TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
John 8:12-30
This week I had an eye doctor
appointment. As usual, a part of the exam was that the doctor put a couple of
drops in my eyes to dilate my pupils, to allow her to look at the inside of the
eyes to make sure there were no problems. The lights were turned down in the
room, but as my pupils got bigger, I hardly noticed. Until she said, “This will
be a little bright…” and shined this blindingly bright light in my eyes. I am a
pretty calm person, but that is one exam I never take too well. Ok, I am a baby
when it comes to my eyes. She explained it didn’t help her if my pupils were
dilated but I kept my eyes closed. I finally gave in, the exam was done, all was
fine… Until I stepped out of the office into the sunlight. WAY too bright. I
had to go back in the office and ask for one of those plastic things to put
behind my dollar-store sunglasses.
My resistance to the light reminds me of the resistance of fallen humans
to the Light of the Gospel in John. Jesus has just said, “I AM the Light of
the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of
life.” What we have starting in v.13 is an objection by the Pharisees and
Jesus’ response to them. It might seem a little odd, but nobody mentions light
again until Jesus says in 9:5, “While I am in the world, I am the Light of
the world.” We know the truth, the world is spiritually dead and
blind, but there is hope, there is only one hope, and that is
through faith in Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Light came
into the world, but men love darkness rather than light. People often close
their eyes or turn away when the Light shines. They say, that’s your belief,
that’s your God, my god isn’t like that. The problem is that a god you make up
in your own mind and create in your own image can’t do anything for you. The
God who is has spoken. He sent His Son to be our Savior. With gentleness and
respect we want to point them to the Light.
The Context: Last
week we saw Jesus declare in 8:12, “I AM the Light of the World, he who
follows Me shall not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” As
the scene continues Jesus dialogs with the Pharisees, who are clearly still in
the dark. We’ll see the
*Big Idea: *Either
we believe the truth that Jesus is God incarnate and trust the provision that He has made for our salvation, or we will reap the consequences
of our unbelief. We’ll consider…
1) Our
response to the truth;
2) The consequences
of unbelief, and
3) Some
Good News: Some will believe!
I. How will you respond to the Truth? The Testimony of the Father
and the Son (13-20).
Jesus only spoke the truth, but He is attacked by the Jewish leadership. Where
do you get authority to speak like this?
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of
the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the
light of life." 13 So
the Pharisees said to him, "You are bearing witness about yourself; your
testimony is not true." 14
Jesus answered, "Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is
true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know
where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the
flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is
true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent
me.
The statement
of Jesus in 8:12, “I am the Light of the world…” is challenged by the
Pharisees as a baseless self-witness. Jesus reaffirms that he speaks the truth and he knows the
truth (we know that He is the Truth!). He knows where he came from and
where he is going. They, on the other hand, are still in darkness; they have no
idea who He is. And he will make the case again as He did in John 5 that His
witness is confirmed by the Father, the One who sent Him, the One to whom He
will return.
"You judge according to the flesh; I judge no
one” (8:15). Their judgment is by merely human standards,
external, based on their limited (and prejudiced) perceptions. They don’t see
the big picture. Our perspective gives context to our perception. As
missionaries we had to travel a lot by airplane as many of you have. Those long
overnight flights, you can fall asleep (sometimes!)… when it is really smooth,
except for the noise of the engines, you can almost forget you are moving… More
than once, I woke up after dozing off and I was completely confused, for a few
seconds not knowing where I was! Has that ever happened to you? That doesn’t
change the truth that you are in a machine traveling 7 miles in the air at 600
mph! You can deny it, you can be momentarily unaware of it, you can choose not
to believe it, but it doesn’t change the facts. Jesus is the truth, and He
speaks the truth—that doesn’t change whether or not you believe it.
In v.16 Jesus appeals to his unity with the Father: “…the judgment is
not mine alone, but I and the Father who sent me…” The wording here
emphasizes the unity between the Father and the Son. Jesus is One with the
Father. He emphasized that in John 5, He’ll say it again in v. 19, and then later,
explicitly in 14:7-9, if you have seen Him, you’ve seen the Father, if
you know Jesus, you know the Father. We’re getting a hint of the unity within
the Godhead. John said it in the first
chapter, v. 18,
“No one has seen God at any time… He has declared Him.” (cf.
John 1:1-5; Col 1:15).
17 In your Law it is
written that the testimony of two men is true.
18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the
Father who sent me bears witness about me." 19 They said to him therefore,
"Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor
my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also."
In 8:17 He points to “their Law” that
speaks of the confirmation of a corroborating witness. The phrase, “your law,”
is not minimizing the importance of the Law as the Word of God, but Jesus is
putting himself in a different category than his accusers. After all, every word of Scripture is “God
breathed,” and Jesus is God! The Law they claim to believe (which was “breathed
out” by Christ himself) says two witnesses confirm a matter – Jesus says, here
are two: Me and my Father!
They ask in Jn 8:19, “Where is your father?” They are again thinking at another level,
they don’t understand who Jesus is
and what He is saying: that shows something about their hearts. He says, "You
know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My
Father also." Its rather similar to what Jesus says later to Philip, “Have I been so long with you and still you
don’t know me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.”
In v.20 John steps in as the narrator and tells us the setting of the
preceding conversation…
20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the
temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.”
God’s plan would be carried out in His
time. The Big idea is,*Either we believe the truth that Jesus is God incarnate
and trust the provision that He has made for our salvation, or we will reap the
consequences of our unbelief. We’ve seen the Truth, and now…
II. The Consequence of Unbelief is Eternal Judgment (21-29). Choices
always have consequences, no choice is more critical than how we respond to
Jesus…
21 So he said to them again, "I am going away, and you
will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot
come." 22 So the Jews
said, "Will he kill himself, since he says, 'Where I am going, you cannot
come'?" 23 He said to
them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am
not of this world.
Truth or consequences. Remember from the Book of Numbers when the Jews
accepted the majority report of the spies at Kadesh Barnea, and they reaped the
consequences—forty years in the wilderness!
The truth was that God was able to bring them into the Land, but
they would not trust Him. As a consequence, though God would indeed bring
the nation into the Land as promised, that whole generation, all the adults
that left Egypt except for Joshua and Caleb, would die in the wilderness. They
chose not to trust God, and they reaped the consequences of that choice. We see
here the evidence of unbelief in the Jewish leadership...
For one thing, in vv.21-22, we see their unbelief in their inability to understand
His words. We’ve repeatedly seen this theme in John, the failure of the leaders
especially to understand what Jesus was saying. There is a spiritual aspect of
“hearing” the Word of God. It means understanding the words, discerning the
meaning, and believing that it is true. Remember the word of Paul to the
Corinthians: “The natural man does not
receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him, and he
cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor
2:14). In doesn’t mean God’s word is unclear, it means the spiritual
sensitivity of fallen humans is that dulled by sin. Jesus will say in John 10, “My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” To “hear”
implies hearing with faith, taking Him at His Word. These leaders did not have ears
to hear and a heart to understand.
What’s
more, in v.23 it’s evident that their unbelief is shown by their worldly
perspective. They are “…from below… and “of this world,” and they
will die in their sins since they are focused on the world. Some people
focus their lives and living exclusively on things that aren’t most important,
things that are passing away… John warned his readers in his first letter,
“Do not love the
world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. 16 For
all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away,
and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
Think
about that. Was it Lincoln who said of this passage: “How chastening in the
hour of pride, how consoling in the hour of affliction!” Isn’t that true? Life is short. Enjoy the blessings
God gives. But don’t lose perspective. Remember we are here on assignment, and
that we were created for eternity… the best is yet to come!
Vv.24-27 gets to the heart of
the Matter: They don’t know Jesus. Most of them had no idea, they didn’t know
who Jesus was.
24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you
believe that I am he you will die in your sins." 25 So they said to him, "Who
are you?" Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been telling you from
the beginning. 26 I have much
to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare
to the world what I have heard from him."
27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them
about the Father.
Either they believe the truth
about Him, or they are lost and will one day “die in their sins.” That is
as true today as it was then. That is a horrible thought—to stand one day before
His Holiness, guilty, naked, condemned. Our sinfulness exposed, no hope. THIS
is the Day of Salvation! Choose life!
The only means of avoiding
judgment is stated: “…if you do not believe that I AM…” It’s not
enough to consider Jesus a great moral teacher or even a prophet from God. It
won’t do to call him the first and greatest of God’s creation as some cults
would. He is the great I AM. In verse 24, and again here in 8:28…
28 So Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son
of Man, then you will know that I am he [I AM], and that I do nothing on
my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to
him."
Jesus
looks ahead to the cross (and resurrection) in v.28, then finally some will
have their eyes opened, understand and believe: “When you lift up the Son of
Man, then you will know that I AM…”
This phrase “lifted up” isn’t numerous in John, but it occurs at
import moments in the story (see also 3:14,15; 12:32,34). It has the double
sense of “lifting up” physically onto the cross in crucifixion,
but also exaltation, as Jesus is vindicated in the fulfillment of
scripture as the promised Messiah. “Son of Man” is one of his own
favorite self-designations which is an allusion to Daniel 7:13 and the coming
in glory of the Son. Finally, as the
plan unfolds according to the predetermined purpose and foreknowledge of God,
the hearts of his sheep will be opened to the truth. All that the Father has
given Him will come. The Big Idea is: *Either we believe the truth that Jesus
is God incarnate and trust the provision that He has made for our salvation, or
we will reap the consequences of our unbelief.
III. Good News: Some will
hear and believe (30).
A short verse, but full of hope…
30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
It’s not certain that all of these had
genuine saving faith (more on that next week, see v.31!), but many at least professed
to believe that He was who he claimed to be.
Some encouragement we can take away from this is that some will hear
and believe. It’s still true that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the Word of Christ.
Each of us have people around us that we
have opportunity to share our faith with. Family members, friends, neighbors,
colleagues at work or in school. Are you
frustrated by a lack of response? Are you tired of being put down? Don’t give
up. Remember what is at stake. Whether or not they know it, the clock is
ticking, and time is short. If you try to warn them and are rejected, that may hurt,
but remember, they are not rejecting you, they are rejecting God, and eternity
is at stake. Occasionally we hear testimonies of some who it seemed would never believe, and then finally,
after years of hearing the testimony of someone around them, had their heart
softened and believed.
In the near context (chapter 7) we saw the Jewish leadership scoff at
the idea of believing in Jesus: none of the Pharisees have believed, had they?
And then, at the end of Chapter 7, Nicodemus spoke up, the one who had come to
Jesus by night in John 3, calls on his colleagues in the Sanhedrin to at least
give him a hearing. Later in Chapter 19, after the crucifixion, he goes with
Joseph of Arimathea and helps him give Jesus a respectful burial. Not many, but
even some of the Pharisees came to believe the One who is the Truth. There will
be another young pharisee named Saul in Acts 7, standing by approving when Stephen
is stoned. Later He would meet Jesus, and his eyes would be opened to the truth!
What is God saying to me in this
passage? Either we
believe the truth that Jesus is God incarnate and trust the provision that He
has made for our salvation, or we will reap the consequences of our unbelief.
What would God have me to do in
response to this passage?
1) If you are reading this today, you
could be gone tomorrow. What then? Are you ready? Are you certain? The warning has been given.
There is no excuse. The Gift is offered, will you believe and receive?
2) Believer, what does this say about
the urgency of our mission? Every person we cross paths with—every human on the
face of this planet—is facing eternity.
Will you point those around you to the Light of Life? Jesus came that we
might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly. He came not to
condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. We have been
entrusted with the Word of Life. We’ve been called to be the body of Christ in
the world. We need to reflect the Light of the world in our sphere of
influence.
3) The Lord’s Table is a moment to focus
on the Gospel, the Good News that is at the heart of the story, The Father sent
the Son, the Son gave His life, so that we could be saved, by grace, through
faith… This is how God showed His love among us! Amen.
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