What More Do You Need?

Intro:

Welcome back! It is so wonderful to be here with you today. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I hope everyone had lots of fun and is ready to do it all over again in one month at Christmas. Go ahead and open your Bibles to John chapter 8. We will be jumping into verse 12.

Before I go any further, some of you might be thinking, “Arlen, we are walking through John. We just finished chapter 7. What gives? Are we really skipping the first 11 verses of John 8?”

No, we are not. We are going to focus on those 11 verses tomorrow on the Follow Up podcast. If you do not know what the Follow Up is, it is a weekly podcast we do with the teaching pastors every Monday. You can find it on YouTube, so go listen.

As for today, we are diving into God’s Word, starting in verse 12 and going through verse 30.

The major theme of this passage is a dispute. Actually, two major disputes. The first is a dispute over the testimony of Jesus, and the second is a dispute over the name and identity of Jesus. In fact, the Pharisees push back on Jesus four separate times in the next 18 verses. I can remember early on in my marriage with Adi, we’ve been married 8 years, together for 10, but within my first year, we weren’t the strongest at communicating. In fact, Adi, whom I love dearly and I would do this thing- where we would do something to anger the other person. Unintentionally, of course. Dumb stuff too, like eating the rest of some leftovers without asking or saving some for the other person. And instead of you know, being adults and talking about what was bothering us, we would internalize it. And Adi, was famous for having arguments with me in her mind. Now, in her mind, she’d have a full argument with me in her mind and I would apparently, in her mind, respond in a rude way. And that would anger her, even more! Only for her to find out… I would never say any of the things she thought that I would say if we were to have those arguments! And that, church, is how we interact with God and Jesus today. We think and assume things about His character, we put words in His mouth, and we assume He’d do something that He in fact, never would. And we then get mad at Him for it. Or are surprised when He shows us that his character is different. That is the core of what is going on in this message with the pharisees and Jesus. Jack and I titled this message, “What More Do You Need?” We chose this because even when we have all the evidence in the world, sometimes we still refuse to see Jesus for who He truly is.

And I know some of you might think, “Arlen, I am at church. What do you mean that I am refusing to see Jesus?” Well, I love you, so I am going to say this: not everyone who comes to church is here to see Jesus. Some of you are part of the “drug” ministry. Someone dragged you to church this morning.

For others, we may say we are open, but our hearts and minds are closed. We may have preconceptions about Jesus that we refuse to let go of. We like what we like, and we do not want anything or anyone to influence us. Sometimes the baggage we carry or the expectations we hold can cloud our ability to see truth, even when it is the truth of the Holy Spirit knocking on our front door. We plant flags, we make strong statements, and we become so settled in our ideas that we cannot hear what God might be trying to say.

Sometimes the Jesus we create in our own minds is not the Jesus we meet in the New Testament. That is exactly what we see in this passage. The Pharisees had an idea of what they wanted God to be, and Jesus did not fit that idea.

And the reason we are reading this today is because we do not want to be like those guys. Amen?

Let me pray, and then we will walk through this section of Scripture with a fine-tooth comb and learn who Jesus really is.

#1: All the Proof You Need

John 8:12 NIV

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

I want us to read this verse together because it is such a wonderful truth! Here is a little bit of context: As we have walked through John, you may have noticed references tot he Old Testament. You may have noticed the reference to mana in John 6 when Jesus says, “I am the bread of life” You may have noticed the reference to water that flowed from the rock. and now Jesus is equating himself to the pillar of fire that led Israel through the darkness in Exodus. Jesus is also teaching in the temple during Jesus is also teaching in the temple area during the Feast of Tabernacles. During this feast they would light large candles and torches that illuminated the entire temple. The temple would glow and light up the city. In a time without streetlights, the temple shone brightly in the darkness. It is against this backdrop that Jesus stands up and says, “I am the light of the world.” He uses an object lesson to say, “I am the true light. I am the one who leads you.” As He says this, the Pharisees do not like it. Jesus makes the claim that whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. He is saying that we will not be wandering like the children of Israel without a pillar to guide us. Instead, we have the light of life. Now, look at how the pharisees respond:

John 8:13 NIV

The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

They are calling Him a Liar. Here is what’s happening: Jesus stands up in the temple, with all the glowing lights of the feast behind Him, and says, “You are missing it. I am the light of the world. I am your guide.” And the Pharisees respond by saying, “You, sir, are lying.”

How does Jesus respond?

John 8:14–18 NIV

Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

Jesus is saying “I am right. You are wrong.” He is saying, “I have a wisdom you do not have.” They were trying to trap Him with the Law. They were saying, “You need two witnesses, and all you have is yourself.” And Jesus replies, “I have two witnesses. God and the Son of God. Is that enough for you?” Some of us think, “Well, Arlen, I have never called Jesus a liar.” But we live in a culture where many people do call Jesus a liar, and they call the church that represents Him liars too. We need to remember that Jesus does not just tell the truth. He is the truth. We do not go to Jesus for answers. He is the answer. It is important that we represent Jesus as He really is. He is not just a good teacher who said nice things. He is the Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the great I Am. He is the standard of truth and the standard of goodness. He is the King. So when we talk about Jesus, let us talk about Him correctly. He is not just a guy with good ideas. He is the God of the universe. As he says he is! Then Jesus and the Pharisees have this little dialogue:

John 8:18–20 NIV

I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.” Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

They were talking about Joseph, the lowercase father. Jesus was talking about God, the uppercase Father. Because they were so focused on the letter of the Law, they completely missed who Jesus was. They accuse Him of being ridiculous. They say, “You claim to have a witness, but he is not here.” And Jesus essentially says, “You would not recognize Him even if He stood right in front of you.” Jesus is not being ridiculous. He is not lying. They are simply speaking two different languages. They are not on the same page at all. Jesus is telling them, “Your view of God is wrong. I am the true revelation of God.” What I want us to understand is this: let us not have a Pharisee-like view of God. We do not need proof in a courtroom. We do not need some grand speech about the heavens. We do not need scientific data. None of those things are required to know that God is who He says He is. You want evidence? It is Jesus. He is truly the light of the world. Talk to anyone who has walked with him! Listen to the stories of the marriages He’s restored. Listen to the stories of the people who’ve had tumors shrunk seemingly overnight. Listen to the people, who through the strenghth of God were able to overcome: addiction, lust, anger, jealousy! He is exactly who He says He is. Jesus is either enough evidence for you or He is not. But God’s plan was to send us Jesus, and Jesus is enough. Amen? And Jesus says, “You do not know me or my Father. If you knew me you would know my Father also.”

#2: All the proof you will get

John 8:21–24 NIV

Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?” But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

And they then get confused. And they are like, “Hey, is Jesus going to kill himself?” They are misunderstanding what He is saying. And Jesus corrects them. I am not from here. I am from another world. If you do not believe that, you will die in your sins. What in the world does that mean? In fact, He says it multiple times. Verse 21, 23, and 24. And I want us to understand this about Bible study. Repetition is important. If you read something multiple times, it is important. The phrase in which He is saying “die in your sins” is very pointed. The first time is singular. It is the sin of unbelief. Not believing God is who He says He is. And the second is the way in which we live our lives. The multiple mistakes we make and the very nature of our sinful desires. But the gist of it is this: you will die in a way that your sins are not taken care of. And you will not be able to join Jesus. I want us to understand this from a fundamental level. Jesus is saying, “You want to come with me? Believe in me. You want atonement for your life? Believe in me. Want to be close to me? Believe in me. Want to be near the Father? Believe in me.” That is the only way. Nothing else can happen. Look, He says it very clearly right here. You will be puzzled and look for Jesus, but you never believed in Him. You will die in your sin. You do not believe He is who He says He is. You will die in your sins. There is one way. Everyone say “one way.” And that way is Jesus. I do not want us to be the group that misunderstands what Jesus is saying like the Jewish people we read about. Jesus is the way. Let me paint it hopefully even more clear. If we believe the good things of Jesus, but we deny that He was God, then we do not believe in Jesus. If we believe that Jesus was a good man, but we do not believe that He is the “I Am,” then we do not believe in Jesus. If we believe that Jesus was a good teacher with strong moral teachings, but we do not believe that He was sent from the Father, then we do not believe in Jesus. This point is titled “all the proof you will get” because it is true. Jesus is the answer to the world’s problems. He was not just a good guy. He is the guy. You cannot make Jesus in our image. We were made in His. He is not just the Jesus of love or just the Jesus of acceptance. Jesus is telling this crowd, get it right. He is the King of Kings. He is more than our single impression of Him. Imagine you came up to me tomorrow and said, “Arlen, you are a great preacher. I think you are awesome. I am excited to come to Lawrence. But I do not like your wife and daughters. So can you do something about that?” My response? I do not want you at my ministry. “Arlen, that is not very nice of you!” Well, I am not in heaven yet, so I am not perfect. But my response is you either love me and my family, or you do not love me at all. Let us not misunderstand who He is at all. Jesus’s mission is not to make you your own version 2.0. It is to restore you and make you in His image and restore you. If we live our lives before we have chosen to believe and follow the God who is who He says He is, we die in our sins. And that is a horrible place to be But lets keep reading:

John 8:25–30 NIV

“Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

And here is what is going on. This response, “Who are you?” Some might read this as confusion, but other commentaries I read mentioned the Pharisees might be angry at Jesus in this moment. Why? Because I want us to see that Jesus says several times the phrase “I am,” and for many of us, we understand that this is a call back to when Moses speaks to the burning bush and he asks the bush a question: “Who do I tell them sent me?” And God responds with “I Am.” And fast forward all this way and Jesus is saying, “I am the I Am.” I am the same “I Am” that existed with Moses. And it probably made these guys mad. It might have confused them. And their response is, “Who are you?” And Jesus responds with, “I am the guy I have been telling you about from the beginning. I am not some crazy guy.”

They again do not understand. But Jesus is saying, “When you have lifted me up, when I go to the cross, when I am exalted, when I do the very thing I was sent here to do, you will recognize that I am who I say I am. That I am His, and I am King, and I am for you.” All of this poses a question I have for you: What else do you need? As I wrote this message- I was really tyring to decide how I wanted to end it. I thought maybe, I could add some fun history facts for you! Or maybe I could tell you some more fun scientific stuff that proves the existence of a creator. Or the fact that for over 2000 years, people haven’t been able to disprove the name of Jesus, and many who have tried have failed. But as I sat there, it hit me in the face. Arlen, just tell them who Jesus is. Truly. So… here we go: Jesus is the Eternal Son of God, older than time and unbound by space, the One who stood before the universe existed and spoke light into a darkness that had never known illumination. Nothing about Him is accidental. He is the mind behind the laws of physics, the voice that thundered at Sinai, the presence that filled the temple, the fire that led Israel through the wilderness, the commander of heaven’s armies. Every covenant, every sacrifice, every prophet, every king was pointing ahead to Him. And when humanity was drowning in its own rebellion, He did not stay distant. He stepped in. The infinite God took on skin, entering a world that would misunderstand Him, reject Him, use Him, and ultimately try to erase Him. He grew up with splinters in His hands, dust on His feet, and the weight of divine purpose in His chest. He healed the sick with a touch, calmed storms with a word, cast out demons with a command, and preached with an authority that made the self-righteous tremble. He never sinned, not once, not for a second, yet He walked straight toward a cross He did not deserve. He allowed His own creation to mock Him, beat Him, rip the beard from His face, press thorns into the head that designed galaxies, and nail His sinless body to wood. And He did it willingly because the joy of saving you was set before Him. On that cross, He carried the full record of our guilt, absorbed the wrath we earned, and declared with His dying breath, “It is finished.” Three days later He shattered death from the inside out, folded His grave clothes, walked out of His tomb in resurrected power, and appeared to eyewitnesses who would rather die than deny what they saw. He ascended into heaven, not to retire, but to reign, seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for His people, ruling over nations, directing history toward the day He returns in unmatched glory. And when He comes again, every knee will bow, not out of coercion, but because His majesty will be undeniable. He will judge evil with finality, restore creation to its original beauty, wipe every tear from every eye of every believer, and dwell with His people forever. This is Jesus, eternal, holy, unstoppable, crucified, risen, reigning, and returning, the King worth trusting, worth worshiping, worth following with your whole life. The King who does not ask for our applause but deserves our allegiance. This is our God. This is King Jesus. I ask again… what more do you need?