The Father Who Light’s Our Way

Text: John 8:21-30

Introduction

I am constantly reminded how God has sent His light to me in different ways pointing me to the truth. Truth is as good as it’s source. Coming to understand what truth is and where all truth resides is the first greatest realization you can have outside of coming to understand your need of a Savior. Before knowing you need of a Savior, you need to know that God the Father is someone you can trust.

In our reading tonight, we witness how many were unwilling to believe who Jesus claimed to be and who his Father is. Who Jesus is, where He came from, and who His Father is makes all the difference in our hope for our time on earth and eternity.

John 17:17 “17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

John 8:32 “32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Psalm 119:160 “160 Thy word is true from the beginning: And every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”

It is very evident that Satan works really hard to keep us from the truth! The condition of many of our families and even churches bare witness to that fact! I have laboured this point for many years: The greatest help you can give yourself when facing life’s challenges is to learn more about who God is!

In our text, Jesus is spending time speaking for His Father in Heaven. He labours the point of how important it is for them to believe that He is who He claims to be; sent by the Father and equal to the Father!

John 8:26 “26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.”

What truth was sent from the Father to these unbelievers?

1) There Are Two Worlds To Choose From (v21-24)

A. They wasted the opportunities God gave them (v21-22)

They thought Jesus was going to commit suicide!

Jews were taught to honor all life.

They believed if anyone commited suicide, they would go to a place of judgement. That was there understanding of why Jesus said, “you cannot come.”

The truth at hand was this: They were heading to a place of judgement and Jesus would soon be returning to the Father in Heaven.

They were wasting their “God-given” opportunities by arguing with Jesus instead of trusting Him. One day their opportunities would be gone!

Q — Are you treating God’s truth as something to analyze instead of something to obey?

Delayed obedience is simply unbelief in disguise!

B. Their origin was from a different world (v23)

a) They were “worlds” apart in origin from Jesus

John 17:14–16 “14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

b) There will always be a distinction between Jesus and the unbeliever.

Illustration: Have you heard the phrase, “We are just worlds apart?”

Jesus said, “I am from above you are from below”

This gives us the picture that Jesus is far greater and superior.

This shapes our thinking of who He is.

As He has already established, He is equal with the Father.

This world is where everyone and every thing is cursed by sin.

This is why Jesus said, “…you will die in your sins.” To belong to your sins, is to die in your sins.

Where Christ is from is where all things are filled with the perfect holiness of the Father.

Illustration: If you are wanting help scaling a large mountain, you would be looking for someone who is at the top, not someone on the same level as you.

c) The believer does NOT belong to this world!

Q — Do you ever feel out of place in this word?

What excites you the most?

What grieves you the most?

What shapes your decisions…heaven or earth?

Luke 10:20 “20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”

Philippians 3:20–21 “20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

Illustration: Could you ever tell that someone was not from around here? Maybe someone could tell that about you.

People should be able to tell that about you! Your affection and attention should be fixed “upward.”

Those who “live in the Lord” will “die in the Lord.”

Revelation 14:13 “13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”

2) There Was One Message About Jesus (v25-27)

A. (v25) Jesus spoke the truth about who He was

Who has Jesus explained Himself to be up until this point?

The Living Word

The Christ

The Lamb of God

The Living Water

The Living Bread

The Light of the world

What works had Jesus done up to this point?

Cleansed lepers, raised the dead, cast out demons, walked on the waves, fed the hungry, etc…

Isn’t it amazing they would ask such a question at this point?

They had been given every possible evidence to prove that Jesus is the Son of God.

Q — What was Jesus saying in verse 25? He was simply saying, “Why should I waste my time teaching or demonstrating to you any new proof I am the Son of God?

There are some comforting realities found here:

Jesus is all of those things for the entire world.

Jesus remains those things for ever generation.

Jesus remains those things through every trial and tribulation.

LISTEN…you and I have no other message for this world!

Jesus said, “I am simply going to keep telling you what I have told you already.”

You and I should follow the same pattern.

B. Jesus’ identity was truth sent from the Father (v26)

There was much more Jesus had to say, but He paused to clarify that the Father of the Old Testament gave Him His words.

There is pressure to make Christianity more appealing, less exclusive, or more culturally acceptable.

3) There Would Be One Calvary Moment VERSES 28-30

VERSE 28

A. Jesus’ death and resurrection removes all doubt

Jesus lays the ground work to later prove that all He said was true through His death and resurrection.

Matthew describes the Calvary miracles, the darkening sky and the rent rocks, the opening of the graves, and the tearing in two of the temple veil. He records the testimony of the centurion and of those who were with him. “Truly this was the Son of God,” they said. Luke adds his voice, “And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned” (Luke 23:48). John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of John: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Jn 8:28a.

John 5:19 “19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”

John 5:30 “30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

LISTEN…when you circumstances are unclear, Calvary is not!

a) Through Jesus’ resurrection reveals truth about His dependence on His Father. (v28)

God knows everything. Many of the things Jesus knew, he learned the same way we learn: from his education at home and at school, from reading, meditation, and study of the word of God. Other things he learned directly from his unbroken communion with his Father. As God, he was never anything less than God; as a human being, he was never anything more than human. He was man as God intended man to be, indwelt by God and wholly dependent on God. John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of John: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Jn 8:28b.

Jesus was defining His humanity.

B. Jesus remained completely dependent on the Father (v29)

Everything he did was motivated by one sovereign principle: he was here to please his Father. It made no difference if he was helping his mother mop the floor as a boy, or if he was learning the Greek alphabet in school, or sawing a piece of wood to make a plow as the village carpenter, or preaching the sermon on the mount, or raising the dead, or weeping in Gethsemane, or dying on a Roman cross, or lying still and cold in death in Joseph’s tomb. He always did those things that pleased the Father. John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of John: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Jn 8:29.

Like that of Jesus, the Father is with us, sustains us, and therefore leads us to show our love to Him by living to please Him.

No this…what Jesus illustrated for us was this: Moment by moment, day by day, situation by situation, the Father was always with Him (except for 3 hours!)

Let us not separate “spiritual moments” from everyday life!

Notice (v29) “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone”

Conclusion

Believer — Are you sharing the truth about Jesus that the Father sent down?

Unbeliever — The Father had you in mind when He brought the truth down.