John 8:31-59: “Jesus Continues
To Argue With The Pharisees Who Are Questioning Him As To Whom He Thought He
Was”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study we looked at verses 12-30 of chapter 8.
1.1.1. In chapter 7, we saw that Jesus had gone up to
Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, however that He had gone up secretly because
He knew that the Pharisees were now plotting to kill Him and it was not yet His
time to die. We looked also at lots of
the prophetic symbolism embedded by the Lord in this feast, all of which
pointed to Jesus, the Messiah, including :
1.1.1.1.We saw previously that the Feast of Tabernacles was
one of three feasts held each year in which all of the males in
1.1.1.2.We saw that the yearly observance of the Feast of
Tablernacles when the Israelites came to
1.1.1.2.1.Remind them of the time that they were in the
wilderness for 38 years and lived in tabernacles.
1.1.1.2.2.Being also called the “Feast of Ingathering” and
celebrated at the end of the harvest it was to remind them to give thanks for
this year’s harvest.
1.1.1.2.3.To remind them of their coming Messiah who would bring
in the spiritual harvest at the end of the ages.
1.1.1.2.4.To give thanks for the rain they had received in the
previous year and to pray for next year’s rain.
1.1.1.3.We saw that when Jesus cried out inviting any who were
thirsty to come and drink of Him, for he who drank from Him from his innermost
being would flow rivers of living water, that this occurred because it was the
last day of the feast, the only day that the people didn’t carry out the Water
Rite ceremony because their Messiah had not yet arrived on the scene. Jesus sought to communicate to the Jews in
the temple that He was the fulfillment of this Water Rite ceremony.
1.1.1.4.We saw that on the first day of the feast that the
Candlestick Ceremony was performed in which in the evening of that day the
people lighted four 80 foot high Menoras which burned so brightly that every
courtyard in Jerusalem was lit up by the light.
We saw that Jesus tried to communicate to the Jews in the temple that He
was the fulfillment of this ceremony when He told the Jews in verse 13 of
chapter 8 that He was the light of the world and that he would believed in Him
would receive the light of life.
1.1.2. We noted that Jesus was making the second of His seven
“I am” statements in this gospel, stating to these Pharisees in the
temple, “I am the light of the world.”
1.1.3. For the rest of the last study then, Jesus was arguing
with the Pharisees who confront Him as being a false teacher for bearing witness
of Himself. Jesus will attempt to
explain to these Pharisees why He is indeed their awaited Messiah.
1.1.4. We saw also that Arthur Pink has written that the
light in scripture symbolizes true knowledge, true holiness, true happiness, whereas “darkness”
is the symbol for ignorance
and error, guilt and depravity, privation, and misery..
1.2.
In our
study today, we are going to look at verses 31 – 59 of chapter 8.
1.2.1. Jesus will continue arguing with the Pharisees who are
challenging Him to reveal to them plainly who He really is. However, as He reveals Himself to them they
have no ability to understand the things that He is saying to them about
Himself.
1.2.2. Jesus will begin to reveal who He is to these
Pharisees in the temple until He finally speaks so clearly to them about His
pre-existence as deity that they believe He has blasphemed and pick up stones
to stone Him.
2.
VS
8:31-32 - “Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews
who had believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free’.” - Jesus tells
those who have come to know Him on this day to abide in His word thus they will
be His disciples, and, then they will know the truth and the truth will make
them free
2.1.
Realizing that many had come to believe that He was
the Messiah as a result of His teaching on this day, Jesus tells them that if
anyone is to be a disciple of His, He must ‘abide’ or ‘remain’ in
His teachings.
2.2.
It is
interesting to note that this exhortation concerning continuing in His word is
Jesus’ method of encouraging those who have believed in Him. In 1 Peter 2:2, Peter wrote about how that we
as Christians need to view the word of God as a baby’s milk for it is essential
for us to drink of it if we are going to be able to grow and be healthy, “2 like
newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow
in respect to salvation.”
2.3.
One can never be content that He has come to know the
truth, and the One who is true. There
must be a constant seeking to know more and seek the One who is true. This constant seeking is what shall make His
followers truly ‘free.’
2.4.
We as Christ’s disciples must always set it as our
goal to daily spend time in God’s word seeking Him! We need a daily reading plan as well as a
daily quiet time plan... Then, and only
then shall we be His disciples. Then,
and only then shall we escape the many bondage’s of sin over our lives, and
truly be free! Then, we’ll walk in the
light!
2.5.
Complacency regarding the reading of the word of God
will always lead a person again into bondage to sin.
3.
VS
8:33 - “They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never yet
been enslaved to anyone; how is that You
say, ‘You shall become free’?’” - The
Pharisees answer Jesus and tell Him that they are Abraham’s offspring and have
never been enslaved, therefore how can He tell them that they will be set free
3.1.
This statement by the Jews that they have never been
enslaved is incredible. The Jews had
been enslaved to other nations on many occasions. They had been enslaved for hundreds of years
to
3.2.
One of the things that people hate to admit is that
they are enslaved. People like to think
that they are free, and non-believers often believe that it is religion which
enslaves people and takes away their freedom.
However, unless a person comes to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
he is a slave to sin and cannot but carry out the sinful desires of his
flesh. It is only when a person allows
Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior that he then becomes free, and what he
becomes free to do is to live the kind of life that the Lord would have him to
live. He becomes freed from the power
and enslavement of sin.
3.3.
Some have suggested that the Jews had never lost their
spirit, even though they had been enslaved by other nations, and thus they had
mentally, at least, never considered themselves to have been in bondage to
anyone. However, I think that it is more
likely the case that the Jews on this day are just like people today and thus
they deny ever having been enslaved. People are offended by the assertion of
Christians that they are in any kind of bondage. In fact, worldly people often speak of
Christians as being enslaved by religion.
Karl Marx once wrote, “Religion is the opiate of the people.” The absolutes of morality in God’s ten
commandments are looked at by some as being enslaving, however it is upon these
laws that virtually all laws in our world are based. However, the fact is that the non-believer is
the slave of sin.
3.4.
These Jews are in a state of denial concerning
themselves. They don’t think they have
ever been enslaved and in their pride and arrogance they don’t think that they
have any need now to become free.
3.5.
Has the Son set you free?
4.
VS
8:34-36 - “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I
say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the house
forever; the son does remain
forever. If therefore the Son shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed’.” - Jesus tells
the people on this day that everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin, but
if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed
4.1.
Jesus tells the Jews that the way that they are
enslaved currently is that they are “constantly” sinning, this is the
tense of the verb. Everyone who is “constantly”
sinning is the slave of sin.
4.2.
We all sin in a point of time, including even genuine
Christians. However, these Jews here
were “constantly” living in sin, and therefore were the slaves of sin,
obeying its influence.
4.3.
Jesus states here that a ‘slave does not remain in
the house forever,’ and Jesus refers to Himself as, ‘The Son of the
House.’ The son of a house was the
legitimate heir of the family and thus would remain forever in the house. However, a slave was never by rights an heir
of a household. Those who are slaves to
sin will not remain in God’s house forever.
4.4.
As the ‘Son of the House’ Jesus (God’s only
begotten Son) could set these Jews free from their sin, and then they could be
assured that they would forever remain in God’s house. However, being a slave of sin will disqualify
one from being able to remain forever in God’s house as His people.
4.5.
God’s light shines in our lives as Christians in order
to free us from our bondage to sin, to free us from being slaves to sin. However, we must die to sin daily in order to
be free. Being in God’s word daily is
essential in this process of being free from sin.
4.6.
If a person continues in sin, he should seriously
question whether or not he was ever saved by Jesus in the first place?
5.
VS
8:37-40 - “‘I know that you are Abraham’s
offspring; yet you seek 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
heard from your Father’. They answered
and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father’.
Jesus said to them, ‘If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of
Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking
to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.”
- Jesus challenges these Jews for
claiming to be Abraham’s offspring yet wanting to kill Him because He has told
them the truth He heard from God, something Abraham would never have done
5.1.
Jesus
tells these Jews on this day that there was an inconsistency in their claiming to
be Abraham’s descendants and thus God’s people because of their behavior,
because they were not men and women of faith as was their father Abraham. The fruit of the lives of these people
contradicted their testimony of being God’s people.
5.2.
Jesus tells the people that even though they were born
as descendants of Abraham, that the fact of their physical descent did not
cause them to inherit the blessings as His descendants. There has and will always be only a spiritual
remnant of God’s people that are being saved, and all those who are physically
descendent are not necessarily part of the ones considered by God to be His
people.
5.3.
Jesus points out the inconsistency of these Jews in
their wanting to kill Him and their claim to be God’s people. Jesus knew He was God’s only unique son
yet His word which He received from the
Father had no place in them. This proved
that they were not part of that spiritual remnant of Abraham.
5.4.
Jesus tells these Jews that if they are part of that
remnant, then they should be doing deeds characteristic of those who are of
that remnant. They should be doing
righteous deeds born of faith, as their father Abraham did. Instead, they are seeking to kill Him,
something Abraham would never have done.
5.5.
Coach Chuck Knox of the
5.6.
Let me ask you O’ Christian, are you walking your
talk? Does your deeds match those of
someone who has given his life to Christ as his Lord and Savior? If not, you ought then to question whether or
not you are actually part of the remnant that is actually being saved. Is God your Father? Are you one of His people?
6.
VS
8:41-42 - “‘You are doing the deeds of your
father’. They said to Him, ‘We were not
born of fornication; we have one Father,
even God’. Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father,
you would love Me; for I proceeded forth
and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He
sent Me.” - Jesus tells
these Jews that they are doing the deeds of their father and that if God were
there father as they claim then they would love Him because He came and was
sent from the Father
6.1.
Jesus is beginning to reveal to these Jews that they
are not of the spiritual descent of Abraham, rather they are of the spiritual
descent of Satan. They tell Jesus that
they know of their spiritual heritage, that they are not idolaters, those ‘born
of fornication.’ They are standing
completely on the merit of their physical descent in saying this however, for
their deeds do not correspond to what they are claiming.
6.2.
Jesus tells these Jews that if God were their Father,
then they would love Him, the Son who has come down from heaven from God the
Father, for He is the One who does nothing on His own initiative but what the
Father has Him do.
7.
VS
8:43-44 - “‘Why do you not understand what I am
saying? It is because you cannot hear My
word. 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 does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks
from his own nature; for he is a liar, and father of lies’.”
- Jesus tells these Jews that they
cannot understand what He is saying because they can’t hear His word
7.1.
Jesus tells the Jews on this day that they are so
morally opposed to the truth in their lives, that they are not even able to
hear (so as to understand) what He was saying (His ‘word’), and that
this is also the reason that they do not believe in Him.
7.2.
Further, Jesus tells them that Satan, the Devil, is
the one whom they serve. As they do the
things that the Devil wants them to do, they are proving that spiritually they
are in league with the evil forces controlling this world. To desire that which is evil is i.e. to bow
the knee and worship the Devil!
7.3.
Every person is either a son of God and thus obeying
the desires and will of God as set forth in His word, or a son of the Devil and
ignores the desires of God, thus living outside God’s light and truth. Bob Dylan sang the truth when he stated that
every person is going to have to serve someone, either the Devil or God, but
someone. And, Jesus stated that no man
can serve two masters for this is an impossibility. A person is either serving God or he is
serving Satan. In the Christian life obedience
to God’s commands is not like a buffet where you can choose a little of this or
that which you want to eat. Its take it
all or take nothing!
7.4.
It is sobering to consider that even we who Christians
are worshipping the Devil when we allow sin to take root in our lives without
repenting of it. The result of living
like this will be have a dull ear to God and what He wants to say to us!
8.
VS
8:45-47 - “‘But because I speak the truth, you do
not believe Me. Which one of you
convicts Me of sin? If I speak 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’.”
- Jesus tells these Pharisees that they
do not believe in Him because He speaks the truth and they cannot hear the word
of God because they are not of God
8.1.
Jesus tells these Pharisees and Jews that the reason
that they do not believe in Him is simply because He speaks ‘the truth’
to them. They hate ‘the truth’
and are offended by it, therefore they do not want to hear Him and believe in
His word.
8.2.
Then, Jesus tells them that a person who is
spiritually descended from God ‘hears the words of God.’ These Pharisees didn’t hear the words of God
because they were not spiritually descended from God!
8.3.
Can you who claim to be a Christian say you are “of
God” because you are hearing God’s word to you? Hearing so as to submit to God’s word? Or, are you not submitting to some of the
things God has spoken to you?
8.4.
Sin becomes a wedge to Christians, leading them to
commit further sin, so they need to never allow sin to dominate their life.
9.
VS 8:48-50 - “The
Jews answered and said to Him, ‘Do we not say rightly 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’.” - The Pharisees ask Jesus if
they are not right in saying that Jesus is a demon-possessed Samaritan
9.1.
Jesus had truly hit a nerve in these Pharisees in the
temple by telling them that that they were not of God but of the Devil, having
no desire for the truth and no ability to understand it. These Jews call Jesus the worst name that
they could think of, ‘a Samaritan,’ which was to call Him a person of
the lowest caliber. The Samaritans were
hated and shunned by the Jews for not being of pure Jewish heritage and
worshipping in idolatry.
9.2.
These Pharisees also call Jesus a demon possessed
person for speaking the way that He was speaking.
9.3.
Though Jesus could have lashed back, note that He
ignores the name calling, being called a demon-possessed Samaritan. However, Jesus denies that He is demon
possessed, and says that He is trying to honor the Father, yet He states that they
were dishonoring Him. Jesus He doesn’t
address at all being called ‘a Samaritan.’
9.4.
Jesus tells these Jews that He was honoring His Father
but that they were dishonoring Him.
9.5.
Then, Jesus tells these Pharisees that He was not
seeking His own glory nor was He Himself judging anyone. However, He tells them that there is one who
‘seeks and judges.’ The sobering
reality for those who rebel against God is the fact that a coming day of
judgment awaits them, the Great White Throne judgment of condemnation for
non-believers (see Rev. 20).
10.
VS 8:51 - “‘Truly,
truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death’.” - Jesus tells these Pharisees that if anyone
keeps His word that he shall never die
10.1.
Jesus speaks
of eternal death here in this verse, that which shall be reserved only for
non-believers, those who are not God’s people in this life.
10.2.
The Christian shall die physically only to taste of
death (but not to ‘see’ death), but death itself shall be merely a
transcending to the presence of Jesus where He shall be seen face to face. Therefore, a Christian shall never die.
11.
VS 8:52-59 - “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 shall never taste of
death’. 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 come to know Him, but I know
Him; and if I say that I do not know
Him, I shall 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’. The Jews
therefore 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 born, I am’. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at
Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out
of the temple.” - These Jews
tell Jesus that now they know that He has a demon for the greatest of their
prophets have all died, and yet Jesus had told them that the one who believes
in Him would never die, then Jesus tells them that Abraham saw His day and
rejoiced and before Abraham was, “I am”
11.1.
The Jews think that they have now caught Jesus
speaking ridiculous words of insanity, such as one would speak who was
possessed by a demon. He said that those
who believed in Him would never die.
Yet, how could this be? After
all, even the great prophets of the Old Testament (with the exception of Elijah
and Enoch) had died, so how could Jesus claim that His followers were greater
and would never die? Jesus could not be
greater than these prophets of old, so the Jews thought…
11.2.
Jesus in these words reveals that the ‘Father’
that He has been speaking of all along is Jehovah God, the one of whom they
say, ‘He is our God.’ Jesus tells
these Jews that if He doesn’t tell them the truth about Himself and His
relationship to the Father, He shall be a liar just like they are.
11.3.
Jesus tells these Pharisees that Abraham rejoiced to
see His day, but in what sense is this true?
We know that Abraham saw the type of Christ in the situation where God
told him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.
It seems also from scripture that prophetically Christ was revealed to
Abraham, and perhaps to many of the Old Testament prophets, to some depth.
11.4.
Finally, Jesus says to them, ‘before Abraham was
born, I am.’ This was the name of
God which God gave to Moses to tell to the people of whom it was who was
calling them out of
I am that I am (Hebrew:
אהיה אשר
אהיה, pronounced Ehyeh asher ehyeh) is one
English translation of the response God used in the Bible when Moses asked for his name (Exodus 3:14). It is one of the most
famous verses in the Torah.
Hayah means "existed" or "was" in Hebrew; "ehyeh"
is the first person singular present/future form. Ehyeh asher ehyeh is
generally interpreted to mean I am that I am (King
James Bible and others), yet, as indicated, is most literally translated as
"I-shall-be that I-shall-be."
11.5.
Jesus in stating that He is the great ‘I am’
was claiming to be Jehovah God of the Old Testament, the God of the Jews. The Jews realized what Jesus meant by saying
this and picked up stones to stone Him for blasphemy.
11.6.
It was not Jesus’ time to die on this day and
therefore He was protected from these Jews who sought to kill Him, that is,
until that very hour was to come.
11.7.
It says in verse 59 that, ‘Jesus hid Himself and
went out of the temple,’ however do not be mistaken it was God who was
protecting Jesus until the hour of His crucifixion.
12.
CONCLUSIONS:
12.1.
Continue in Jesus’ word, for thus you shall be His disciples,
and, the truth shall set you free.
12.2.
Realize that if you continually are living in sin that
you are a slave to sin, repent of your sins and let Jesus set you free from
sin.
12.3.
Does the fruit of your life indicate that you must be
a child of God, or does it reveal that you are a child of the Devil? Does your walk match your talk as a true
child of God?