John8Anch

John 8 and the Persecuted Church

Be with you this evening. If you would turn with me please in your Bibles to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. This will be our text for the evening when I ask the brethren what they wanted me to do this evening.

They said expound the word exegesis and so that's what we will do. It will not be quite as as polished thank you. I can read the text. It was down here in the shadows and we forgot to stop and get many reading glasses today so I was going to be in a world of hurt there but now I can there's there's writing on the page it's great.

Those who are younger who are laughing at me your time will come. It will take place but so our text this evening will be John chapter 8 and here is how I would like to approach it. I have the greatest freedom and feel most comfortable simply dealing with the text and so what I'm going to do is I'm going to read the text and then we will go back over key issues and make application.

This particular chapter has tremendous application to many of the situations we face in the church today but I will tell you immediately and up front by way of confession that very often my initial thoughts I think this is true is true of anyone are frequently guided by what is most heavy upon my heart and I look back on the back wall there is a very large map of the world there and of course Alaska looks you know bigger than the entire United States on that kind of map so I guess a little bit of land help there but when we look at that map if we were to color code it in such a way where our brothers and sisters in Christ suffered this day where they do not have the freedom to gather together.

They do not have the freedom to hear a beautiful solo song openly to where all the world could hear anyone walking past the open door back there could have heard singing about the cross. There are many lands where that cannot happen this day.

There are many lands where our brothers and sisters are separated from their husbands their wives their children their parents because of their refusal to deny their profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

The persecuted church is all around the world and there are many groups that persecute the church. We know the Olympics are taking place in a nation that persecutes Christians very regularly. North Korea persecutes Christians very regularly.

Communism does this. Hinduism radical forms of hinduism are known to persecute Christians. But the greatest persecutor of Christians in the world is of course the Islamic religion. Muslim countries where Christians do not have the freedoms to do what we do.

Muslim countries where if you take the time to get to the right RSS feeds in your blog reading you will discover that people die almost daily in fact probably more than daily for their testimonies of Christ.

I was reading a story just this morning of a young woman who was killed by her father in an honor killing because she had confessed faith in Christ first he cut her tongue out. However this kind of thing takes place around the world with regularity and we as believers in the United States generally are not prepared to really deal with the issue of Islam.

Between now and the end of November I will be doing seven debates with Islamic apologists. Four here in the United States three in the United Kingdom Lord willing. And I'm thankful to have the freedom to be able to continue to do that.

There are many lands where of course you could not do that. And so that is the background that I bring to this text. Because I find in these words of Jesus a very clear message. And that is he's speaking to men who are no farther away from him than you are from me.

They believed he was a human being. They believed that he had a special insight and understanding. Certainly he had special and miraculous power. They would have accepted him as a prophet. They would have accepted him as a political messiah.

But Jesus did not leave it up to rebel sinners to determine who he is. And the Lord today does not allow us to define what saving faith is. He has defined that for us already in the scriptures these men would not accept who Jesus said he was.

Then halfway through the chapter we read about some people who say they believe in Jesus. And by the end of the chapter they're picking up stones to stone Jesus. So you have open enemies. Then you have those who make a false profession.

All of them refuse to allow Jesus to define himself for who he is. We live in an age where such massive emphasis upon individualism gives to mankind the idea that we can in essence demand of God that he meet our standards that he form himself to be friendly to us.

We can demand that God be put in the dock to use the old language and we get to judge him. And we actually think mere creatures that we are. That we have the authority we have the right to decide. Well I'm going to form Jesus in an image that's comfortable to me in our society even in the political system it is very very common for people to talk about believing in Jesus.

But then when you start doing some pushing you start doing some asking questions. The Jesus who is so popular in the higher circles of of our society is a Jesus that bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to the biblical Jesus and hence cannot save.

Instead those Jesus's that men form very often look very much well like themselves. That's not the Jesus it saves. That's not the Jesus of the gospel. And Jesus lays that out in these words in John chapter 8 and before I read them remember how the chapter ends.

Men pick up stones to stone the very son of God who has spoken the truth to him to them who has revealed who he is to them and they pick up stones to kill him. Western society today has such a high view of men.

It's actually it's actually a very contradictory view of men. On the one hand it's very very low because we view man as the mere chance result of a natural unguided process that makes us to differ not whatsoever from any other of the evolved creatures on the planet.

So on one one hand it is very very low and on the other hand it is very very high and that we look at ourselves and our philosophy and our science as the answer to all things and this idea that we are actually creatures of God but we are fallen and rebelling against God that isn't very popular.

And yet here you have religious men men who know the scriptures and they are so maddened by God's revelation that they pick up stones to stone the very incarnate son of God. You can see the true heart of man in these words.

The Textual Variant in John 7:53–8:11

And so I'm going to look at John chapter 8. Now let me just mention I'm starting at verse 12. The reason is that John 7 53 through 8 11 is the second largest textual variant in the New Testament. The longest is Mark 16 9 through 20.

And then you have the passages like first John 5 7. But John 7 53 through 8 11 is not in the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament and in one family of manuscripts in the New Testament it actually appears in Luke.

So when you have a portion of text that seems to be somewhat homeless and is wandering about that is probably a good idea a good recognition that it was not original. A lot of people love the story and you know every movie even Mel Gibson's The Passion movie managed to sneak it in somehow too bad.

He stuck a whole lot of stuff in there didn't need to be there. But anyways so we will be picking up with John chapter 8. Verse 12. This is taking place in the temple in Jerusalem as we are told in verse 20 in the treasury room where the treasury room the alms giving would be collected there in the temple precincts again.

Jesus as the Light of the World and the Validity of His Witness

Therefore Jesus spoke to them saying I am the light of the world. The one following me will not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. Therefore the pharisees said to him you are testifying concerning yourself or bearing witness concerning yourself.

Your testimony is not true. The literal word is true but as we will see what it means here is valid. Valid in the sense of being recognized by the law as Jesus will about is about to explain. You have to have more than one person testifying by the mouths of two or three witnesses.

The fact is to be validated. So the the point they're making is not that you're lying but that your testimony is alone. So verse 14 Jesus answered and said to them even if I were testifying concerning myself my testimony is true or valid because I know where I've come from and where I am going.

You do not know where I'm where I've come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh I am judging no one. But even if I am judging my judgment is true again same term or valid because it is not only I but it is I and the father who sent me.

Therefore he fulfills the old testament law of the two witnesses. In your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is valid or true. I am the one testifying concerning myself and the father who sent me is testifying concerning me.

Therefore they said to him who is your father. She has answered to them you neither know my father nor me. If you knew me then you would know the father. In those verse 20 these words he spoke in the treasury room while speaking in the temple and no one laid hands upon him or arrested him because his hour had not yet come.

Now we could preach all night. We could spend more than an hour on the hour had not yet come. But I will just in passing point out that there are entire systems of theology today that simply cannot begin to understand what this means.

That is if you do not have a god who is in control of the events of history so much so that there is a specific hour you get to john 17. As we heard this morning father the hour has come. Was this hour not set from eternity past.

Was this hour something god kept trying to bring about but failing to bring about and starting over again and so on and so on. No. And yet it is so sad there are many today who actually preach the idea that while god wound this universe up and he had no idea what was going to come he had no idea what he was getting himself into.

I don't know how anyone could believe in that. But unfortunately that is what many people believe. So we continue. Verse 21. Therefore he again said to them I am going away and you will seek me and you will die in your sins.

Where I am going you are not able to come. Therefore the jews were saying he's not going to kill himself. Is he. Because he says where I am going you are. You are not able to come. And he was saying to them you are from below.

I am from above. You are from this world. I am not from this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am ego I mean you will die in your sins. Therefore they said to him who are you.

She has said to them what I've told you from the beginning. What have I told you from the beginning. I have many things to say concerning and judge concerning you. But the one who sent me is true and what I've heard from him these things I am speaking in the world now.

They did not know that he was speaking to them of the father. Therefore Jesus said to them when you lift up the son of man then you will know that I am and that I do nothing of myself. But just as the father has taught me these things I speak.

And the one who has sent me is with me and has not left me alone. And I am always doing the things that are pleasing to him. When he said these things many believed in him. But please note something the term believed here is in a form of the original language that is not the normative use of saving faith in the gospel of john.

It is not an ongoing action. It is an undefined action frequently just a point action. In the past they believed in him. Now listen carefully to what happens when people who have a non-continuous faith a faith that is but a point of time when they are faced with the great truths of the gospel especially the fact that we are slaves to sin.

Listen to how they ran. Therefore Jesus said to those who had believed in him the jews who had believed in him. If you remain in my word truly you are my disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

Same term to be used for the freeing of slaves in the slave market. Very important to catch that element of it. They answered and said to him we are the seed of Abraham and we have never been enslaved to anyone.

How do you say you shall be made free. Jesus answered truly truly I say to you everyone doing sin everyone practicing sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not abide in the house forever the son abides forever.

Therefore if the son sets you free you will truly be free. I know that you are the seed of Abraham. Yet you're seeking to kill me because my word finds no place in you. What I have seen from the father these things I speak therefore you what I'm sorry.

Therefore uh you what you have heard from your father you are doing that gets him really in. Therefore they answered and said to him our father's Abraham. Jesus said then if you were the children of Abraham well you do the works of Abraham.

But now you are seeking to kill a man me a man who has spoken to the truth which he heard from God. This this Abraham did not do. You are doing the works of your father. Therefore they said to him we were not born of fornication.

Some scholars believe there might be some background there maybe continuation of allegations that go all the way back to the virgin birth. Perhaps we were not born of fornication. We have one father that is God.

Jesus answered them if God were your father you would love me. For I have come forth from God. Please catch those words. I have come forth from God and have now come. It's difficult to render it in such a way as to express it's speaking of the origin and then the arrival this present in this present space time.

I have not come of my own but that one has sent me. It's unfortunate that we can't tie all this into the rest of the gospel of John. If you go back to John chapter 5 the harmony between the father and son that's what forms the background of what is being said at this particular point in time.

And then notice what what is said. Why do you not know or understand what I am saying to you. Don't let your tradition filters make you hear the rest of the sentence incorrectly. It can happen. It's happened to all of us.

It says because you are not able to hear my word. It does not say because you choose not to hear my word. It's. It says because you are not able to hear to hear what my word. There is a deficient deficiency.

There is a problem. There is an inability. Why do you not understand. Because it hasn't been explained clearly enough. Because you are not able to hear my word. You are from your father the devil. And you desire to do the will the desires of your father.

That one was a murderer from the beginning. And he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie he is speaking from his own things or his own realm because he is a liar and the father of lies.

But I have spoken to you. I am speaking to you the truth and you are not believing me. Just make a little note there verse 45. Trace that back to John 6. Jesus never had a problem telling people they were unbelievers.

He did it more than once. And in both instances here in John 8 was to people who said they had believed. They're false professors. In John 6 it was to people who just rode across the lake to listen to him speak.

Most churches today they would have been made deacons immediately. And in both instances this isn't true brother. We can't get people to get up early enough in the morning to come to Sunday school. These people rolled across the lake.

That's leadership material right there. In both instances Jesus said you are unbelievers. Which of you convicts me concerning sin. If I have spoken the truth to you for what reason do you not believe me.

What's the answer to that question. Again watch your tradition filters. The one who is from God. Same terminology used when Jesus said I am not from this world. You are from this world. I am not from this world.

Here it is the one who is from God is hearing the words of God. For this reason you are not. And the word is not believing it is hearing. For this reason you are not hearing because you are not from God.

Why would we need to be careful of our tradition filters. Because most people hear that the reason you are not believing is because you choose to not be but let the text stand as it stands and see if it makes sense.

Those are hard words. The Jews therefore answered and said to him this gets pretty nasty pretty quickly. I know this isn't an insult today you're demonized. But it was an insult in that day. Have we not well said that you're a Samaritan and you have a demon.

Now to us that might not sound overly serious but in that context those are fighting words. That was about as from a religious perspective as deep a insult as you could possibly come up with and generally would not be spoken by someone who was not getting a very red face and spitting while pronouncing the words you're a Samaritan half-breed you have a demon.

That's how you do all the stuff you do. Jesus answered I do not have a demon. But I honor my father and you dishonor me. Please know that that's a very certain terminology. John chapter 5. And he said that all men are to honor the son even as they honor the father.

Here are men who are dishonoring both the father and the son. He says I am not seeking my own glory. There is one who is seeking and who is judging. Truly truly I say to you if anyone keeps my word he will never see death.

Therefore the Jews said to him now we know that you have a demon. Abram died and the prophets. And you say if anyone keeps your my word they will never taste death forever. You're not greater than our father Abraham who's died and the prophets who died.

Who are you making yourself out to be. Jesus answered if I'm glorifying myself then my glory is nothing. My father is the one glorifying me whom you say he is our God and you do not know him. But I know him.

And if I said I didn't know him then I'd be a liar like you. But I know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day and he sought and was glad. Therefore the Jews said to him you are not yet 50 years old.

You do not yet have 50 years and you've seen Abraham. Jesus answered them truly truly I say to you before Abraham came into existence I am. Therefore they picked up stones. They might cast them upon him but Jesus hid himself and went out.

The Deity of Christ and the Unity of Father and Son

Well there is so much we need to look at in this text and so little time to do. So let's pray the Lord will give us a clear understanding and a clear focus upon his word this evening. This encounter takes place in Jerusalem at a time when a feast is taking place.

Where there was there was lights involved in the feast and so Jesus begins by saying that he is the light of the world and every time he would make these claims there were those who were following him.

We seem to gather from the synoptic gospels that there were Jews from Jerusalem who were specifically assigned with the task of tailing Jesus. They were probably provided with funding from the treasury in which Jesus is speaking here just so that they might follow the man around and seem to trap him in his words.

We can see this in John chapter 19. And many false witnesses are brought forward but they can't get their stories straight when they attempt to bring accusation against Jesus and so he encounters them in dialogue and he is speaking about who he is.

And he continues the theme that he has struck earlier in John chapter 5 concerning the relationship of he and his father in giving witness. And it is important for us to recognize that the theme throughout the gospel of John is not solely the deity of Christ but there is also a concern on John's part that there would be those who would see Jesus as in essence a competing deity that you have the father over here and then you have the son over here and the son is is getting glory for himself and detracting from the father.

Those words of John chapter 5 when Jesus says I do nothing of my own I only do that which I see the father doing is often misused by people to try to deny the deity of Christ when in reality it is an emphasis upon the unity that exists between the father and the son we only worship one God who has manifested himself in three divine eternal persons the father the son and the holy spirit.

And so you are not detracting from the one when you see the glory of the other. In fact I have a quote in front of the forgotten trinity in light of the presentation just this afternoon I have a quote from the institutes of Christian religion where Calvin points out that that the balance of scripture and the teaching of scripture on the doctrine of trinity is such that you cannot but think upon the glory of the one without being drawn to the glory of one person but being drawn to the glory of the one godhead.

The bible is so balanced in its presentation of this divine truth. And so we see it here. Jesus is testifying to these individuals that there is another who is witnessing concerning himself. He's not just out on his own the words that he speaks he's our heavenly words.

They come from the father. This continues the theme that you see at the very beginning of the gospel of john in that prologue of john which is given to us as a lens through which we are to view all the rest of the gospel of john.

And that prologue tells us that the one who exegetes the one who explains the father whom no one has seen is the unique god the the only son who is god john 118 who has entered into human flesh as jesus christ he explains him he makes him known.

And so what jesus teaches us is in perfect harmony with what the father himself would say had it been the father who became incarnate. But it was not the father. It was the logos the eternal son of god who became incarnate of as jesus christ.

And so he says his judgment is true. His judgment would be true because he knows where he's from and where he's going. He has divine knowledge beyond that of mere human beings. And may i just point out in passing as i will point out a number of times i would ask you to do something for me this evening.

I would ask you to join the ranks of christian believers who do not fall into the trap of failing to defend the deity of christ because we give far too much land. Shall we say to our opponents what do i mean by that.

There are so many texts of new testament that teach the deity of christ and yet most of the about a very small number. When i say there are so many texts when for example tomorrow i'm speaking on the subject of jehovah's witnesses to you when those individuals knock upon your door upon a saturday morning and wake you up with fitful sleep putting you in a perfect mood to witness to them about jesus.

When they do so and you get into conversations with them. Normally the conversation is about one text here one text there. And almost never do we force them to follow the same standards that they want to apply to us.

That is we should make sure that they define very clearly who jesus christ is. As you'll see tomorrow and watch our theology of jesus christ. Is michael the archangel the greatest and first of all of god's creations.

But he is a creature. He is the first thing and the only thing god created directly. And therefore as a creature a vast gulf exists between himself and the eternal creator. And so we should ask them. Does a mere creature.

Does michael the archangel say the words that jesus says this evening. You may be like myself. You may have grown up in a christian family far back as we can trace on my father's side back to scotland we were ministers and some of you presbyterian brother we were presbyterians in scotland got to kansas presbyterians wouldn't ordain i believe my great grandfather fast enough.

So he became a baptist not quite three years and become a baptist. But hey it worked. So anyway you may not have grown up in a christian family where you had the word of god being preached to you on a regular basis.

We hear jesus in a christian context. These words don't strike us as odd or strange because that's what jesus says because he's god. But you see that somewhat cripples our apologetic for the deity of christ.

We need to hear these words as they would have been heard by the original audience. What mere man. What creature says the words that jesus says. Not just in this text but think of john 17 earlier today.

Father glorify me with the glory which i had in your presence before the world was the jews knew prophecy of isaiah 353 consecutive sermons. Isaiah chapter 45. I bet you john calvin managed to mention the fact that there yahweh says i share my glory with none other.

What kind of a man knowing those words in prayer says glorify me with the glory that i had with you before you see. There are. There's there's tons and tons of evidence of the deity of christ to be found in the recognition that no mere creature can ever speak as he speaks.

And you see it right here. The father sent me every word that i speak i have been taught from him. There is this idea of absolute perfection in the means that he provides of revealing god. No errors none whatsoever.

I mentioned the issue of muslims. The muslims believe that jesus is a great prophet virgin born a worker of miracles that he could open blind eyes and he could raise the dead. In fact they'll even tell you that they believe jesus did more miracles than you do.

Because the quran says that jesus formed birds out of clay and then breathed on them. They became real birds and flew away now. Of course the problem is that particular story is found in proto-gnostic gospel about the second century.

And that's how it ended up in the quran. But they believe jesus did mighty mighty miracles but he was not the son of god. He was a mere rasul. A rasul is an apostle a sent one. And so all the muslims say oh we teach people to love and follow jesus.

But he was not the son of god. He was messiah only for the jewish people. He did not die upon the calvary. There is no resurrection. So the jesus of islam. The jesus of islam only says a few words in the quran.

One time he speaks from a recognizable historical context. In surah 19 he speaks as a baby from the cradle. That's the only time the jesus of the quran speaks anywhere you where you can identify other than that.

He's a disembodied voice. And he's arguing for monotheism in the prophethood of muhammad. Jesus of the quran is not a person. He's an argument. And no one could ever love him. Everything we read in the new testament the muslims believe has been corrupted and does not represent jesus's own words.

And so in many ways the words of john chapter 8 are some of the best words to apply to muslims to explain to muslims. And 99 percent of the world's islamic population has never read the new testament.

One of the best things you can do is to get them to read. I remember doing an interview with a man who was born on the border between pakistan and afghanistan. A missionary came through before he was ever born left a new testament with his father.

For some reason his father never destroyed it. And then his father did something that all of his fathers have done which demonstrates that fathers are not infallible. His father said don't read that. You would think we would have figured that out by the time we become fathers.

If he had said that you read every word of that it never would have been touched. But he told him never to read it. And of course he did. And solely through the instrumentality of word and spirit that man was gloriously brought to faith in christ imprisoned beaten running for his life.

But he was brought to faith in christ by simply reading the testament. It's powerful. Introduce folks to it. So keep that in mind as we look at the rest of what happens here in john 8. Keep in mind. Could a mere creature say these words.

Notice what he says verse 23. You are from below. Look if he's just one of you. And i isn't he too. You are from below. I am from above. You are literally out of this world. This world is your origin and source.

You derive your stuff from this world. I am not from this world. Now. This is not denial. The reality of the physical nature of jesus is the word became flesh. Sarks. This is the very same writer john who wants to make sure we understand jesus wasn't a phantom.

He had a real physical body. If he didn't have real physical body there's no redemption. He was truly a man. And yet he was the logos who became flesh. And that logos had eternally existed. John 1 1 tells us.

And so he says to the jews there is a difference between us in origination. You are from below. I'm from above. You're from this world. I am not from this world. And that's why i said to you that you will die in your sins.

I hope that helps you see that what we're talking about here isn't just speculative it's not just mere opinions. Dying in your sins is a serious thing. There isn't some second chance. There isn't some next life to get out of those sins.

These men knew exactly what jesus was saying. If you die in your sins you die under the wrath and judgment of god the holy god that they themselves they knew isaiah 6 they saw they knew the temple vision of isaiah where yahweh is sitting holy holy holy surrounded by the cherubim and seraphim.

When you die in your sins there is no hope. Therefore i said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless i hear if there is any room for all the works of men men's gospels unless you were to crawl up stairs on your knees unless you do all these religious deeds give this particular money go on and save the whole land.

Here's where you fit it all in but the lord leaves no room to fit it all. You will die in your sins unless unless you believe. But it doesn't stop. We do no one any good when we just say believe because you see christian faith always has a very clear object believe what there is content to saving faith.