The Great I Am

Intro

We have been working for a while now through a conversation Jesus has been having with the Jews at the Feast of Tabernacles, which has had this theme of a great tension thats been building.

This morning, this conversation is going to reach its boiling point. In it, we are going to see Jesus finally come out and say the thing that he’s been hinting at, the thing which the Jews were nervous about him saying, and the thing which is finally going to push them over the edge and into a bloodthirsty rage.

This morning, we will see Jesus tell the Jews that he is the only source of true and eternal life, that God the Father is the one who proves this to be the case, and that Jesus can be this source of life because he is none other than God himself, who we call the second person of the Trinity, God the Son.

Jesus is the only one who can give us real life

State: Jesus leads the people to himself and his word, nobody else. He is claiming to be the exclusive source of life.

John 8:48–51 ESV

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying 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. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Immediately at the start we begin to realize that the Jews are feeling defeated in this conversation. We can tell this because they are reverting to the same tactics all sinful people revert to when they are losing an argument and find that every talking point they’ve brought up is being systematically dismantled by their opponent. They begin to spout absurd and false claims about Jesus, claiming that he must be demon-possessed and a Samaritan, which in their vocabulary would have acted like a racial slur.

Jesus calmly responds, refuting their claims and continuing to preach the truth about himself even into the face of this hateful spew.

He continues to teach them, even this hateful rabble, that if anyone keeps his word, that person will never see death.

Now this is a wonderful truth to all who believe, and a despicable thing to hear for anyone who does not believe. To those who believe his word, who recognize Jesus as the life-giver, this is a truth that they wouldn’t trade for the world; and why should they? They believe that in Christ they have come to inherit true and eternal life! What else in this world could possibly be worth that in a trade?

But to those who don’t believe, these are the words of an egotistical maniac that can’t be trusted and is dangerous for people to listen to

So why does Jesus choose this setting and these people to teach these things?

Remember the setting: Jesus is currently speaking to those Jews who claimed to believe in his teachings. Jesus is revealing to them what he already knew: they didn’t really believe. They were going along with some of what he said, but they weren’t ready to bow their knees in worship. He knew that those who claimed to believe in him were still looking for life in other things. In this case, they were trusting in their bloodline (vv.52-54)

John 8:52–53 ESV

The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”

These are those kinds of false believers who like a lot of what Jesus has to say, but they can’t go along with what they would describe as the “extreme” aspects of his views. In reality, this ends up making them hate Jesus, because it is impossible to have only a version of Jesus that you like best without hating the person that he really is.

Notice here that Jesus is not content with letting them believe half-truths about him. Jesus is no politician simply trying to garner as many votes as he can get, content to say the right words to the right people at the right time so that he can win as many as possible by any means necessary. Jesus insists that they understand the truth, the full truth, about him.

And why does Jesus do this? Is Jesus some kind of a cage-stagey, argumentative intellectual that gets a kick out of torturing the fine points of theology with everyone who doesn’t agree with his every point? Is he insisting on his points because he needs to win the argument?

Or is he continuing down this path because he knows that if people are content to believe in Jesus as a moral teacher they are still damned to hell and without hope?

You see, Jesus continues to pry into the faith of these false believers because he knows that the type of faith they have displayed is not a saving faith. He knows it isn’t a saving faith because it isn’t a faith that is resting in Christ for salvation and righteousness; they are insisting on trusting in their status as children of Abraham for that. If Jesus just acted friendly, allowing them to hold on to their idols and be buddy-buddy with him, he would be getting them comfortable in their death. They would think that they have life, and in reality they are still as spiritually dead as they’ve ever been.

Apply:

What do these words mean for us? Have you come to understand who Jesus is, and what he is offering you? Church is a wonderful place to raise a family, find community, get help in tough times, and stabilize your destructive tendencies; but is that all this is?

We must be careful that we aren’t approaching Jesus as anything less than the one and only source of true and eternal life. While it is true that he provides many benefits to us, and there are many likable qualities that Jesus possesses, but to chase those benefits without trusting him for eternal life would be like receiving a life-threatening wound and then going to the hospital for lunch. Sure they have food there, but wouldn’t you be missing the point? Isn’t that an ironic way to die?

Whatever attracts you to Jesus, you cannot miss this one all-important point: To trust in Jesus for your righteousness, and in him alone, is the only source of eternal and true life.

Transition:

There should be a part of us that at least understands why the Jews hate Jesus so much for what he is saying. We can perhaps sympathize with their position, and realize that we may have acted in the same way. You can imagine if a preacher came up into the pulpit, began teaching wonderful truths from the Scriptures, but then started to teach that they all point us directly to himself, you would start to become uncomfortable. If he then began to say that if anyone believes in his words, then they will never die, your level of discomfort might even turn to anger and insult.

And to be fair to you, that should make you wildly uncomfortable and perhaps even angry if someone did that today. The difference between us and the Jews at the time is that they were living in the time when they were expecting the Messiah, and we are living in the time after he has already come. They were supposed to be looking for such a one, whereas we already worship him after his first coming and wait expectantly for his return.

But this leads us to our next point we glean from this text: God the Father is the one who proves that Jesus was telling the truth, that he is the source of life.

God the Father proves that Jesus is the source of life

State: The Father has shown us that Jesus is truly the source of life.

John 8:49–50 ESV

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 seeks it, and he is the judge.

Jesus here is showing that his claims are not to be validated by himself, but by his Father. The truth concerning his claims will be judged and vindicated by God, and in this fact Jesus has absolute confidence.

God will vindicate the claims of Christ in many ways, and we will focus on three here quickly: By his Word in the Scriptures, by his Resurrection from the dead, and by his Ascension into heaven.

By His Word

John 8:54–55 ESV

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.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.

Jesus here claims that it is the Father who is giving Jesus glory, the same God who the Jews claim to worship. Jesus gives a sharp rebuke here though that the Jews actually don’t even know the Father, whereas Jesus is in true communion with him.

The proof that Jesus brings forward to justify this claim is that he keeps the Father’s word, whereas the Jews are ignorant of it. This is true in a couple of ways.

First of all, Jesus has proven by this point that his understanding of the Scriptures is far more profound than any of the Scribes or Pharisees. In his sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, he showed that they had a serious inadequacy in their understanding of the law and how it applied to the people, and in this case, he is showing them that they are seriously deficient in their understanding of the coming Messiah. While they had the prophecies, the Scriptures to prepare them to receive the Christ when he came, here they can’t help but fight him when he’s in front of them.

Second of all, Jesus actually obeys the law in a way that no Jew ever had before. While the Jews of his time had been content to soften the requirements of the law, Jesus didn’t relax a single point of it while remaining completely innocent of all of it. So not only did Jesus not commit adultery, but he never lusted in his heart. Not only did he not murder, but he never harbored sinful anger towards a person in his heart.

If the people knew God’s word, they would have known that Jesus was the Christ; but in fact they did not know, and so they condemn him, insult him, attempt to destroy him.

Jesus takes this a step further when he brings Abraham back into the discussion

John 8:56 ESV

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

Jesus grants them for just a moment that they are indeed physically descended from Abraham — while at the same time showing them just how alien they were to Abraham’s faith.

Jesus says something rather shocking here — that Abraham, who died some 2000 years ago, saw the day of Christ and rejoiced. In stark contrast to these people in front of him who thoroughly hate Jesus and what he is claiming to be, Abraham treasured Jesus and everything that he stood for. But in what sense did Abraham “see” Jesus, and in what sense did he rejoice? While there are a couple of possiblities as to what Jesus meant here, one things seems clear to most commentators:

Jesus is referring to the typology that Abraham witnessed and discerned while he was still alive. He was there when God made the covenant with him and swore to keep his promises, he was there when God provided the goat as a sacrifice in place of Isaac. He would have known about the story of God’s promise to Adam in the garden, and he would have rejoiced in the coming Son who would crush Satan. This is well in keeping with the concept that Hebrews 11 discusses, as the Old Testament saints having died in faith rather than in fulfilment, having only seen the things God promised as being still far off.

What is absolutely certain here is that Jesus is claiming to have Abraham on his side, and in fact is claiming that Abraham’s hope was built upon what Jesus would bring with him to Earth; and so proving the point that these unbelievers were no children of Abraham at all, but children of the devil.

But once again, Jesus is showing them that his vindication will not just come from himself as a human being, but from the will of God his Father. Even when he showed himself to be innocent, the court of public opinion still raged against him. It wouldn’t be that day right then when he would be fully acquitted by God, but a day coming soon. After the Officers finally get their sinful desire and put Jesus to death, his final vindication would come three days later.

By His Resurrection

Romans 1:4 ESV

and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

By raising Jesus from the dead, the Father was showing the entire watching world that everything Jesus said was true. If Jesus were the liar that the Jews claimed he was, and if he was truly a blasphemer as they accused him of, then certainly the Father would have been content to let him rot in the grave for the heinous crimes he had committed.

But in fact Jesus was no sinner, no blasphemer, no liar, and God the Father showed this to be unequivocally true by raising him from the dead.

And as if that weren’t enough, Jesus is further vindicated when he ascends into heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand.

By His Ascension

Ephesians 1:22 ESV

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

Jesus even now is seated with the Father, further proof of his vindication.

And to a world that today often still rejects the claims of Christ, we look forward to one last day when the vindication will ring out for all time to come when he comes again.

By His Return

This is an important point for Christians to remember. While it is our duty to honor God in all we do and say, and to fight to preserve the truth of the gospel in our churches, it is not our responsibility to vindicate the claims of Christ in the public eye. This is not something that we are capable of doing. Rather, we can have full confidence that God will finally make the truth known to the whole world when Jesus returns to judge.

Illustrate: Henry McCollum and Leon Brown

Two young men, 19 and 15, who were accused of horrific crimes against an 11 year old girl in 1983.

Though there was no evidence linking them to the crimes in any way, authorities coerced these young men, who struggled with intellectual disabilities, into signing false confessions. During their trial, the officials prevented real evidence from entering the case which could have led to acquitting the boys.

As a result, they were sentenced to death and sat in prison for 31 years until an advocacy group took up their case and presented new testing on the evidence. With the techonological advancement since the crime was committed, DNA testing was conducted and

Apply:

And by the way, there will be times when you are denied justice in this life. While there is no excuse for it, and while injustice is a serious and vile sin, those who are suffering from it can find themselves in the company of Jesus Christ, who gives them hope for today and true justice for tomorrow.

Those of us who suffer in the court of public opinion can look back to Christ’s own false conviction and find peace in his public acquittal, his resurrection from the dead.

We can look forward to his promise to come back again, which will be the day of our own public acquittal. On that day, all those who are in Christ will be exalted and glorified in the sight of everyone. All those who have acted unjustly and have not repented will be put to shame, and the truth will come into the light for all to see.

This is our inevitable future, the source of all our joy and hope for eternal life.

Transition: So we see that Jesus’ words are true, validated by God the Father: He is the only source of eternal life. But how is that possible? How can someone not only offer eternal life, but actually provide it?

The reason Jesus can give life is because he is God

State: Jesus shows us that he is truly the “Great I AM,” the Almighty God who reigns over everything in all of creation, even over life and death.

John 8:57–58 ESV

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.”

This is a sentence that sounds weird to us in English, but that’s not any translators fault. This sentence isn’t only grammatically strange in English, but in the original Greek as well. That’s because Jesus is doing something very specific — and very controversial to his listeners. This is something we have mentioned in previous sermons, because Jesus has been using a phrase here that up until this point was likely making people slightly uncomfortable, but was perhaps a bit ambiguous before. Jesus uses “ego eimi” to refer to himself at several points in these last few chapters, a bit strange because its a duplication that reads something like “I am I am.” This is significant because it is reminiscent of when God revealed himself and took the name “I am that I am” when he met with Moses in the burning bush.

But here, things are no longer simply reminiscent or ambiguous. The way Jesus speaks here cannot be misunderstood — he is taking for himself the name that the LORD gave himself all those years ago. This is undeniably a claim to the divine nature.

When they ask Jesus, “who do you think you are? How do you expect us to believe you’ve seen Abraham?” Jesus responds by saying that he isn’t only older then Abraham, but he has no beginning and no end. He isn’t simply ancient, he is eternal. He isn’t merely a good man — he is God Almighty.

And by the way — I recognize that there are many even in our own city who try to say that Jesus never claimed to be God. We can know for certain that this claim was to divinity just by the reaction we see from the Jews. Those who up until now had been irritated and angry with Jesus, upon hearing these words from him, immediately attempt to murder him on the spot. This is because the Law prescribes death for anyone who blasphemes God, and the Jews understood the clear connection Jesus was making between himself and the Lord.

Jesus shows that he is superior to Abraham both in chronology and in position. He is prior to Abraham as concerns his existence — Jesus being God never began to exist in the first place, he simply always has been and always will be.

But he is also superior to Abraham in the position that he holds in that eternal existence. Jesus is not like the other prophets or patriarchs — Jesus is infintely more important than all of them.

This is how Jesus can make a promise for eternal life in him — a promise that would sound ridiculous coming from an average teacher, but something well within the power of God to grant to whoever he wishes.

Apply:

This is the Jesus we have come to behold in the Scriptures. This is the Jesus who history has told us about. This is the Jesus who was wrongfully murdered to take upon himself the sins of the world. This is the Jesus who resurrected from the dead three days later. This is the Jesus who ascended into heaven, who even right now is sitting at the right hand of God the Father. This is the Jesus who sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of all who receive his word. This Jesus is God, and this Jesus is Savior, the giver of eternal life to all who repent and believe in his word.

As we live our lives, let us be careful never to allow ourselves to believe that he is anything less than what he claimed to be; and let our lives be marked as ones who have come to behold God as Savior.

May we all approach Jesus Christ with hearts that trust him, rest in his work, and seek our life from his own. Jesus has made this possible, Jesus has provided this life for you. May we bow down in worship to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

FCF: We hold up idols in the place that only Jesus ought to occupy

CFC: Jesus is God and the only source of eternal life

Other great philosophers and historical figures tried leading people to a greater reality, but Jesus leads us to himself. His word carries eternal life.

Jesus is both chronologically and positionally before Abraham

chronologically in eternity, positionally as divine

So,

Jesus is the only one who can promise us true and eternal life

The Father proves that Jesus can do that

Jesus can do that because he is God.

Therefore, come to Jesus, live in his word, enjoy the life that only he can give.