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October 15, 2023 Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Tullahoma, TN Pastor Jeff Rice
If you will, at this time, join me by taking your copy of the scriptures and turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 8, as we finish considering verses 48 through 59. The Gospel of John, chapter 8, 48 through 59.
O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Lord, I do ask that you, mighty God, speak through me, this broken vessel, and that, God, you remove any sign of me standing here in the flesh. Lord, let me not stand here in boastfulness of what I have come to know, Lord, but allow me, Lord, to stand before your people in weakness, and let it be your Holy Spirit speaking through me to your people, and not just how educated I think I am, Lord.
Lord, let that not be my boast, but let my boast be that you sent your Son to die for me, and Lord, through that Spirit that you have given to me, Lord, speak to your people. Please speak to your people in Christ Jesus' name.
Amen.
So let me begin by reading our text, verses 48 of the Gospel of John, chapter 8, 48 through 59. The Jews answered and said to him, the hymn here is Jesus, do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?
Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me, but I do not seek my glory. There is one who seeks and judges, truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death ever.
The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also, and you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death ever. Surely, you are not greater than our father Abraham, who died.
The prophets died too, whom do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say, he is our God. And you have not known him, but I know him.
And if I say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, you are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?
Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Therefore, they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went away out of the temple. Our theme has been before Abraham.
This man, Jesus, prior to his incarnation, was before, was greater than Abraham. He even visited with Abraham, and Abraham looked forward to seeing the day of Jesus. While Abraham was alive, while he was living, he looked forward and saw the days of Jesus.
As Christians, we are to be monotheist, Trinitarian, and Christ-centered. We are to worship one God. There is only one God, and we are to worship that one God and no other gods. All other gods are false.
They are figments of your imaginations. They are something that you have carved up. They are your magical genie in the bottle, in the bottle, right? Sometimes me and Haps and some of our friends will talk about the build of Jesus or the build of God.
You make God into your own image. Those are false gods. There is only one God, and as Christians, we are to be monotheist. We are to be Trinitarian, and we are to be Christ-centered. And by God, we mean monotheist.
Again, mono is one, theist is God. We are to believe in one God.
That's it.
There's only one. There's only one God. And by God, we mean Trinitarian. We believe that in this one God, that God is one, that there is only one God, and yet in this one God, there is three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And by God, we mean Jesus Christ. We believe that in the Christian life, we are to be Christ-centered. I give that analogy quite often of that dog race, right? As those greyhounds prepare to take off for the run, that rabbit pops up, and it's propelled in front of them, and those dogs are running while looking at the rabbit.
They're looking at the rabbit as they run their race. They're not looking at the other dogs, they're not looking at the cameras, they're not looking at the crowds. Their focus is on the rabbit. And I've mentioned how that is the perfect picture of Christian.
We are to be those greyhounds, and that rabbit to us is to be Christ. And the moment we take our eyes off of Christ, that's when we're not following. That's what John 8, 12 tells us to follow. Jesus says, follow him, because he is the light of the world.
And the moment we take our eyes off of Christ, we are no longer following. The moment the dog takes his eyes off the rabbit, he causes a three-dog pileup, right? He causes other people to stumble as well, and we can do that also in our Christian walk.
Claiming to be a Christian and posting weird stuff, or explicit images on Facebook, right? Or doing something stupid like that, we can cause other people to take their eyes off.
Of Christ.
We are to be Christ-centered. We are to focus on the person and the work of Jesus. Our eyes must be on Christ. If you're a Christian, we don't expect heathens to keep their eyes on Christ. But if you're a Christian, guess where your eyes are supposed to be?
On Christ. They're not supposed to be on me. There's nothing special about me. They're not supposed to be on the person that the mirror reflects back to you. There's nothing special about you. But there is something special about Christ.
And that's what Christians ought to proclaim. Christ, and Christ crucified. Sadly, that is not the reputation that Christians have. Isaiah chapter 43, verses 10 through 11 says this, God speaking, he says, And you are my witnesses, declares Yahweh, and my servant, whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.
He is who?
He is the servant. Let's go back and read that again. You are my witnesses, declares Yahweh, and my servant. So the servant he's pointing to has to be Jesus Christ. Listen, and my servant whom I have chosen, speaking of the Messiah, so that you may know and believe me, me here being Yahweh, speaking of the Father, and understand that I am he.
He is who? He is the servant. Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Before me there was no God formed, and there will be none after me. Your build of Jesus doesn't work. Your build of God is not of God.
Your structuring him into this nice, gentle, cuddly teddy bear is not the God of Scripture. He says, I, even I, am Yahweh, and there is no Savior besides me. Ladies and gentlemen, who's the Savior? Jesus Christ.
Yahweh says that he is sending us a servant, and we are to know and understand that he is the servant and the only Savior. Monotheist Trinitarian Christ-centered.
Are you a Christian?
That's what we're to be focused on. Jesus Christ is our Savior. I believe one of the main purposes of this gospel is to show the deity of Jesus that Jesus is the Son of God, and that Jesus is the Son of Man.
By deity, we mean that Jesus is God, right? We done clearly spelt that out. Jesus is God. He's the second person of the Trinity. By the Son of Man, I mean by the Son of God, we believe, let's just break it down in the Nicene Creed, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made.
Jesus created all things according to the Scriptures. All things were created through him. He's the one who came to exegete to us the Father. No one has ever seen God, John 1, verse 18. The only God who is in the bosom of the Father has come to make him known, and we believe he is the Son of Man, and by Son of Man, we believe Messiah, the promised one, the one who is going to be sent, the one who Isaiah said is my servant, and you are to know and to understand that I am he.
Now, in our outline, we've already looked at three of the four. We're going to see that Jesus meets the requirements of deity. The first point we looked at the first week was salvation was through Jesus Christ alone, and last week we looked at point two and three, which point two was the litmus test of greater according to these Jews, and the third point was the glory is God's alone, and this week we're going to focus on the last point, and that is that Abraham worshipped Jesus, that Abraham worshipped Jesus, and as we transition, once again, in our passage, Jesus is speaking to a group of Jews who was said to believe in him, so let's look at that verse, John chapter eight, verse 30, look at verse 30.
As he was speaking, this is talking about Jesus, Jesus is the he, as he was speaking these things, many believed in him, that these things were, look at verse 12, Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world.
He who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. This is coming off of the Feast of Boots, or the Feast of Tabernacles, however you want to say it, and in this feast, they were remembering the days of their ancestors, their fathers who were in the wilderness, and they remember how God led them in the wilderness by way of a cloud by day, and a fire by night, and on this last day, this day they were in, well the day after the day they were in, they would light these huge torches, these big old pillars of fire that if you could see it would be so glorious, right, like this was a spectacle for them year after year, they would light these lights as a way to remember how God led them out of the wilderness, and as they're taking these torches down, Jesus says that He is the light of the world, and that whoever follows Him will never walk in darkness, and that's why I bring up that dog race, the moment we take our eyes off of Jesus, we're not following Him, we're not following Him, and He says that unless you believe that I am He, He is who, the I am, Yahweh, the one who leads His people out of darkness, right, the same way that God led them in the wilderness by way of a cloud in the day and a fire by night, Jesus is saying unless you believe that I am Him, God, who leads you, you're going to die in your sins.
To die in your sins means that there is no sacrifice for you. You know, the whole saying that Jesus died for everyone. He says if you do not believe that He is Him, God, then you die in your sins. There is no sacrifice for you, and right here it says, and many believed Him.
So He is speaking to people who were said to believe in Him, and I named them believing unbelievers, believing unbelievers, that the seed of the gospel did not fall on good soil. So as Jesus is preaching this message, He was talking about it earlier, casting seed.
When we witness to someone, we're casting seed. Either we're casting seed or we're watering seed. That's what we do when we witness. You're either casting the seed or you're watering the seed. God gives the growth.
Now according to this, immediately after He says this, they begin to bicker. They begin to not believe. They begin to question what Jesus says, and we'll look at that here in a minute. So that means that the soil was not good soil.
And in the parable of the soil, it talks about some that fell on the roadside, some that fell into the thorns, and some that fell among the rocks. And you know this as well as I do, you cannot have a good crop come up on the side of the road.
You can walk outside here, and as you leave the sidewalk onto the concrete, there's grass just popping up out of the cracks. Can you imagine getting some good fruit out of that? There's no depth. If you were to cast seed out there, birds would come and eat it up, and that's what the Bible says, but it tells us that the birds are the devil.
As we throw the seed, the bird comes and it snatches it up. And so that's what I believe takes place here because it happens so fast. Immediately after He says this, those who were said to believe, we see that they truly don't believe.
Over the last two weeks, we saw that salvation was in Christ alone. For no one can be saved, can be rescued by any other way. For anyone to be saved, for anyone to be rescued, it is through what God has done for us in Christ on that cross.
And I don't know how many times I've mentioned this, that while Jesus was on that cross, the wrath of God and the mercy of God met. The wrath of God that you and I deserve for breaking His law for sinning fell on Jesus, and the mercy of God that none of us deserve, especially me, I don't deserve it, comes to me by repenting and putting my faith in Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us that repentance is granted to us, and that faith is the gift of God. Somehow this group of Jews believed. The same word, pastuo, the Greek word pastuo, there's nothing more special about when it says a false believer pastuo'd than a true believer pastuo'd.
It's the same word. The only difference is, was that faith given to them? And to that I say no. I say no, because if it was given to them, that means it's the gift of God, and they'll never lose it. And as we see in this text, they had faith, they pastuo'd, but they did not truly believe.
It's the idea that someone can profess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, and not believe in their heart the theology of Jesus, that Jesus Christ died on that cross for our sins, that three days later He rose from the grave, and that He ascended into heaven, and He sits at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning, putting all of His enemies under His feet.
You can't believe one without the other. You cannot believe that Jesus is Lord without believing that Jesus is God. He lived a life we couldn't live. He took the punishment that we deserve on that cross.
He rose from the dead three days later. He ascended into heaven, and He rules, and He reigns, and He's coming again. That's the truth of Christ. That's the gospel. We saw that these believing unbelievers blasphemed Jesus by calling Him, Jesus, a Samaritan.
And they blasphemed the Holy Spirit by saying that Jesus had a demon. Jesus made it clear, you can blaspheme Him and be forgiven. So by them saying that He was a Samaritan, basically running His mom through the mud, saying that His mom cheated on Joseph with a satyrian, they can be forgiven for that.
But by saying Jesus had a demon, by saying that the spirit that Jesus operated was not the spirit of God but a demon from hell, you cannot be forgiven of that. They went from believing, having pastuo faith, to blaspheming the Holy Spirit, never to be forgiven.
There will be no sacrifice for their sins. We saw Jesus is indeed greater than Abraham and the prophets, and that even though Jesus died on the cross, Jesus through the power of God rose on the third day.
I spoke of how His resurrection was the first fruits, and that in the same way that Jesus rose from the dead, so too you and I, Abraham and the prophets, will one day rise from the dead. That our resurrection will be what will be our conforming to His image.
That's what's so dangerous about full preterism. If Jesus Christ truly didn't rise from the dead bodily, and He's in heaven now with the body, and that our resurrection is just spiritual, and we're not going to truly rise from the dead, then you will never be conformed to the image of Christ.
There's never going to be that day where you are conformed to His image. Our being conformed to the image of Christ will be at our resurrection. We have seen how the ministry of Jesus was done for the glory of God the Father, and how Jesus did not come seeking glory that comes from men, but the glory that comes from above, and that glory was His resurrection.
And if I was to add anything to that last point, it would be this. Listen, ladies and gentlemen. We all have ministries, right? Listen. Imagine what our ministries would look like if we did not seek the glory that comes from man, but that we sought the glory that comes from above.
Imagine that. I am so convicted, so convicted. Imagine if I was doing ministry seeking the glory that comes from above. What does that look like? Resurrection, being conformed to the image of Christ. Well, how does that happen?
By looking to Jesus Christ, staying in that light, following Him. Can I admit to you that I don't do that as well as I should? Can I admit to you that sometimes in ministry I'm seeking the pat on the back?
I wish I didn't. That was my prayer today, that I wouldn't stand up here in my flesh. And can I tell you, I feel like a part of me still is in the flesh. Like if I'm honest, right? If I'm honest, you know how great it feels to step down from the pulpit and hear, man, that was a good message when I shouldn't seek it.
But let me tell you something, it feels good to hear it, right? Hallelujah. Like I want someone to say, well, man, you said something today that just revived me, Jeff. It revived me. I want to hear that.
Listen, I want to hear it, but I want to be able to say to God be the glory, great things He has done, who loved me so much that He sent us His son. Like I want to, I want to, whatever glory that's given to me, I want it to reflect the same way that the moon, that the sun gives the light to the moon, right?
The moon is only a reflection of the sun. I want that as that glory comes to me, just reflect and just be given to Jesus Christ. That's what I want. But can I tell you that doesn't always happen? If I'm honest, please be praying for me.
Point number four, Adam worshiped Jesus. This is taken from verses 56 to 59. In two weeks, we're going to begin a series called Revive Us Again. It's going to take anywhere from 14 to 18 messages, and then we'll be back into the book of John.
As we focus on our last point for this section of scripture, as we end John 8, we're going to be looking at verses 56 through 59. Now, before we walk through these verses, let us look at how this last section in chapter 8 came about.
I want us to remember, again, that these were believers in some capacity in Jesus. They were not true believers, but the text does say that they believed in Him, does it not? We cannot remove that. So let's read from verse 30 to verse 47, just to give us context of what has taken place.
I'm going to try not to give any commentary, which I'm not promising anything. Let's go for it. Verse 30 of chapter 8, and as He was speaking these things, many believed in Him. So Jesus was saying, I already see I'm going to fail.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in Him, if, notice the conditional statements as we go through this, if you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciple, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
They answered Him, we are Abraham's seed and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say that you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave to sin.
As we walk through this, we looked at this in light of living in sin, that there's a difference between committing a sin and living in sin. First John tells us that if we say that we have no sin, present tense, we are a liar, and the truth is not in us.
This is not saying that you will not sin while you're a Christian, but this is speaking of living in unrepentant sin. If you live in unrepentant sin, guess what you are? A slave to that sin, and you cannot serve two masters.
Verse 35, and the slave does not remain in the house forever. This is pointing back to Abraham's two children, one from Hagar and one from Sarah, the slave versus the promise. The son does not, but the son does remain forever, and if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
I know that you are Abraham's seed, speaking of his physical offspring, yet you are seeking to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with my father, therefore you also do the things which you have heard from your father, and in verse 44, we'll find out who their father is.
They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father, and Jesus said to them, notice the conditional statement, if you are Abraham's children, you would do the deeds of Abraham. Now what did Abraham do?
He worshipped Jesus. He worshipped Jesus, and now God in the flesh is in front of them, and they're about to pick up stones to throw at him, but now you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.
This Abraham did not do. Verse 41, you are doing the deeds of your father. They said to him, we are not, excuse me, we were not born of sexual immorality, but have one father, God. Jesus said to them, notice the conditional statement, if God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and come from God, where I have not come from, I have not even come of myself, but he who sent me.
Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear my word. Verse 44, you are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
Whenever he speaks, whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies, but because I speak the truth, do you not believe me? You do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin?
If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason, you do not hear them, because you are not of God. Man, talking about throwing something out of a wash nest, right?
He's telling these physical descendants of Abraham, these chosen people of God, that they don't know God. In order to be a disciple of Jesus, you must abide in his word. In order to be a child of Abraham, you must do the deeds of Abraham.
In order for God to be your father, you must love Jesus. And in order to hear the word of God, listen, we should hashtag this Calvinism, you must be born of, you must be of God. Unless you're of God, you cannot hear the word of God.
That's what it says. That's what it says. That's what it says. Look at that verse again. Verse 47, he who hears of, he, excuse me, he who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason, you do not hear them, because you are not of God.
Are we making things up, or are we just going to say what it says? Look at verse, so now let's go to our text. Verse 56 through 59. Jesus speaking, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.
So the Jews said to him, you're not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Now just verse 56, Jesus said, your father Abraham, speaking of them being the physical descendants of Abraham, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Question, when did Abraham rejoice to see the day of Jesus?
Now this is going to take some Bible study. Turn with me to Genesis chapter 12. Now I will not give any commentary as I'm about to read. I'm not going to do it, okay, no matter what. I'm not going to give any commentary.
Genesis chapter 12. Let's read verses 1 through 3 and verse 7. And Yahweh said to Abraham, go forth from your land and from your kin and from your father's house to the land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation.
I will bless you and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. Notice that he's speaking to Abraham and not Israel.
He's speaking to Abraham. And all the families of the earth will be blessed. Look at verse 7. Then Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, to your seed I will give this land. Now turn over a few pages to chapter 15.
Chapter 15, we'll read verses 1 through 6. After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision saying, do not fear Abram. I am a shield to you. Your reward shall be very great. And Abram said, O Lord Yahweh, what will you give me as I go on being childless?
And the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, since you have not given no seed to me, behold, one born in my house is my heir. Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him saying, this one will not be your heir, but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.
And he brought him outside and said, now look towards the heavens and number the stars, if you are able to number them. And he said to him, so shall your seed be. Then he believed in Yahweh and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Now turn with me to Galatians chapter 3. We're going to read verses 1 through, excuse me, 6 through 9. Galatians 3, 6 through 9. Paul writing, just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, so know that those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
And the scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith proclaimed, listen, the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, all the nations will be blessed in you. So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer.
Now look over at verse 16. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say and to seeds as referring to many, but rather referring to one and to your seed that is Christ. Now to take that rat's nest and make it make sense, right?
Now in Galatians 3, 6, where it says just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, this is pointing us to Genesis 15, 5 through 6. God in Genesis 15, 5 through 6 was using the stars of the sky to show Abraham how numerous his descendants would be.
Both physical descendants, those who are naturally born of Abraham, his offspring, and his spiritual descendants, those of us who entered that family by faith in Jesus Christ. So listen, if you are in Christ, and I mentioned this before, if you are in Christ, you were numbered among the stars that night when Abraham looked into the sky.
How powerful is that to know that you were numbered among those stars? Let's look back at Galatians again. I want to just read 7, 8, and 9 to make something to bring something to your mind. Verse 7, So know those are of faith, those are sons of Abraham.
What does that say? So know that those who are of faith, those who are of faith, are sons of Abraham. And the scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaim the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying all the nations of the world, all the nations will be blessed in you.
So then, so then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham. The Gentiles, you and I, who are not of Jewish descent, who are not physical descendants of Abraham, are the spiritual descendants of Abraham by faith in Christ.
Faith in Christ. That is how we were numbered among the stars. Paul interprets that for us. The apostle of Jesus Christ tells us that those who believe in Christ are the spiritual descendants of Abraham.
And when you read Galatians, Galatians gets rid of the physical descendants as being the children of God. No longer are the physical descendants the children of God, but the spiritual descendants, those who have their faith in Christ, they are the children of Abraham.
Verse 8 of Galatians tells us the gospel that was preached to Abraham. So today when I speak about the gospel, I speak about the life, death, burial, resurrection of Jesus. Listen to the gospel in Genesis.
All the nations will be blessed in you. That's the good news. That's the gospel message. If Abraham believed that message, guess what Abraham was? Saved. Saved. In Abraham, all the nations will be blessed.
The question is, is how are the nations, how is the nations of all the nations of the world going to be blessed in Abraham? Well, Genesis 12, 7 says this, Then Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, To your seed I will give this land.
The word seed can mean both singular and plural. If you go to the store to buy seed to plant, you don't say I'm going to go buy some seeds. You buy seed. You buy a bag of seed, you don't say I bought a bag of seeds.
You say I bought a bag of seed. The word seed can also be singular, one seed, but it can also be plural, right? Now in Genesis, it's speaking about his son versus Eliezer. When it says seed, the singular seed, the right interpretation outside of the New Testament is Isaac, not Eliezer.
Seeds here would be more than one nation. So if we use it in the plural, it's more than one nation. It's one nation, seed, not Eliezer, but Isaac. Through Isaac, your offspring shall be named. Now, how does Paul interpret it?
That's the key, because Paul's interpretation of the text is what my interpretation of the text better be, all right? So how did Paul interpret Genesis 12, 7? Let's read that again. To your seed I will give this land.
But again, Galatians chapter 3, verse 16, now the promise was spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Now look what Abraham does. It does not say into seeds, as referring to many, but rather one, into your seed that is Christ.
Abraham interprets it as Christ and not any other way. There's not any other way that the world can be blessed. It is only going to be blessed in Christ. So how are all the nations of the world going to be blessed in Abraham?
Because Christ is a direct descendant of Abraham, and he is this promised seed that Abraham had to believe in in order to be saved. Now, how is Abraham looking to Christ? Let's turn our attention to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11, beginning in verse 8.
It says, By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed, we just read that from chapter 12, by going out to a place in which he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as a foreigner, as a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise. For he was looking for a city which has foundations, and a city which has foundations, who architect and builder is God.
By faith even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive even beyond a proper time of life, since she regarded him faithful who promised. Therefore there were born even to one man and him as good as dead at that time, as many as the stars of the heaven, and numbered in the numerous as the sand which is by the seashore.
Look at verse 13. All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them, notice that, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers in exile on the earth.
So how did Abraham look to Christ? He looked to him by faith, having seen them from afar. The same way that Abraham was saved is the same way that we are saved. Abraham looked forward to the promises, we look back to its fulfillment, all cumulating at the cross.
Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 says, without faith it is impossible to please God. So when Jesus says in John 8 56, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad, he saw it in faith looking to Jesus.
Think again that rabbit popping up and propelling in front of those animals. Abraham lived his life looking to Jesus Christ by way of a promise. A seed was coming from him that was going to bless all the nations.
He believed that, and he was counted as righteousness. Now let's look at verses 57 from John, 57 and 58. So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.
Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Now I'm not sure why they said 50 as opposed to any other number. At this time Jesus would have been 33 years old.
The gospel of Luke tells us how old Jesus was when he started his ministry. So if you look at the gospel of Luke chapter 3 verse 23, it tells you how old he was when he began his ministry. Jesus himself was about 30 years old.
So Jesus was about 30 years old when he started his ministry. I would say 30. In our text Jesus is about six months away from being crucified. The ministry of Jesus was for three and a half years. So in our text Jesus would be three years into his ministry, meaning in six months he was going to be killed, right?
Maybe they said 50 because Jesus, like some commentators would say, because of the weight that's on Jesus knowing what's lying before him, the stress of that could have caused him to look old. But I don't buy it.
I don't buy it. I just think it's a supposed number that they threw out. They could have said any number, 50 being just something that they said. No one knows for sure. There's no way to know. We don't have true authentic pictures of Christ, so we don't know what he looked like.
I know Isaiah tells us that there was nothing about his appearance that would draw anyone to him. He was a regular Joe. He was an average Joe. That's one of the reasons why I really, you know, when I started reading the Bible, I kind of came toward Jesus because I was thinking, man, he's an ugly guy just like me, right?
You know, us ugly folks have to stick together. Just saying, that's kind of like my thought line as I was figuring these things out. But we do know Jesus's response. We do know Jesus's response. His response was to these unbelievers, these believing unbelievers, his response causes them to pick up stones and wanting to kill him.
Let's look again at his response, verse 58. Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was, I am. So right here, truly, truly, truly, truly means I'm solemnly telling you the truth.
So what is he solemnly telling them the truth about? The answer is before Abraham was, I am. So not only was Jesus the seed of Abraham that was to come into the world to bless all the nations, but that he, Jesus, was before Abraham as the I am.
So the I am here takes us back to the Greek Septuagint as it interprets Exodus chapter three, verse 17, where God was speaking to Moses, the burning bush. And Moses says, who do I say sent me? The Greek Septuagint says that God said, ego, I me.
Ego, the Greek word ego, can mean I am, and I me can also mean I am. So Jesus is actually saying, I am, I am, pointing back to God, him being God. Now in my opinion, this I am statement is the I of I am statements.
This is the one I am statement that they truly knew that he was professing to be God. And you say, well, how do you know that? Look at verse 59. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
You are only allowed to stone people for one or two reasons. Adultery, as we've seen in the very beginning of chapter eight, and blaspheming, as we see at the end of chapter eight. They were going to stone Jesus for blaspheming, when in truth it was them that was blaspheming.
They blasphemed Jesus by saying he was a Samaritan. They blasphemed the Holy Spirit by saying Jesus had a demon. Concerning verse 58, Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was I am. In making that statement, Jesus is breaking Greek grammar, because no one would have ever spoke like that.
If Jesus was merely stating that he was older than Abraham, he would have said something like, I was before Abraham, or I'm older than Abraham. You don't break Greek grammar by speaking like that, but by saying, before Abraham was I am.
That breaks Greek grammar. No one speaks like that. Nowhere else in scripture do we have a separation in the grammar like that. So in response to them thinking that Jesus is speaking about he's being merely older, that he's speaking about merely about age, he breaks Greek grammar in such a way that they would not, that they would for sure understand him.
And they did, and we know they did, because they picked up stones to throw at him. But as the text says, Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Why? Because he's not to die until six months later.
There's a point in time for him to die, and he's not going to die a bit sooner. The Bible emphatically declares Jesus Christ to be God. There is only one God, right? One God. And we speak about in the way, the best way that I've seen to explain it would be the way that I heard from R .C. Sproul.
The one what and the three who's. The one what being God, right? The being of God and the three who's being the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three are the one being of God, and yet these one, these three persons are distinct and unique from one another.
That's the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, vice versa with the Holy Spirit, nor is there any hierarchy in the Godhead. There's relationship, and we know that there is relationship.
How do you know? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It tells us the relationship, and yet there is one God. Listen to what John chapter 1 verse 18 says. It says, No one has seen God at any time.
The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. Let me break it down for you. No one has ever seen God the Father at any time. Zero times. Every time in the Old Testament that they see God, they see Jesus.
No one has ever, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God, who's the begotten? Jesus Christ, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. You cannot know who the Father is unless you hear it from Jesus, and Jesus tells these people, You do not hear my words.
Therefore, you do not know the Father. The Jews today do not know the Father because they deny the Son. He who denies the Son denies the Father, 1 John chapter 3. Again, that means when Abraham saw God, he saw Jesus and he worshiped Him.
Abraham seeing Yahweh come toward him, he takes off running, he bows down and he worships Him and he cooks Him a meal. God in the flesh comes to them and they pick up stones to throw at Him. Before Abraham was, I am.
He is who? He is God, and if you do not believe that, when you die there is no sacrifice and you will die in your sins. Now in closing, this chapter ends the same way that the chapter begins, and I don't allude it to it, with the religious Jews with stones in their hands.
It starts with them bringing in a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery, wanting to put her to death, wanting to stone her, and it ends with them picking up stones to stone the God that they said they believed in.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is where it's at. You can for sure be a part of a church in thinking that you believe and in turn be a false convert, an unbeliever. It's a matter of our heart. Do you truly believe, not intellectually, but with your heart that Jesus is the Son of God?
In our Sunday school we're looking at the law and we're looking at the gospel, and we understand that the gospel is only news if you don't know the bad news, and the bad news is that we have broken God's law.
Every one of us are liars. We're thieves. We're adulterers, even if it's in the heart. Some of us might have even committed adultery. Children, listen, you have not been obedient to your parents. That's the one commandment that promises, that gives a promise, and that promises a long life, and yet the wages of sin is death.
Every one of us are going to die because none of us have kept this commandment. All of us are liars, thieves. We've been disobedient to our parents. We've stolen, right? We've done horrible things. We've taken God's name, the God who gives us breath, and we've used his name as a cuss word, and because of that his wrath is coming, and to anyone that it falls upon will be destroyed.
That's why John 3, 16 exists, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish, where perish means to be destroyed. His wrath is coming. There's coming a day of reckoning, so therefore God sends his son to live the life we could not live, to take our punishment that we deserve, and what we are called to do is to repent, to turn from ourselves, and to turn to God by putting our faith in Jesus Christ.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you have not done that, do that today because if you die without doing so, there is no sacrifice for you. There is no sacrifice. You will die, and you will enter into death. That is the judgment, so I pray this day that you will repent, if you have not, and put your faith in Jesus.
I'm available to anyone who wants to talk, Pastor Cal is as well. Let's pray. Oh God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Lord, I love your word. I love it because it convicts me of sin, and I love it because it shows me righteousness.
It shows me that I cannot in and of myself get to you, but that you in and of yourself condescends and comes to me in the person of Jesus Christ. Lord, please, in his name, I pray that you use this word today to conform Christians to the image of your Son, and to convict sinners, granting them repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
Lord, I pray as we are about to partake in your meal, if there be anyone here, any Christian here who has taken their eyes off of Christ, that they will at this time confess their sins, and that you will forgive them of all sins.
And that you will use this meal to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ, as we are living our life in expectation of not receiving the glory of man, but the glory that comes from above, at the resurrection.
In Christ's name, amen.