Keep His Word

Keep His Word

John 8:48-59

April 7, 2024

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Growing up with big sisters was not an easy task! I love my sister dearly but there were times when we would throw some serious words and at times, go head-to-head on things. Being the little brother, I know that I annoyed her to the ends of her mental capacity. You see, I am the perfect specimen of that annoying little brother who did not learn to use his brain until, well maybe it’ll be next year.

I remember one argument though that I still giggle at. I had managed to push her buttons and she retaliated by using her words, wisdom, and calm logic. The issue was that I was operating in a position of emotional extremes. In short, I knew I was right even if I was wrong. Christy was talking me through the errors of my argument and backing me in a corner both mentally and physically. The funny thing about it was I was literally backing in a corner so that I didn’t hit her.

As she talked, I got madder. As she proved my position was just plain dumb, I was losing my cool. Steam was coming from my ears and my blood was boiling. I knew I couldn’t strike her or dad would kill me so I backed up. Before I knew it, I had backed up into my bathroom. Before I could lock her out, she was standing in the doorway. As I was yelling, she was calmly talking me back.

In a last-ditch effort to escape, I backed into the shower and tried to push the glass sliders shut on her words. It was going well until this slender arm opened the glass to the right and started to go for the nozzle to turn the water on. She was going to turn the cold water on me and cool me off. Evil sisters.

I look back at this and I still laugh at it. Oh, I know I was wrong and to be perfectly honest, I was wrong a lot. Christy had a desire to get me to see the logic, see the truth and even gave me an opportunity to fix the situation but there was no way that my emotions would allow for that. Like this little spat between brother and sister, there are fights that we will experience daily around the little word “truth”.

Before we start outlining who is wrong, who is right and how to win arguments for selfish gain, we need to be willing to come along Christ in suffering for the greatest good, the Gospel. The main question I want to answer today is “How can we have hope in a world that is hostile toward the Word of truth and life?

When we rightly see the world through the eyes of the Word, we will see our mission field not as enemies but as lost souls needing the Word of life. But, to see this rightly, means that we will have to step into the ring of life, and we will take our shots (tribulations and sufferings) for the sake of the Gospel. We must not back away from the confrontations.

Today’s passage is one of the greatest exchanges between our Lord and the Jews. Notice, I did not say the religious leaders. John changed the title to “Jews” (His brothers) John 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. [1].

The people were now in an uproar over Jesus’s teaching. He had just said that He was the “Light of the world” (8:12-20), claimed to BE TRUTH that will set souls free in 8:31-38. Jesus' verbal exchange reveals who their real father is, the devil in John 8:45. At the end of the verbal confrontation is "But because I tell the truth you do not believe me. Now, this is the 10thconfrontation with the Jews over His identity and this one ends the 2 chapters worth of arguments.

This passage reads like a sparing match (typical fight) as one gives shots of hate, one responds with truth. One gives blows from emotional frustration, while the other logic and cool resolve.

1. Insult, response, and an invite (48-51)

Think of the worst racial slur or insult you could think of. Yep, that is like calling Jesus a Samaritan. The comment was intended to cut deep, instigate fury and cause hurt. Samaritans were considered sell out half breeds that mixed with pagan worship and bad blood lines. The Jews HATED them! Like I have said in the past, a good Jewish man would walk many miles out of his way to avoid dealing with or talking to Samaritans in any way.

Isn’t it funny how people don’t change much? For the Jews to call Jesus a Samaritan would be like a Republican calling someone a Democrat. Or vice versa. Titles are a way of isolating the victim under a title so they are less human to justify the later attack.

The title “Samaritan” is them attacking Him personally. This should not shock us or our faith. If anything, we should rejoice that He was hated. If not, He would not be the Christ.

Isaiah 53:3

3 He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not. [2]

From the beginning of time, He was going to be rejected by His brothers, reviled by sinners and rejected by men. He would be acquainted with this grief and would not be esteemed. But the insults to Him personally moved past outward insults to spiritual. They up their insults by adding, you “have a demon.”

By saying, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” they then attack His works. In no less than 5 occasions the Jews accuse Jesus for having a demon because they cannot explain the works that He did.

That was a sharp jab from the Jews but our Lord has His come back. His words are strung together with logical and factual evidence built to draw a heart, not to destroy but to invite!

Vs 49: “Jesus answered “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seek it, and He is the judge.”

Jesus steps over the Samaritan comment to again pointing them to the Father. It is the one common ground that He has with the Jews or at least that is what they are claiming. They are claiming that they are OF the Father. So, as my sister so wisely did to show me my error, Jesus used a logic that they SHOULD have got. He is pointing them to the Father! And that Father points to the Son! He is who is of the Father should be heard.

This was a gracious act by the Lord but He doesn’t stop there. The first exchange ends with the greatest act of kindness possible.

Vs 51 “Truly, truly, Is say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

This is the kindest thing Jesus could say here. It’s a personal invite, substantiated by the Father in verses 49 and 50. It is a Gospel message to those who are showing hate. The hand of peace is being extended and yet, it is being slapped away.

There is immediate application for us on this first exchange between the Jews and Jesus. The world, to include non-believers, will not understand the life a believer lives. Their lives will be like crazy talk and actions. It will gain us personal attack from both a personal level AND a spiritual level.

1 Corinthians 2:14

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned[3]

Just as Christ was attacked personally and from the works He performed, we to will be viewed with the same contempt as our Lord. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:12 saying:

12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived[4]

We should not be shocked that if we are of Christ, we will be subjected to the same treatment. But, He did not leave us un-equipped! Before we see how He has equipped us, there is another exchange in our passage.

2. Insult, response and a warning (8:52-57)

As I remember my argument with my sister, there was a point when I literally stopped hearing words. I was so hysterical, she literally could have told me I won a million dollars and I would have hated her for it. The argument with our Lord is getting to the point that even when Jesus is offering their salvation, they by-pass the invite and move closer to complete hysteria.

Vs 52 The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say…53: Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”

It’s interesting that Abraham is brought up and I do not think it is an accident. They choose to bring up the two classes of people who do nothing but point directly at HIM! What do you think that the prophets point to (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Psalm, Moses; Matthew 13:17? Then, the seed of Abraham points to who? It all points to HIM! So, now in Jesus’s response we see Him direct them back to the Father and then counters with His own jab.

Verse 54 “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me…”

I always struggle with people who say, “Yea, I believe in God and love Him but Jesus is a little hard for me to get my mind around. Oh, He was a good man but seriously, the son of God? Yea, I don’t know.” This one verse ends that train of thought! You can’t have the Father without the Son. You can’t have the Son without the Father.

“It is my Father who glorifies me.” : This concept is throughout the Word of God! All through the NT, God glorifies the Son! John 13:32, John 17:1, Acts 3:13; Hebrews 5:5 and 2 Peter 1:17 and not to mention during the fall in Genesis 3! God is glorifying the Son. In our passage today, the Son is doing the same thing back to the Father! He is pointing to the glory of the Father. The two are one. The two testify that the Son is life!

To say anything else would make Him a liar and that is why He says: “If I were to say that I do not know Him, I would be a liar like you.”

And there is the jab, you all who are blaspheming Him, dishonoring Him, are liars. This is intended to escalate to the final level of the argument, which is violence, murder. Christ exhausts all means of truth. This is an example of the human heart and its hardness. The same sun that melts the ice, hardens the clay. Which one are you?

Those who have such little regard for Him who associate Him with anything less than what He is are liars, and blasphemers. That word has lost its power today. You know why? Because we have so little care for the one whom we blaspheme. It should make us recoil in sadness but it does not.

Vs 56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

Abraham did rejoice at the coming and fulfillment of the covenant that God made through him! Did Abraham “see” Jesus’s day? Through faith, He did!

James 2:23 Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.[5]

And Hebrews 11:8-19 we read in the great faith chapter that Abraham believed and his faith is the means for His salvation! Abraham believed God and through that faith was saved. I want to make sure and answer this question. People were saved in the OT looking forward. Abraham was saved the same way we are saved today.

By grace alone, (Sola Gratia) through faith alone, (Sola Fida) in Christ alone, (solus Christus) According to Scripture alone, (Sola Scriptura) For God's Glory alone (Soli Deo Gloria). He was looking forward as we look back. Same mechanism, Christ.

Jesus used Abraham as one more attempt to get them to wake up, see the facts, understand what was at stake and yet, they continue with their disbelief. Even when we are talking with someone who does not get it, no matter the logic, we need to understand some will not see facts. We need to understand the forces at work here. They are dark, blinding, muting of ears and hostile to truth. Remember, we have an advisory who seeks to snatch away truth.

My question for us is this enough evidence that would motivate you to believe Him? Because the argument is about over.

3. Insult, Response and Argument over.

Vs 57 “So the jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”

Have you ever got into a heated argument discussion and the other person has completely and totally missed like the entire point of the discussion. It’s almost they were lapped about 20 minutes ago and they are trying to play catch up? The Jews were completely missing the point. Obviously if the discussion is about spiritual matters, the Father and glory, prophets (all dead and gone) and Abraham who was looking forward, it stands to reason that the context of the discussion is spiritual.

I know I am beating them up pretty hard right now, but they are NOT tracking with what Jesus had just said. Many commentators would say that Jesus at this point, although 30 years old, would look older than He was due to His hard life style so 50 would have been contextually a right statement IF you were not talking about spiritual matters. But, that is NOT the point. They are calling Him crazy.

But now, look at How Jesus responds:

Vs 58: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM”

And with that, the argument is over. The power statement ends any further offer of salvation. Any invite and facts to persuade are done. The words “Truly, truly” are in the Greek, the double “amen”. Meaning this could not be more true. What is true?

a. I AM: Meaning the claim to YHW identity: ego imi I am God

b. I AM: One with the Father:

John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.” It is a popular lie and deception I have heard that Jesus never claims to be God or deity. That is 100% wrong and completely a miss understanding to this statement of Christ.

c. I AM: Timeless:

Malachi 3:6 “For I the LORD do not change…”

d. I AM: Eternal: One of my favorite title for God, God the Father and God the Son is “Ancient of days.” Meaning, He was and is “before days were”. It’s an amazing way to describe a being who sits above time and space. He is and was eternal and before days.

With this, the argument is sealed. They can take no more of Him and His claim. They recognize what He was claiming and because they do not see Him as He is, they move to the final stage of the argument process, a frenzied attack. They pick up rocks to stone the very Word of Life. With that, we come to my main point for today. It is an action step for all of us and it all goes back to one statement and actually one word that Jesus said in all of this discussion.

4. Keep His Word.

That word “keep” is what it is all about for both the believer and the non-believer here today and an at the end of my voice.

Vs 51: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Here it is church, the invite of the ages. The Gospel message and way of salvation eternally is laid before us in plain language. But, to get the weight of it’s importance we must look at “keep”

Keep: tereo (TEERO) means keep; observe; to conform one’s action or practice to; to keep; to guard, watch, protect) Or as Dr. Lawson put it, “to keep is to have, hold, and keep tightly.” This one word separates those who know to those who have. Paul Washer says, “The distance between heaven and hell is 18”. The distance from your head to your heart.” This one word separates the fake from the real. This one word is what we all must know and understand!

Think of the soldier guarding, keeping, or maintaining control over a prisoner where if that prisoner escapes, that guard is killed. This is the weight of this one word. We must KEEP His Word and not just make it something that we know. We must be committed to actions as a result of keeping His word. As a keeper of His word, we will act differently, speak differently, and watch differently than the world.

What do I mean by watch? Watch our actions, watch our hearts, watch our minds. Keeping His word means doing as He commands and living like He lived and we do so as if our lives depend on it because it does. Look how verse 51 ends “he will never see death.” Stands to assume that if we don’t “keep His word” means we will die!

Turn with me to Matthew 13:44-46

“44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. [6]

Are you and I willing to sell everything to keep this great treasure? His Word is what is our only hope for life. Notice that in both the one who bought the field and the merchant gave everything to have that great treasure. Yes, keeping His word will cost us. It must. Jesus said it will cost us, but the price is worth the treasure.

There is a cost and we must understand it. In John 13:15-16 and 16:33 Jesus said that a slave is not greater than His master. Meaning, what He went through, we too will go through. We may not have a cross in our future, but if we “keeping” His word, the world is not going to like that. There will be serious push back. We will experience what He did:

A. Being Insulted : 8:48

B. Being demeaned 8:54, 57

C. Being Attacked 8:59

Church, I do not want to seem dark and gloomy, but it is on our door steps. In my life I would never have thought it possible that our president, as pagan as he is would have the audacity to make March 31st trans remembrance day. Or, never in my lifetime would we be talking about trans! Or, never in my widest dreams would religion, Christianity be so attacked. It’s not going to be better as time goes on. He said it would happen.

Before we run for the cliff and give up, we need to remember that there is a sovereign God who, in His providence has ordained all things that are happening in our world. While we are here, He has equipped us on how to respond!

We must follow His example. Like our Lord we must:

a. Respond in truth: Know the truth. My greatest concerned for our church and the body of Christ is that we are so ignorant of the Word. Notice how Jesus said that “Keep my word.” How can I keep what I don’t know? Listen, I only take 40 minutes of your week. You cannot survive on 40 minutes of preaching. You must KNOW His word to keep in.

b. Respond in Love: Know Love. Interesting, how do we know what love, true love is? Yep, it’s IN HIS WORD. Here are some great verses to remember:

Prov 12:16

The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.

Or

James 1:26

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

Or

Proverbs 11:12

Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.

I feel like a lot of us know truth but lack love. I want us to “KEEP” His word so that we respond like He did. There is a time for direct conversations but there is a way to do so in love.

c. Respond in boldness: Know boldness.

I am horrified by the story of the little churches that beside the rail way in Germany while the Nazis packed jews into cattle cars enroute to concentration camps. In order for them to not hear the screams they sang louder.

Is that happening now? Are we too busy turning up our music so we don’t hear the world around us burn? Well maybe not physically. But parents, our kids are in the fight of their lives and we must be engaged enough to stop the trains that are trying to steal our next generations.

THE UNBELIEVERS ASIDE:

Maybe you’re here today and you do not know Jesus. Do not harden your heart like the jews and those who think so little about eternal issues. We all have a knowledge of the eternal but do we have a knowledge of the words that will keep us alive through eternity? Jesus came, and argued with the Jews so that you can see the weight of evidence of who He is. He came so that sinners like you, may have the cost of your sin paid for in full. He came, a perfect sacrifice, and perfect payment for the wrath of a Holy God towards sin. His payment paid all of the debt you can not so that you may be a child of the Most High.

For the unbeliever, I had one last thought. In our passage, there came a time when the argument was over. No more discussion, no more debate, He was gone. Every day the unbeliever is not willing to recognize who He is, is one less day you have in the debate. Soon, the discussion is over. Then what?

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me. Now believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will have eternal life.

Conclusion:

Is there a reason to celebrate? Sure there is! For those who have sold it all for that field, given all for that pearl, we have eternal life and that is worth celebrating! We can rest in the fact that we are keeping His word! I challenge each of us to keep His word every day.