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We're thankful, Father, for your Bible, for preserving it down over all these many, many years, and giving us the freedom to read it and meditate on it and apply it to our lives.
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And when we think about faith, Lord, faith is often many things that we don't see, but we trust you, our
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Father, and we trust your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our guide.
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He is our light along the paths. He walks with us.
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He stays with us. He promised never, never, never to leave us. So we commit this book to you,
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Lord, as we commit ourselves, our lives to you this day. For Christ's sake, amen.
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Well, let's turn, then, our Bibles, please, to John chapter 8. It's our intention to complete our study of this eighth chapter of the
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Gospel of John, in which we have recorded the fifth discourse of our
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Lord Jesus. That's five out of seven discourses that are recorded in this
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Gospel. We have already read of the tension between Jesus and the
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Jewish leaders. That tension has been present and even increasing as this chapter has unfolded.
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Last week, we read of the Lord Jesus openly and forthrightly charging these men with their wickedness for failing and refusing to hear
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Him and believe on Him as He taught the people. He declared to them that their inability to understand
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His words was due to the fact they were not of God. A person has to be of God in order to understand
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God's words. They were not of God. And Jesus declared that God was
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His Father, but the devil was their father. Their attitudes, actions, opinions, intentions mirrored that of the devil.
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But today, we continue to consider this hostile exchange between Jesus and these unbelieving
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Jewish men, and it culminates, really, in the clearest assertion by Jesus that He is eternal
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God in these verses before us. It's important that we understand the entire context, however, and so we want to begin reading once again the passage we've been considering for several weeks, but then we're going to continue through the end of the chapter.
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And so beginning with verse 30 of John chapter 8, we're reading here out of the New King James Version translation.
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As He, Jesus, spoke these words, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to those
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Jews who believed Him, If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
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They answered Him, We are Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone.
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How can You say You will be made free? And Jesus answered them,
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Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever.
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That was His declaration that they were only going to be around temporarily. He was bringing an end to their rule.
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But a son abides forever, and therefore if the son makes you free, you should be free indeed.
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I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.
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I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father. They answered and said to Him, Abraham is our father.
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Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham, but now you seek to kill
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Me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
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You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to Him, We were not born of fornication.
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We have one Father, God. And Jesus said to them, If God were your
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Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, and nor have
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I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech?
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Because you are not able to listen to My word. You have your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.
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He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
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When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
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But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin?
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And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears
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God's words, therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. We've covered this up till now, and now we'll continue.
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Then the Jews answered and said to Him, Do we not say rightly that You are a
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Samaritan and have a demon? And Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor
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My Father, and you dishonor Me, and I do not seek My own glory. There is
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One who seeks and judges most assuredly. I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death.
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Then the Jews said to Him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead in the prophets, and you say, if anyone keeps
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My word, he shall never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?
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And the prophets are dead. Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered,
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If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your
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God. Yet you've not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say
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I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep
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His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.
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Then the Jews said to Him, You are not yet fifty years old. Have you seen Abraham?
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Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was,
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I am. And then they took up stones to throw at him.
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But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
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It would seem it was a miraculous departure through the midst of them. There is little new in the passage that we have just read that we haven't considered in earlier portions of this gospel.
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But what we do read and consider may improve our understanding of these matters, perhaps enhance our appreciation of the truths that all
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Christians believe, embrace, affirm, and proclaim. We could consider this passage in any number of ways, but I thought for our purposes we would consider the passage with regard to Jesus and the relationships that are reflected in this passage.
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And so Jesus is set forth in His relationship with Abraham. He is set forth in His relationship with these unbelieving
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Jews who rejected Him, desired to murder Him. He's set forth in His relationship to His Father.
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And then also, it's not overt, but it's there, it's clear, He is in also relationship with His true disciples, including you and I, we who believe and follow
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Him as our Lord and Savior. And so we will work through a number of verses, one after another, but we want to do it under the headings of these various relationships.
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And so let's first consider Jesus and Abraham. One of the main characters in this passage is
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Abraham, even though it's 2 ,000 years after Abraham lived. In these verses, his name is mentioned 11 times.
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That's pretty prominent. The fact is, of course, Abraham was held in the highest esteem by the
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Jewish people. He was their progenitor, the leader, the founder of their race, as it were.
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Abraham knew God. He talked with God. He was a friend of God. And to be in family relationship with Abraham was viewed as being in relationship with the
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God of Abraham. Abraham was their father, or so they claimed. These Jews who were so vehemently opposed to Jesus had great confidence in their standing with God because they were the physical descendants of Abraham.
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That's where their confidence lies. They said to Jesus, in verse 33, we are
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Abraham's descendants. And they reasserted that in verse 39. Abraham is our father.
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And so to these Jews, there was no one greater than Abraham. No one could be. So they challenged the
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Lord Jesus, assuming that no man could be greater than Abraham. And so in verse 53, they asked the question, are you greater than our father
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Abraham who is dead? And the way they explained the question, they were implying there's no way in the world you could possibly legitimately claim that you're greater than Abraham.
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And so it was really a challenge. They weren't inquiring because they wanted to know. They were rejecting him.
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Well, Jesus acknowledged that these Jews were the physical offspring of Abraham. He said to them in verse 37,
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I know that you're Abraham's descendants. But in reality, it was Jesus who was in relationship with Abraham, not they.
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Jesus declared of Abraham, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw and was glad.
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Jesus declared that Abraham knew of him and that he saw my day. And he rejoiced in that vision of Christ and his work.
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Abraham and Jesus had a relationship. Abraham and these Jewish leaders did not have a relationship.
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That's what Jesus is declaring. Now, some have said that Jesus was describing the present state of Abraham in paradise as though Abraham were witnessing
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Jesus speaking to the Jewish leaders in the temple area. But that is not what is being suggested here.
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The use of the past tense verbs indicates that Jesus was speaking of Abraham during his earthly sojourn some 2 ,000 years before the events of John chapter 8.
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It shouldn't be 6. It should be 8. And so in some way, Abraham had seen or foreseen the earthly life and ministry of Jesus, the promised
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Savior. The my day of Jesus' earthly ministry is the promised
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Messiah. Abraham saw that 2 ,000 years before and out of reaction to that sight, that foresight, he was glad.
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He rejoiced. And so our Lord was saying that Abraham had seen him in his incarnation, his day.
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How is this possible? How is this done? Well, it can be said that Abraham saw the incarnate life of Jesus in the promise that God had given to Abraham, repeatedly given to him.
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It was Abraham's highest interest and greatest delight. As one once wrote of Abraham's desire and delight in Jesus' seeing or Abraham seeing
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Jesus' day. This excited his, Abraham's interest. It became the subject of his ardent study.
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He meditated on it with delight. He raised himself, as it were, on tiptoe to look over the shoulders of ages to catch a glimpse of it.
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Stretched forward with eagerness and joy to behold it and made use of every light and earnestly prayed for more.
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That was Abraham's attitude and desire to see Jesus and his day.
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In complete contrast to these Jewish leaders who were just the opposite, who had no desire and no delight whatsoever in Jesus.
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But were there more specific ways that Abraham saw the day of Jesus' incarnation? Matthew Hendry.
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And I really appreciated Matthew Hendry's commentary. And we're going to refer to him a number of times this morning.
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He wrote, answered this question in this way. God told him, Abraham, of a land that he would give as posterity and of the wealth and honor he designed them, designed for them.
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But he never, that is Abraham, never leaped to see that day as he did to see the day of the
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Son of Man. He could not look with so much indifference upon the promised seed as he did upon the promised land.
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See, he couldn't look in a different way at the coming of Jesus Christ.
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He walked about the land and he was somewhat indifferent to it. He lived as a stranger dwelling in tents.
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But to the other he could not be contentedly a stranger. We read of that in Hebrews 11.
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He was a stranger in the earth. Note, those who rightly know anything of Christ cannot but be earnestly desired to know more of Him.
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Those who discern the dawning of the light of the Son of Righteousness cannot but wish to see His rising.
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The mystery of redemption is that which angels desire to look into, much more should we who are more immediately concerned in it.
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Abraham desired to see Christ's day though it was at a great distance. But this degenerate seed of His, in other words the
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Jews that Jesus was speaking with, discerned not His day nor bade it welcome when it came.
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The period of Christ which gracious souls, that is those who are saved by grace, love and long for, carnal hearts dread and loathe.
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Secondly, the satisfaction Abraham had in what he did see of it he saw it and was glad.
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Observe here how God gratified the pious desire of Abraham. He longed to see
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Christ's day and he saw it. Though he saw it not so plainly and fully and distinctly as we now see it under the
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Gospel, yet he saw something of it more afterwards than he did at first. But how did
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Abraham see Christ's day? Some understand it of the sight he had of it in the other world, in other words, from paradise, observing
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Jesus in the temple with these Jews. The separate soul of Abraham when the veil of flesh was rent saw the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
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But it's more commonly understood of some sight he had of Christ's day in the world. They that received not the promises yet saw them afar off.
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Again, a reference to Hebrews 11. Christ knew what Abraham saw better than Moses did.
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But there are divers or different things recorded in which Abraham saw more of that which he longed to see than he did when the promise was first made to him.
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He saw in Melchizedek one made like unto the Son of God. Statement in Hebrews.
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And a priest forever. He saw in the piers of Jehovah attended with two angels in the plains of Mamre, speaking of God on his way to Sodom to destroy it.
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In the prevalency of his intercession for Sodom, he saw a specimen of Christ's intercession.
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In the casting out of Ishmael and the establishment of the covenant with Isaac, he saw a figure of the gospel day, which is
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Christ's day, for these things were an allegory. Paul set forth in Galatians 3 and 4.
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In offering Isaac and the ram instead of Isaac, he saw a double type of the great sacrifice.
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And his calling the place Jehovah Jireh, it shall be seen, intimates that he saw something more in it than others did, which time would produce.
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And in making his servant put his hand under his thigh when he swore he had a great regard to the
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Messiah. And so although Abraham was a man who lived 2 ,000 years before the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth to secure the salvation of his people,
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Abraham saw his day through faith and rejoiced in its prospect.
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Jesus had a relationship with Abraham, and Abraham had a relationship with Jesus. It was all, of course, through faith that Abraham saw his day.
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But now in contrast to this relation that Abraham had with Jesus and Jesus with Abraham, let's consider the relationship that Jesus had with these unbelieving
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Jews. This is an incredible account. How opposite can two parties be?
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It would seem that the conflict between Jesus and the Jews could not have become more intense than what we have played out before us in this passage of John chapter 8.
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There is simply no common ground between them, and Jesus made it quite clear that these leaders of the
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Jewish people were strangers to the truth of God. They were wrong in everything they thought and everything they claimed.
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Although they claimed to be the closest associates of God, who represented Him and His will before the world,
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Jesus set them apart from God as ignorant, errant, and estranged from God because they did not know and believe on Jesus for who
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He is in truth. They could not possibly know and believe in the true God who is the
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Father of Jesus. It's just incredible how deceived people can be with regard to spiritual things, and yet so confident, so assured, that they were right with God and they knew
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God. Jesus told them they were actually slaves of sin who were in need of being set free, a freedom that only
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He could bring them. And although the Jews were the physical children of Israel, it brought no spiritual benefit to them.
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This was evident because they sought to kill Jesus. They refused to see any value or legitimacy in the words that Jesus spoke to them.
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Although they claimed that God was their Father, Jesus told them their claim was a false one. If God were their
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Father, they would love Him, for He had proceeded and come forth from God. Anybody who claims to love
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God but does not love Jesus Christ is deceived and is a liar, according to Jesus.
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He was sent by God to give them His Word, but they could not understand Him or His words for the devil was their
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Father who has no truth in Him. Nor did they or could they understand Jesus because they were as their
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Father the devil in their attitude, character, and their desire to kill Him. And so our
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Lord's denunciation and repudiation of these Jewish leaders only incensed them further toward Him.
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They challenged Jesus and His claims as unreasonable and nonsensical. I can just imagine their blood pressure just about ready to blow.
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After our Lord had told them that they would not hear Him because they were not of God, their reaction was one of accusation and derision.
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Verse 48, Then the Jews answered and said to Him, Do we not say rightly that You are a
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Samaritan and have a demon? Incredible. The Son of God.
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You're a Samaritan. You have a demon. Of course, the Jews regarded the Samaritans as the enemies of God and the enemies of God's people.
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Samaritans claimed they were the true people of God and the Jews weren't. And here
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Jesus is declaring to these Jews, You're not the people of God. You must be a Samaritan. Even though they knew
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He was a Galilean, they accused Him of being a Samaritan at heart. And, of course, this accusation of these
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Jews was a total insult and total dismissal of Jesus and His Word. It was their desire, of course, and effort to discredit
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Jesus before everybody. The Samaritans were ones who commonly claimed and taught
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Jews were not the true people of God. And this is what Jesus was saying here in this temple setting.
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Jesus is somewhat like the Samaritans in that He also declared these leading Jews were not among the people of God.
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They did not know God. It's no wonder that they called Him a Samaritan. The Jews believed what
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Jesus was asserting in teaching was Satanic. How wrong could you be in your assessment of spiritual matters?
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The teaching of Jesus was Satanic. He was demon -possessed.
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And when Jesus accused before the people that the Jewish leaders were plotting to kill Him, we read the people answered and said, you have a demon.
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This was a common accusation back in John 7. Later in John 10, in reaction to the content of His teaching, we read, therefore there is a division again among the
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Jews because of these saints. And many of them said, He has a demon and is mad. It was a common opinion and assertion of the
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Jews. Jesus is demon -possessed. Incredible.
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Why do you listen to Him? And then of course we read in the Synoptic Gospels similar things.
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Well, He's only casting out demons by the prince of the demons, Beelzebub. Really, when the
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Jewish leaders were accusing Jesus of being both a Samaritan and demon -possessed, it was their way of accusing
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Jesus of being a heretic. What is a heretic by definition?
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A heretic is a person who believes a doctrine that's so far in error from biblical doctrine that it renders him or her outside of biblical salvation.
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That's what a heretic is. It's not just someone who is wrong or errant about doctrine.
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This person is wrong and errant about something essential to salvation.
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A refusal to believe in the Trinity is a heretical position.
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It's heresy. They were accusing Jesus of heresy. They were accusing
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Jesus of being outside of any possible salvation for Himself. They were thinking in those terms.
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This is another example by the way of a subtle, but it's there, Johannine irony.
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They claimed that it was impossible for Jesus to obtain salvation when in fact
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He's the very author and source of salvation. The contrast could not be greater and more stark.
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These Jewish leaders, Jewish people, could not have been more wrong than they were.
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This is common to religionists throughout the world. We read of our Lord's reaction to their charge in verse 49.
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Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. It would seem that our
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Lord calmly answered their charge. As one said, let us note our Lord's calmness and equanimity under insult.
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Notice the Lord denied forthrightly that He was possessed or motivated or inspired by a demon to do what
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He did, teach what He taught. Here are the comments of Donald Carson on this, an excellent commentator.
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But Jesus denies He is demon possessed. His claims and behaviors are not the fruit of arrogance, dementia,
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Samaritanism, or the occult, but simply of obedience to His Father. By saying and doing always and only what the
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Father gives Him to say and do, He honors the Father. By refusing to respond positively to those same words and deeds,
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His hearers dishonor Him, and therefore the One who sent Him. These Jewish leaders thought that they were the privileged foremost people of God in God's world, and they were dishonoring the very
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One they claimed to represent and serve. Notice our
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Lord did not deny the charge of being a Samaritan. He denied the charge of being demon possessed, but He didn't bother denying the charge that He was one of those despicable
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Samaritans. Why didn't He answer that accusation? Well, it doesn't say, but that hasn't prevented commentators from suggesting why
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He did not deny Himself being a Samaritan. Perhaps He did not do so, for He did not believe to be a
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Samaritan was that bad of a charge. After all, when He came through there not long before, they all responded to Him.
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Remember? It probably didn't bother Him at this point, being accused of being a
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Samaritan. They believed on Him, rejoiced in Him, and He and His disciples dwelt among them.
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Matthew, Henry, again, wrote of Jesus not answering the charge that He was a Samaritan. He takes no notice of their calling
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Him a Samaritan because it was a calumny that disproved itself.
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It was a personal reflection and not worth taking notice of, but saying He had a devil reflected on His commission, and therefore
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He answered that. And then Henry calls upon St.
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Augustine in the 5th century. Calvin mentioned him too, by the way. He gives this gloss upon His not saying anything to their calling
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Him a Samaritan that He was indeed that good Samaritan spoken of in the parable. And so, you know,
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Jesus didn't mind being called a Samaritan. He was as that good Samaritan in the parable.
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Our Lord's denial that He was demon -possessed was based on the fact that His desires and efforts were completely opposite to that which a demon would desire.
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Jesus said, I don't have a demon, but I honor My Father. Demons don't honor God. They don't desire to honor
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God. It is ludicrous to make the accusation He was motivated and empowered by a demon.
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Satan and demons are opposed to bringing glory to God. But glorifying His Father was the very beat of His heart, the longing of His soul.
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I'm not demon -possessed. I'm seeking to glorify God. Nothing more inconsistent or opposite.
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But then Jesus added this dig. I do not have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor
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Me. If anyone is playing the demoniac here, it was they, not
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He. And there's some sarcasm here, it would seem, on the part of Jesus. Jesus was saying,
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I am honoring, you are dishonoring. The implication is not I have no demon meaning, but you have.
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They were the ones of the devil. No common ground here. Jesus was implying by His response to these
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Jewish leaders that the only way to truly honor God was to honor Him. For as He stated,
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He Himself was God, even the Son of God. And so as another commentator wrote, as the representative of the
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Father, dishonoring Jesus is equivalent to dishonoring God. Jesus makes this clear as recorded earlier in the
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Gospel. In essence, their claim against Jesus is self -refuting. The moment they raised their accusatory finger toward Jesus, they accused the very
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God they wrongly thought they were serving and defending. But even when
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He accused these men of not honoring Him, He made it clear He didn't care. That wasn't
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His concern to be honored by them. Verse 50 reads, I do not seek my own glory.
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There is one who seeks and judges. Our Lord had no interest, no concern or desire to be honored by these men.
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He said, you don't honor Me, therefore you don't honor My Father. But He didn't care whether or not they honored
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Him. That was immaterial. He was only concerned about His Father honoring Him. There's a good lesson for you and me, right?
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As long as He could enjoy His Father's approval and praise that He had been a faithful Son. As F .F.
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Brutes always liked Him, appreciated Him. He died, I think, in 1990.
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It is His Father's glory that Jesus seeks to promote by obediently delivering
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His message. He is not concerned for His own reputation. He can trust
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His Father to care of that. And in fact, He, above all others, receives the glory that comes from the only
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God. He need not be disturbed by the adverse judgment of those who cannot judge righteously because they judge according to outward appearance.
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So long as He enjoys His Father's approval, He is well and content. And there's some good lessons for you and me as Christians.
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If we live faithfully before others, making known the Word of Christ, we can expect similar reactions and unjust accusations to that which was heaped upon our
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Lord. Do not be unduly concerned about what others think of you.
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If you're truly seeking the glory of God, the Lord Jesus told His disciples this was their lot in this fallen world.
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This is your lot when you represent Christ rightly. It's enough,
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Jesus said, it's enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If they've called the master of the house
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Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household?
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So have no fear of them for nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.
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But there are, of course, people and people who stand forth and claim to represent God that they're very fearful of what people think of them.
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And it would seem that's what drives them and shapes what they say and what they don't say before the people because they're concerned with a fear of man rather than a fear of God.
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They desire the approval of man rather than the approval of God. And you're not going to find a faithful man that is governed in that way.
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Our Lord was confident of His future vindication from these spurious accusations. Again, verse 50,
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I do not seek my own glory. There's one who seeks and judges. If you've been wronged by others when you've actually sought to do good, your good
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God will vindicate you in His own way, in His own time. Don't let that trouble you.
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You're only going through what your Lord went through Himself. He may vindicate you in this life or He may do so in the day of judgment.
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But we may be settled that no unjust charge leveled against us will go uncorrected by our
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Lord who stands with and for His people. And I want you to take note of this. Although our
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Lord was not concerned about His own glory, for He knew that His Father would vindicate Him, He is concerned for your glory.
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You think about that if you belong to Him. He told the Christians at the
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Church of Philadelphia, Indeed, I'll make those of the synagogue of Satan, and He's referring to probably
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Jewish people, Jewish opposers of Christianity here, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie.
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Indeed, I'll make them come and worship before your feet to know that I have loved you. The Lord Jesus is not concerned about His own honor.
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He's concerned about His Father's honor, and He's concerned about your honor, your glory.
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He's going to see to it you're glorified on that day. No unjust action or word that's ever been leveled with you is going to go uncorrected.
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And therefore, knowing that, we can patiently wait, right? He will vindicate us in His own time, in His own way.
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Then we read our Lord's words that He expressed in verse 51, Most assuredly I say to you, if anyone keeps
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My word, he shall never see death. We'll say more of this a little later. Only to say now, the
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Lord was speaking past His disparagers. Now think, He's in the temple, He's in the court of the women, there's a large crowd, and the
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Jewish leaders are right in front of Him, engaging Him, but there were other people in the crowd, and verse 30 says many of them believed on Him.
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And Jesus, here in verse 51, is speaking beyond these ones that are opposed to Him, trying to connect and inform and encourage those people that believed on Him.
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And that's what verse 51 is all about. Most assuredly I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death.
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But when these Jewish leaders heard these words, it just further solidified the thinking and their opposition to Him.
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We read in verses 52 and 53, The Jews said to Him, Abraham, now we know that you have a demon. This confirms it.
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You say if a person keeps Your word, they will never see death. You're a demon possessed to make such a claim.
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Abraham is dead, the prophets also, but you say if anyone keeps My word, they'll never taste death.
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Are you greater than our father Abraham? An absurdity. They weren't asking the question to learn or understand.
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This was an accusation. Abraham's dead, the prophets are dead, who do you make yourself out to be is basically what they're saying.
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Calvin wrote on these detractors, the reprobate persist in their stupidity and are not moved by promises any more than by threatenings so that they can neither be led nor drawn to Christ.
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These people were intractable. The Jews gave an argument that they had completely discredited
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Jesus. The best of the men of God in history, Abraham and the prophets are dead, but you say if anyone keeps your word, they'll never die.
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Are you therefore claiming to be greater than they were to make such a claim or promise? Who do you think you are?
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Who do you make yourself out to be? And so these men were beyond disgusted listening to this man's furious claims and statements.
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Again, F .F. Bruce described the setting. Jesus' opponents in the debate continued to display what the readers are intended to recognize as crass, literal mindedness.
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What F .F. Bruce is saying there is the readers of the gospel have insight into what's really going on.
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While the readers know that the death of the body, a matter of small importance in Johannine thinking, is not what is meant, the opponents suppose that it is.
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Abraham heard the word of God, obeyed it, yet Abraham died. The word of God came to the prophets of Israel and they delivered it faithfully to their contemporaries, and yet the prophets also died.
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If the word of God did not preserve them from dying, those who heard it and kept it, how can the word of this man serve as medicine against death?
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If he believes that, they reason he's the victim of an illusion and a demoniac illusion at that.
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I hope you get an understanding just how polar opposites this situation was.
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And again, as Jesus is trying to engage these guys, he's really trying to minister to these would -be disciples standing in the background.
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It had to have been a difficult setting. Jesus declared it was not his own honor that he was desiring.
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Besides, if he had tried to obtain honor for himself, it wouldn't amount to anything great. Jesus answered, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing.
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People who try to honor themselves and gain honor, you really don't respect them, do you?
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When you see it played out in the world, it's just not that attractive. He's basically saying it would mean nothing if I sought honor for myself.
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What he's concerned about is it's my father that honors me, of whom you say he's your
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God. And so here the Lord speaks of the most personal, intimate relationship between himself and his father.
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He is a dutiful and loving son who desires and delights in the approval of his father. And the father on his part loves his son and desires to see all honor conferred on his son and for that honor to be recognized and acknowledged by all.
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And of course, one day, that will be realized to the great pleasure of God the Father when he sees his son honored by all.
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Paul expressed it. God has highly exalted him. And the day is coming when every tongue shall confess, every knee bow, that Jesus Christ is
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Lord to the glory of the Father. The one who's going to be most pleased by that is the father when his son is glorified by all.
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So on the one hand, the son will be most glorified on that day when he exercises his righteous judgment on the human race.
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And he gives over to his father this creation fully and finally subordinated to his father's will once again.
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On the other hand, the father will be most glorified when he sees his son glorified before and by all on that day.
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The glory of Jesus Christ will be unto the glory of God the Father. God the Father rejoices in the glory given to his son.
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His son rejoices in that he is giving glory to his father. But then we read of our
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Lord Jesus declaring forthrightly to those Jewish leaders their abject ignorance and error in their claim to know
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God as Father. Verse 55, Yet you've not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say
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I do not know Him, I should be a liar like you. But I do know Him and keep His word.
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He not only knew the Father, but secondly, He kept His Father's word.
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Both matters are of importance. He knew God the Father because of His own divine nature in that He is the
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Son of God from eternity. In a sense, only Jesus Christ did know
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God the Father because He is infinite in His divine nature as the Father is infinite in His person.
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Their one essence, of course. But He also knew God in His human nature through keeping
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His Father's word. As the Lord Jesus obeyed His Father growing up in His human nature,
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His understanding and knowledge of God the Father increased. I believe it's
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Luke 2, 52 that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature with God and man.
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As one wrote, Jesus' claim to know God is founded not only on His being from eternity the
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Son of the Father, but also on His perfect obedience to His Father's will. Disobedience is a bar to the knowledge of God and knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life.
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I know Him and keep His word are two distinctive correlative clauses, but there is an underlying implication.
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I know Him because I keep His word. If eternal life is to know God, it is made equally plain here that to keep
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His word as communicated through His Son is the way to eternal life. What does
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Jesus make Himself out to be? That which He essentially is, the living and life -giving
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Word. So understand what's being said here. To know
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God is not just to believe on Him for who He is, but to know
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God is to obey God and then God reveals Himself more fully to you.
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We already covered verse 56 when Jesus declared, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day.
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He saw it and was glad. Apparently there was an old
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Jewish commentary that made this statement based on, it was a comment on Genesis 15 -18 where God entered covenant relationship with Abraham.
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And Alfred Edersheim mentioned this in his volume. We read in a commentary on the opening words of Genesis 15 -18 that when
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God made the covenant with Abraham, He revealed to him both his olam, that's the Hebrew word for age or day, and the olam to come which latter expression is correctly explained as referring to the days of the
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Messiah. Jewish tradition therefore asserts exactly what
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Jesus stated in these words. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day and he saw it and was glad.
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And yet we know what storm of indignation the enunciation of it called forth among the Jews. God revealed
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Himself and He revealed Jesus and His day to Abraham. The Jewish leaders reacted to our
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Lord's words with incredulity. Then the Jews said to Him, You are not yet fifty years old and you've seen
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Abraham. Jesus didn't claim that He saw Abraham. Now He did. He was one of the three that came to Abraham on their way down to Sodom.
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But He didn't say that He saw Abraham. He said Abraham saw Him. They turned it about.
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They're seeing things only through physical eyes. They're not spiritual in any way whatsoever. Some have argued because of this statement
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Jesus must have appeared much older than He really was. He was probably 33 or 34 years of age at this time.
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You're not 50 years of age. But it may have just been a reference, you know, you're not an old man yet.
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And yet you claim to have seen Abraham. But then the reaction of the
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Jews brought forth our Lord's response. In verse 58, Jesus said to them, Most assuredly
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I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. He didn't say before Abraham was,
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I was. Before Abraham was, I am. We've already considered a number of the
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I am statements in John's Gospel. And we're going to consider more. And each of those, again, the ego, the personal pronoun in Greek, ego,
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I, a me, I am, is an allusion to God in the burning bush revealing
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Himself to Moses. And when Jesus here makes the claim before Abraham was,
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I am, Jesus is claiming to be Jehovah God who appeared to Abraham.
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You and I, again, have seen a number of I am statements. And when the Jews heard that, they were kind of puzzled,
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I think. They didn't, surely He's not implying that. But He was. But here, there was no confusion, was there?
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It's a clear statement of Jesus' claim that He is eternal
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God. And so the Jews wouldn't stand for this blasphemy.
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We read in verse 59, they took up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
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Where'd they get the stones? Well, the temple was being rebuilt still over the course of many decades.
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There was probably rubble laying around. And I can just envision, as they are all rushing to pick up rocks to stone
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Him, He slips out. But He does it in a way where they don't know where He went, how
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He went. It was a miraculous departure. And the reason He departed that way, of course, because His hour had not yet come.
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It wouldn't come for another six months or so. We'll just say a quick word about God and His relationship with His Father because we covered much of it already.
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But we have here a presentation of Jesus consistent with Biblical Trinitarian doctrine.
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Islamists accuse us not of being monotheists, and by the way, Jews do too, but rather tritheists.
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We believe in three gods. But we are monotheists. We believe in one
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God. And within that Godhead there are three persons. And we have
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Jesus set forth here as the second person of the Trinity in distinction with the Father, in distinction from the
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Father, and yet there is one essence, I Am, one
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God, multiple persons, three persons, God the
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Father, God the Son, and later in John's Gospel we'll see the Holy Spirit as well. And so one could argue an affirmation of the
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Nicene -Constantinople Creed which states this truth of the
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Blessed Holy Trinity which we affirm today. Now lastly, what about Jesus and his disciples?
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Again, even as our Lord was engaged with this hostile interaction with these
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Jewish leaders, he was attempting to speak past the crowds of these hostile people to those who, the many who had believed on him.
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And he told them, Most assuredly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death.
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This is the same idea he expressed earlier. If you, you know, you believe on me, you're my true disciples if you keep my word, if you abide in my word.
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He's talking about obedience here which is a manifestation of true faith. And he says it here too.
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He who keeps my word shall never see death. A true disciple is one who obeys the
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Lord Jesus. That's what faith does as we read in Hebrews chapter 11. We're not saved because we follow him, but we are saved and that is evidenced by the fact that we follow him.
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That's what true saving faith does. John Calvin wrote concerning this verse in which
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Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death. Christ unquestionably knew that some persons in that multitude were curable and that others of them were not opposed to his doctrine.
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For this reason, he intended to terrify the wicked whose malice was desperate, but to do so in such a manner as to leave ground of consolation for the good or to draw to him those who were not yet ruined.
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Whatever dislike of the word of God, therefore, may be entertained by the greatest part of men, yet the faithful teacher, this is
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Calvin's application, yet the faithful teacher ought not to be wholly employed in reproving the wicked, but ought also to impart the doctrine of salvation to the children of God and endeavor to bring them to sound views, if there be any of them who are not perfectly incurable.
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And in this passage, therefore, Christ promises eternal life to his disciples, but demands disciples who shall not only prick up their ears like asses or profess with a mouth that they approve his doctrine, but who also keep his doctrine as a precious treasure.
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He says that they shall never see death, for when faith quickens the soul of a man, death already has its sting extracted and its venom removed and so cannot inflict a deadly wound.
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Let's close with just a few brief words of application. Give me three minutes.
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As we consider the nature of our Lord's earthly ministry, we see that he was characterized by mercy and compassion on those who were humble and broken, but that he was quite bold and clear in his declaration and denunciation of sin when he met with resistance to his words.
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We cannot have a faithful ministry in this church unless we make a declaration and denunciation of sin.
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I came across this little story by James Montgomery Boyce. He has an expository commentary on John.
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He recounted this story. So we're not surprised to find these leaders taking up stones to try and kill him just a few verses later.
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These words stirred their indignation as Christ knew they would, but they were truth and they had to be said whether or not the men were offended.
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And then Boyce makes the application. It is the same today, of course. For if a desire not to offend men were the measure of what could be taught, little of the teaching of the
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Word of God would be communicated. Years ago, an evangelist went to a little town in Nevada to hold meetings.
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When he met a minister of the church in which the meetings were to be held, he was told, Now, my friend, I want to tell you that there are certain things you must not say here and certain sins about which you must not speak.
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For instance, it would never do for you to talk about divorce. This is the divorce capital of America and many of our people have been married and divorced several times.
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They're sensitive on that issue. You cannot talk about drinking for that's big business here.
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Don't mention gambling. The poor evangelist looked at the minister and asked, Well, of whose sins may
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I speak? Go for the sins of the Paiute Indians, he was told.
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They never go to church anyway. And I wonder how much practice that is in reality in many churches.
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We'll talk about the sins out there. What about the sins in here? This is our chief concern, isn't it?
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That we see our sin and repent of it and be cured, restored.
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The fact is there are churches that don't want clarity of truth proclaimed.
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And I know that firsthand through my years of experience. The head of a search committee told me once over breakfast at a church of about 1 ,500,
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Lars, we're not going to call you here. You've divided our search committee. You've divided our church. And the reason you're a problem,
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Lars, is you make things too clear. And that discredited me from qualification.
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For this church. He was right. And, you know, the church needed to be dealt with in that manner.
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The fact is there are truths according to Boyce. There are truths that need to be stated whether or not men and women are offended.
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Since Jesus knew this, he spoke the truth here. From our point of view, it is good that he did.
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For as a result of it, we have in these few verses the clearest teachings about Satan and of the truth that God is not the father of all men, that all are not brothers, as to be found in John's gospel.
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May the Lord give us courage and clarity. But again, balance.
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Yes, denouncing error, but Jesus' chief concern was to make the gospel known to these people and to encourage them in their faith.
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I included a number of points. Matthew Henry's commentary, he would put in the midst of his commentary a little word of application, and he would preface it by the word note.
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Note, and then he'd give a word of application. And I went through this passage, this commentary on the passage we covered, and he identified 17 notes of application on the various verses.
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We're not going to go through those, but I included those in your notes if you have the inclination and the time to review those.
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There are many practical applications and principles that we can understand in the way that God deals with us, that deals with people in the world through this inner change.
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Fascinating account, not only in what happened, but the way that it is conveyed by the
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Holy Spirit through the hand of John. And next week, we'll come to a new episode and a new manifestation of the glory of Christ in bringing healing to a man.
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Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word, and thank you, Lord, for the manner in which it is set forth and expressed, and we pray that you would help us to take these matters to heart.
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Lord, help us to have these attitudes and concerns that were those of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father, help us to be principally concerned about the honor that you will confer upon us one day as ones who have been faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
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Help us, our Lord, to be courageous, compassionate, but also clear in our pronouncement of the truth of your holy word.
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And we pray, our God, that you would summon those who have ears to hear to respond in faith and repentance to believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.