The Pharisees Denial

We have not mentioned this is in a couple of weeks so here goes:

The purposes for John’s gospel are clearly stated.

John 20:30–31 NKJV

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

Purpose #1 To prove that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God

Purpose #2 TO have eternal life you must believe in Jesus Christ.

After the incident with the woman caught in adultery, Jesus and the Pharisees had a lengthy exchange with Jesus applying the full-court press trying to turn the Pharisees over from trusting in the Law to believing in Him as the Son of God.

We are going to pick up that conversation in verse 28.

1. The Revealing Nature of the Cross.

John 8:28–30 NKJV

Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

“When you lift up the Son 0f Man, then you will know that I AM He”

Jesus had used this phrase before in John’s gospel.

John 3:14–15 NKJV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

It is clear that Jesus is telling the Pharisees that the Cross, or the lifting up of Jesus, was going to be an iconic event.

Think about the Cross.

Think of all the different and unusual events that happened that day.

I can think of total darkness.

I can think of dead men resurrected and walking the streets of Jerusalem.

I can think of soldiers gambling for His clothes.

I can think of the mocking and cursing of Jesus Christ.

None of those however identified Jesus as the Christ.

What revealed Jesus as the Christ was the Cross.

Do you remember what Isaiah said?

Isaiah 53:3–8 NKJV

He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

It is the Cross who revealed Jesus as the Christ. The Cross fulfilled what Isaiah and David prophesied and others.

The Cross was the reality that Moses pictured with the brazen serpent raised up in the wilderness.

“I always do the things that please Him.”

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross was God’s will.

It was Jesus Christ who was appointed by God to die for the sins of man. Only Jesus Christ could complete such a task.

Philippians 2:5–10 NKJV

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth.

John 8:31–32 NKJV

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

What did Jesus say just a few days later?

John 14:6 NKJV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Dear friend, Jesus Christ is the truth, and if you are going to have eternal life, you are going to have it through Jesus Christ. Every page of the Bible points to Jesus and Him paving the way to eternal life.

Keep this in mind:

John 8:30–31 NKJV

As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.

2. Saved or Lost?

A. A Lack of Understanding

John 8:33 NKJV

They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”

The Jews totally missed the boat. I am going to tell you, in my humble opinion, they remained lost. They believed Jesus was different. They believed Jesus was special, but even in the passage, they are missing the point for why they needed Jesus.

Now, I cannot hardly believe they said they had never been in bondage.

Egyptians

Babylonians

Persians

Greeks

Romans

Israel had been in bondage to all those nations, but that was not the bondage Jesus was talking about. Jesus was talking about the bondage all people are in because of SIN.

They were still holding to the Law. They thought the Law made them righteous. They had never been in bondage, but as they are speaking, they are in bondage. Sin had a firm grip on them, and Jesus knew it.

Jesus, not to leave the Jews dangling by a thread over the fires of hell, explains to them the enslaving power of sin.

John 8:34–38 NKJV

Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”

It is sin that enslaves.

Now, Jesus Christ says that anyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin. What do you think about that?

I know what Paul said for Christians about the subject.

Romans 6:1–4 NKJV

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Sin enslaves people, and I mean all people including Christians which is why we are gifted with the Holy Spirit when we are saved. As soon as a person is saved, the Holy Spirit surgically removes the old nature in an attempt to keep us falling into the trap of sin.

Colossians 2:11–13 NKJV

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

Jesus Christ set us free the moment we believed in Him as the Son of God who died for our sins and who was resurrected on the third day.

These Jews did not truly grasp how sinful they were; they could not give up their ethnic pride to be saved.

B. A Denial of the Nature of Christ.

John 8:39–41 NKJV

They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”

By denial of Jesus’s nature I mean that they were denying that He was God and He was Man.

The Jews said we were not born out of fornication.

Do you realize what they were saying about Jesus and Mary?

They were denying who Jesus was.

Were they saved or lost?

Jesus tells them that Abraham did not speak in God’s authority. It was Jesus who was speaking and doing what He had been told by the Father, and the Jews response was to accuse Jesus of being a product of fornication.

It is at that point that Jesus had had it up to about here.

C. A Stinging Rebuke

John 8:42–47 NKJV

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

Jesus tells the Jews that they could not understand Him because they did not belong to God.

Are they saved or lost?

Jesus tells them that they are of the Devil.

Can you imagine what they thought about that?

They were so prideful and so stringently kept the Law and Jesus tells them that they belong to the Devil. They are liars and murderers just like Satan.

Jesus tells them you are not of God. These Jews were having the opportunity of a lifetime, but in rejection, they dismissed Jesus, and He rejected them.

Jesus asks them, “which of you convicts me of sin?” The answer is none of them could, but He convicted them of sin when He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

The Jews, unmoved by the words of the Master, make a blasphemous accusation toward Jesus.

John 8:48–52 NKJV

Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly 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. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.’

The Jews accuse Jesus Christ of being demon-possessed. That was their only explanation for Jesus saying that a person could have eternal life by believing in what He was saying.

Can you imagine calling the Son of God the Devil?

It was at that point that Jesus gave one of the greatest responses in the Bible, but it was also the final straw in the eyes of the Jews.

John 8:53–59 NKJV

Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

I cannot tell you how incensed these Jews were when Jesus, once again, says I AM. They became so mad that they were ready to kill Him on the spot. Jesus was identifying Himself to them, yet they denied who Jesus was.