken of the distinction in destinies. Where I am, there you cannot come.

He has been very clear about the distinction in origins. I'm from above, you are from beneath. You're of this world, I'm not of this world. And now we're going to be seeing how the behavior of the individual demonstrates the distinct relationship in which they are found.

And that takes us down at least to try and divide it up to verse 47. The principle, as we've said, of John 7, 17. It will be revisited, introduced at least in verses 30 to 32, but there are other mentions of it.

Genuine freedom is declared by the Lord Jesus, what it really means to be free. And then in the third section there, verses 37 to 47, natural roots and spiritual realities. What they claimed as to their standing and the spiritual reality of their standing that the Lord Jesus would identify.

Then that closing section that we often think about is a real cause for worship, 48 to 59. It's what I would refer to simply just for reference tonight, the final exchange in the temple. And there is the subject of being demon possessed or divine in origin.

And then that last section, Abraham's joy. Abraham's joy in the great I am. They understood not, verse 27, that he spoke to them of the Father. Verse 28, still I must confess in some good measure, puzzles me.

Then he said unto them, when you have lifted up the Son of Man, and we appreciate that that expression lifted up as the Lord Jesus even used as he spoke to Nicodemus in chapter 3 about the serpent being lifted up, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

It is referring particularly then to the cross. And the Savior says, when you've lifted me up, then you'll know that I am dropping the he. As we know, it's added by the translators to try and make it a good grammatical English sentence.

But he is implying something will become particularly evident when the crucifixion takes place. To what extent these individuals, any of them listening to him that day, might enter into the blessing of that may seem a little well, I'm uncertain about it.

But we know the likes of a Roman centurion who oversaw the crucifixion, the actual hanging of the Lord Jesus on that cross. He will stand and viewing that scene will say, truly this was a righteous man, truly this is the Son of God.

So there was that man. As to the religious leaders, I confess I am still a little bit puzzled. The expression may then as well sweep in, as John 13 does when, you know, we read there in the Lord's Day morning, Jesus knowing that his hour was come, that he would go to the Father.

And the term hour initially takes in his willing submission to the evil desires of men to put him to death. But it also, from John 13, obviously takes in the resurrection and the ascension to heaven. So there might be a sense, and when the Lord Jesus said this, when you have lifted me up, then you'll know that I am, that the aftermath of crucifixion, his resurrection, and his eventual ascension, might even be the means of persuading some to actually genuinely acknowledge who he was.

Because we do know that in the book of the Acts that there were a number of priests who finally, after all, to use expression, after all was said and done, did acknowledge with faith who he was, and that he was their Lord.

So there might be something of that in that. Verse 29, And he that sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. This behavior demonstrates distinct relations.

As distinct as their origin and destinies were, the Lord Jesus can very clearly time and time again speak about his behavior being consistent with what the Father has purposed for him to do. So that he can say in summary, I do always those things that please him.

So what the Savior was doing very aptly and completely was demonstrating his relationship with God in heaven. He was the Son, the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father. And it says there in verse 30, as he spake these words, many believed on him.

You know, you wish you could just leave the period there and conclude, wow, isn't that something? But you'll know as we had, was it back there in chapter 7, that there was those that observed things that he was saying and he had done and there was a sense of believing, but that's kind of left dubious.

Just like at the close of chapter 2 when he was at the Passover and it says that many believed on him, but he didn't commit himself to them because he knew what was in man. So there was that, as we suggested, perhaps this logical faith that really didn't carry with it awakening of sin, the sense of repentance, and then finding rest by faith in the Lord Jesus.

So when it says here many believed on him, look at how the Lord Jesus responded to them. And again, distinction in relationship was demonstrated or defined by behavior. And so he said in verse 34, 31 rather, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.

So they could believe something that he was saying or doing at the moment and maybe make some sense of acknowledgement. But the reality of it was going to be seen from that point on and how they lived.

And this is, as I was suggesting, was the revisiting of the principle of chapter 7, verse 17. I'm just going to turn back and read it. If any man will do his, the will of the man that sent, or rather of God who sent him, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak out of myself, whether I'm self-sourced in my messages or whether I'm speaking in harmony with God who he professed to have sent him.

And so the same idea now unfolds. He says if you continue in my words, not God's words, but my words, then it will be evident that you are truly a disciple of me. So the relationship would be demonstrated by their behavior.

Freedom from Sin Through the Son

What's he say after that? And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. I would take it in the immediate setting and the persons that he's speaking to then that that would introduce the idea that you'd be totally free from any pharisaical influence of unjust imposition of law plus whatever they would add to the law.

You would be free from it all, but as he'll demonstrate, you'll be free from the power of sin. And this is what, and as again, we've said at different times that the Lord knew where every conversation, where every exchange was going, because as soon as he introduces this subject of freedom, wham, does it ever open up an extension of the debate.

If you would want to use a term of one or the other, some would use the term argument. Their response immediately, verse 33, we be Abraham's seed. We are the offspring of Abraham and we're never in bondage to any man.

How sayest thou he shall be made free? In my bible that I often use just for some preliminary work when studying a passage and I don't care what kind of a pen I have in my hand. I feel free to write in that one with any old ink.

I don't do that in my good bible. I have written over this verse, how soon we forget. How soon we forget. Either they were willfully distorting their history or they were truly at the moment demonstrating that expression, how soon we forget.

Because they had been in bondage in Egypt, Abraham's seed. They had been under the bondage of Babylon when they were taken into captivity. And there may be others you can talk about the Assyrians or whatever.

I would just kind of lump that I guess into the Babylonian idea. But there were those portions of their history that the old testament scriptures had recorded and where were they living at that time? They were living under the domination of Rome as a people.

How soon we forget. We've never been in bondage. We're Abraham's seed. We're free. Jesus answered them, verse 34, truly, truly, or verily, verily, I say unto you, whoever commits sin is the bond slave of sin.

Now from a human perspective, as I said, the Lord Jesus knew where every conversation was going. So he had introduced the idea of the truth of God setting a person free and if you allow me to put it this way, they took the bait.

They grabbed hold of that one and they swung the door wide open and he went from you might say genealogical freedom to spiritual bondage. They might have tried to claim freedom as the seed of Abraham, but now he goes right to the point.

The person that commits sin is the bond slave of sin. In verse 35 he picks up an analogy and he says the servant abides not in the house forever, but the son abides ever. And claiming to be Abraham's seed they were implying then they had freedom as those that were occupants of the house of Abraham.

But he said no. We're not talking about where your genetic roots are. We're talking about spiritual things and sin makes a person a slave. And you might think yourself to be in this privileged house, but if we're going to put you in the house we put you there in the analogy as the slave, not as a free person because you're not a son is what he was really saying.

So I personally would take it though my Bible and I think probably most King James versions the editors put a capital on the word son in verse 35. I'm not sure that that was necessary as I was saying and we've got an analogy.

They're slaves in the house. There's a son in the house and the two things are absolutely polar opposites. The slave could be done with in any time terminated in whatever way whether put to death for disobedience and rebellion or just dismissed and sent away to another or sold to somebody.

But the son of the family he's there secure in the house. Then he just jumps from the analogy to the son. I think we can obviously say that in verse 36. If he makes you free then you are free indeed. Isn't that tremendous?

The son would have the authority in that house to make the slave free. Free from sin. Truly truly free. Verse 37 then as we continue into this last part of this section we look at natural roots and spiritual realities.

He says so I know you are Abraham's seed. That's there's no question about your genealogy. But you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. And again that falls under that same principle of if they do the will of God then they will know that his teaching was from God.

But he says so I know where you come from but you seek to kill me. Why does that? Because you haven't received my word. You've given it no place. You've dismissed what I teach which is from God and you persist in disobedience to the revealed will of God of the old testament law with the ambition of putting me to death.

Verse 38 I speak that what I have seen with my father and you do that which is seen with your father. I know where you come by by genetic roots but what you're doing demonstrates the relationship that you're truly in.

You are doing the things that you have seen with your father. Hasn't told them who that is yet. Verse 39 they answered and said Abraham is our father. How many times as if you could almost hear them saying it like a parent going after the child.

How many times do I have to tell you? Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them if you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham. He says the way you're reacting to me is demonstrating that you have no relationship not genetically but spiritually with Abraham.

You remember how the book of Romans in chapter 4 tells us that he is the father of all them that believe. Life by faith in Christ stands in distinction to those who know nothing of Christ. It's really ought to speak to our own hearts as we look at the circumstance of this chapter.

If you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me. Verse 40 a man that has told you the truth which I have heard from actually the word of there could even be rendered by God beside God and it's just a a word that gives us this little glimpse into the the very place of the Lord Jesus in the father's at the father's side from the very side of the father of God in heaven.

He has heard and he has spoken those things that people hear. Just another little emphatic statement as to his uniqueness his behavior demonstrating the distinct relationship in which he was. Verse 40 I have told you the truth.

I have heard this did not Abraham what you're doing. Verse 41. You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to him we be not born of fornication. We have one father even God. Now we when I say we often generally the statement we be not born of fornication may very well have been a slam from them regarding the roots humanly speaking of the Lord Jesus.

Mary being unmarried still not joined to Joseph when it was obvious that she was bearing a child. So they may have been a this may have been a slam as to his earthly beginnings. But yet I appreciated what Mr. Barnes a commentator said of this.

When we see the the juxtaposition as it were where it stands relative to the next comment. This may very well have actually been a spiritual statement on their part. We're not born of fornication. We have one father and this time they're not claiming relation to Abraham.

They're going right straight to God. If they were saying about the Lord Jesus that you were born of fornication that you were illegitimate and that yet they switch over and go to a spiritual relationship on their part the two things don't add up.

It may very well be as some have suggested in particular Mr. Barnes when you go back into the Old Testament, there are several times when idol worship by particularly than the people of Israel is equated with an illegitimate birth relationship.

It's equated with fornication rather than genuine relationship. And so when they said we're not we don't have a standing that is linked to illegitimate worship of idols or whatever. We actually are related to God as father.

It's genuine. They were trying to persuade the Lord with this claim. So that's just a thought to consider in the context. To my mind it makes sense. But Jesus said in another verse 42, God if God were your father you would love me.

Hmm I can ask myself as I would ask you tonight dear soul do you have love for the Lord Jesus? You say boy, I wish I loved him more. Well, that's not the question though, is it? Is there a genuine sense of affection for him?

Is God your father he says? Then why don't you love me? Um an amazing thing when by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit an individual that once was lost to God suddenly knows God as father. Um, I don't know if I've ever mentioned this here before but it was a um a very distinct experience for me.

I had maybe been saved I'm going to say two days or so. And I was 21 years old when I was saved. So this might help lend some relevance to this comment. 21 uh if you'd known me in those few years before God saved me you would have had no thought or recognition that I came from a Christian family.

So about two days after I remember saying good night to my mother and father and going up to the bedroom and getting down beside the bed and the first word that came out of my mouth was father. And I remember now it's still quite vivid.

My head actually snapped up from the bed where I was bowed. And it's like I was asking myself, what did you just say? I think it's in contrast, stark contrast to that a few months before when engaged in the the the obsession of my life at that time.

Dirt bikes, motocross racing and I'd gone off the track after an impact with another motorcycle and had broken my leg very severely and when I dropped the motorcycle and then fell onto the ground and realized what had happened to my leg.

I lay on my back looking at a clear blue sky and I said, oh God, no. And I wasn't cursing. I wasn't swearing. I wasn't, I was speaking to the one I knew who was in heaven, but all I knew him was as God.

And I realized that he had intervened in my life in that incident. But that night two days or so approximately after coming to know Christ as I bowed at the bed and I started to pray the first word that came out of my mouth was father and it shook me and I have my word.

I actually know God as my father. The Lord Jesus said, if God were your father, you'd love me. I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself. It wasn't just of my own volition. He sent me.

So there's this tremendous harmony of the eternal father with the eternal son and the commission is given and the mission, if you would, unfolds and he sent out sent out to as we said there back in chapter one and verse 18, that tremendous truth, the son in the bosom of the father, he has declared him to make God known in the very person of the son, a man moving amongst men.

The Devil as Father of Lies

So verse 43, why do you not understand my speech? And this is that principle. The Lord Jesus keeps coming back to it because if these men will not receive his word, they're going to be lost forever. Why don't you understand my speech?

Because you cannot hear my words. Why? Because you're not obeying the word of God. What God has revealed, they refused. We'll kill this man. Nicodemus stands up with legal defense and says we can't do it.

You can't put a man to death until you hear him. They dismiss it. They try to trap him. He says, you can't hear me because you do not have the word abiding in you. Verse 44, the natural roots and spiritual realities, you are of your father the devil.

And that word devil then there is not the same what they will charge him as being possessed of a demon. This is that word diabolos, which is the slanderer, the treacherous one, the deceiver. You are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father you will do.

He was a murderer from the beginning. An abode not in the truth. A murderer from the beginning. How was that? Well, we know that by his treachery, by his deceit in his first approaching eve and all that unfolded that day in the fall in the garden, he brought man into first spiritual death separated from God.

And then eventually as the chapters unfold in Genesis, Adam died. All because of Satan, the treacherous one. The one who's a slanderer who really slandered God right from the get-go hath God said. He says you're of your father the devil from the beginning a murderer.

He abode not in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from himself. The Lord Jesus has said I'm not speaking from myself. My message isn't self-sourced. I get it from the father.

But Satan, everything he ever says is from him. Why? Because he is the father of lies. He is a liar and the father of it. Because I tell you the truth, verse 45, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of sin?

And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God hears God's words. So those that had placed faith in God will continue to be noted as ones who respond, who hear and respond to God's words.

Now I don't say that. I don't and in this context the Lord Jesus is not saying it for the sense of there are times when a believer may have what we would maybe call gray times in their experience. It's not so definitively black and white.

But this is the way he's speaking now, black and white. Behavior defines or demonstrates the distinct relationship in which you're found. Natural roots aren't sufficient. Spiritual realities are seen in the behavior and the allegiance, if you would, of the individual.

And the Lord Jesus is just saying you're either of God or you're of Satan. Which place are you found in? So the last section, you need to spend several minutes with this, it's precious. Verses 48 to 59, the final exchange in the temple.

Demon Possession, Divine Origin, and the Honor of the Father

Chapter seven that we looked at, Lord's Day and Monday evening, as we saw, took place by and large over at least eight days. What we've been looking at here takes place over just several hours. It was coming up to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.

And so they would make their journey up to arrive there for the commencement of it. So did they go up a day early? I would assume so. And then there was the seven days of the feast and that great day, the eighth day that's added on, when everything would be summed up, as it were, and they would disperse.

So there could have been maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of possibly nine days in chapter seven. So all that's recorded there. What we've been looking at in chapter eight, as they say, just covers really several hours.

Early in the morning he came into the temple, the people came to him, he sat down and he taught. They brought in early that morning the woman without the man, as we looked at last night, caught in the act of adultery, tried to use her as a trap to ensnare the Lord Jesus, and then unfolds this conversation.

Just a matter of hours. Tremendous things that were said in a chapter really that's even longer than that of chapter seven. So it begins at the close, then answered the Jews and said unto him, Say we not well, are we not doing well in saying you are a Samaritan and hast a demon?

To say he was a Samaritan was probably about as low as you could go. It was a claim then he was in a sense a half-breed, as far as Jew and Gentile mixture would go. It was to say that he had no claim to being in a relationship with God as he had been speaking, and that he really had no spiritual standing at all.

But not only that, he was possessed by a demon. Jesus answered, remember last night we quoted as has been the handed on over how many voices, Bill Lavery's father, the Lord Jesus didn't necessarily answer the question.

He answered the questioner. Did we not say well, you are a Samaritan, hast a demon? And he said I have not a demon. He didn't even touch the Samaritan thing. It wasn't part of the argument whatsoever.

I honor my father and you do dishonor me. By their very statement the Lord Jesus says you dishonor me because my life honors the father. So he's digging again deep into the consciousness of those that charge him.

Demon possessed or divine in origin. I seek not mine own glory, verse 50, which is there is one that seeks and judges. And I would just simply put it this way, that the Lord Jesus knew that the father was seeking ways to honor the son.

He honors the father and God the father seeks to glorify the son. And if there's any judgment to take place, because he's already said earlier, I judge no man. This wasn't the time for him to condemn men.

It was his time to hopefully deliver some, to save some. But there is one who could judge rightfully even at the time. He seeks my glory and he has every privilege and right to judge. Verse 51, truly, truly I say unto you, if a man keeps my saying he shall never see death.