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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conflict - The Clash of Belief and Unbelief, Continuing discourse after the feast, Jesus as the Light of the World, Part XIX, John 8:46-53 - Lesson 66
Read Verses John 8:42-45 for review: Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
John 8:46,47, Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
He challenges them to point the finger at a single sin in his life.
Here he claims moral perfection!
Here he claims to be without blemish or spot.
Take the entire mosaic law and test my life against it and find one error or sin.
Take the prophets, take the whole Old Testament and match it against my life to see if there is any deviation from the upright.
Go to my home, talk to my mother, my brothers, my neighbors to see what transgressions I have committed.
Go to Nazareth, and Cana, and Bethesda and Galilee.
Trace my footsteps and talk to the people who have listened to me and have seen my testimony to see if you can find any flaw in my conduct.
Jesus dares to make this challenge.
He is the only one who ever lived in a human body to dare to make a statement like this.
Jesus knew who he was and he knew that God cannot be convicted of sin.
So he can ask the question in a way that should convince them that they are not of God; that they are not children of God.
You don't believe me?
Why don't you believe me?
He answers the question!
Because you are not of God and those not of God cannot know truth; they cannot believe truth because they cannot hear truth!
John 3:34, For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: John 18:37, Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
If I preach truth in accordance with the scriptures and you do not believe my words then I can say by the authority of Jesus Christ that you are not of God!
John 8:48, Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
This is a diversion on the part of the Jews.
They cannot answer his probing question so they resort to sidetrack.
He had just declared that they were not the true children of Abraham.
He had also declared that their father was the devil.
So their retort was as a child would retort.
No, you are not a pure Jew and you must be demon possessed to talk about Jews the way you do!
You are not one of us having consorted with Samaritans.
No proper Jew would do what you have done with Samaritans.
Their hatred of Samaritans was bitter and complete.
John 8:49, Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.
Jesus does not address the charge that he is a Samaritan.
Jesus was prudent in his words and did not give time to ridiculous charges.
He truthfully denies that he has a devil or a demon.
He honors his Father by telling the truth about men.
He does not flatter in order to gain supporters but he shows and depicts man's fallen nature in humble terms.
By his statement that he honors his Father he shows that he does not seek the honor of men for himself.
That is not his motive.
One who is moved by the Devil in inflated with pride and seeks honor and fame for himself.
He did not do this.
In fact he was the opposite of this since he took great effort to turn eyes toward God and away from him.
John 8:50, And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.
If he sought his own glory he would not have told them the truth.
If he sought his own glory he would not have followed the course he was on that led to his death on a Roman cross.
He sought not his own glory but was an example to us of one who humbles himself and one who will be lifted up by the Father at the appointed time.
He knew that this was in the plan of God; that the Son was to be glorified.
But that was to be the Father's doing.
Jesus Christ knew that this was not the time for his glory but this was the time to glorify the Father.
He was doing the Father's will, and they were treating him with contempt.
Woe unto these who treat God the Son with contempt!
Dreadful is the judgment that awaits such as these!
By careful where you place your contempt.
There is one who seeketh and judgeth!
John 8:51, Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Yes, my enemies, there is one who seeketh and judgeth, but my invitation is extended to you, you who hate me and despitefully use me.
If you keep my saying you shall never see death.
Notice who this is effective for.
Note the word "keep".
Keep means what it says.
Keep means to hide Jesus Christ's word in your heart.
Keep means a heart transaction.
Keep means that the heart now belongs to God as a repository, as a safe deposit box for God's word.
Keep means to retain it in our memory.
Keep means that the word is effective in our daily lives.
Keep means I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
Keep is only effective for the child of God, the born again one, the believer in Christ and in his word.
Ye shall never see death, because that which the world sees of the believer is not death, but only that which brings the believer into a presence with God.
John 8:52,53, Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?
The natural man speaks.
The natural man only knows natural things.
He has no capacity for spiritual things.
He is not alive to spiritual things.
Don't try to force fit spiritual things into the natural man.
This is done all the time in the church of the apostasy.
This is what the church of the apostasy is about.
The church of the natural man.
The church of the natural man is best at assuming the appearance of the spiritual man.
The natural man is without discernment; having no capacity to perceive what Christ is saying about death.
They see only what the eyes see; they see only what the flesh sees.
The things of God are foolishness to him.
They are not babes in Christ but fully mature in their own naturalness.
Their interests are elsewhere.
Having no desire to know light they have no understanding of the word of Christ. |