Who are You?

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 8

21 Then he said to them again, “I’m going away; you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.”

22 So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill himself, will he, since he says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’?”

23 “You are from below,” he told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

25 “Who are you?” they questioned.

“Exactly what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. 26 “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him—these things I tell the world.”

27 They did not know he was speaking to them about the Father. 28 So 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 on my own. But just as the Father taught me, I say these things. 29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”

TRUTH AND FREEDOM

30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

21 Then he said to them again, “I’m going away; you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill himself, will he, since he says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’?”

22 So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill himself, will he, since he says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’?”

23 “You are from below,” he told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

25 “Who are you?” they questioned. “Exactly what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. 26 “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him—these things I tell the world.”

“Exactly what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. 26 “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him—these things I tell the world.”

27 They did not know he was speaking to them about the Father. 28 So 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 on my own. But just as the Father taught me, I say these things.

29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

TRUTH AND FREEDOM

Introduction:

30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

In this passage, we see Jesus asserting his identity and the inability of his listeners to comprehend what he is saying and therefore they miss his identity altogether. The light of the world is standing before them and speaking to them, and they are in the dark. This explains the urgency of the human condition. Apart from faith in Christ, belief in who he is, humanity is in the dark spiritually. This back and forth debate with the religious people of his day should be a warning to us to ensure that it is not religious tradition that we need to have faith in, but Jesus himself.

Jesus’ words here prompt a question that we see in verse 25, “Who are you?” This question is the title for this morning’s message. I pray that by the end of our time together this morning that you have the answer to that question concerning who Jesus is and that God reveals to you who you are, that is are you a follower of Jesus - affirming his identity and seeking to obey him?

Notice first:

I. The Darkness of Human Wisdom

Jesus’ words concerning his departure in verse 21 open the door for debate. For several chapters now in the gospel of John, Jesus has been declaring the message concerning his identity - God in the flesh - and also the kingdom. We need to remember that Jesus is speaking here to religious leaders - men who knew the Bible and traditions of their faith. Yet, what we continually see is the darkness of unbelief in their hearts. The reason for this is:

An Earthly Focus

These men are trying to make judgments concerning faith from a purely human or earthly perspective. Jesus statement to them concerning going away leads them to believe that the Lord is speaking about suicide - of course Jesus is speaking about his sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus states in verse 23, “You are from below” and “I am from above”. Indicating their focus is earthly and worldly.

The Danger of Religion and Debate

“the Gospel is heavenly wisdom, but our mind grovels on the earth.” - John Calvin

The Danger of Religious Debate

It is possible to be very religious, and be in the dark. To be lost forever, separated from God. It is possible to be focused on earthly, man-made traditions and miss the light of the world.

“Do you realize that most men play at religion as they play at games? Religion itself being of all games the one most universally played. The Church has its “fields” and its “rules” and its equipment for playing the game of pious words. It has its devotees, both laymen and professionals, who support the game with their money and encourage it with their presence, but who are no different in life or character from many who take no interest in religion at all. As an athlete uses a ball so do many of us use words: words spoken and words sung, words written and words uttered in prayer. We throw them swiftly across the field; we learn to handle them with dexterity and grace—and gain as our reward the applause of those who have enjoyed the game. In the games men play there are no moral roots. It is a pleasant activity which changes nothing and settles nothing, at last. Sadly, in the religious game of pious words, after the pleasant meeting no one is basically any different from what he had been before!” - A.W Tozer

The Church has its “fields” and its “rules” and its equipment for playing the game of pious words. It has its devotees, both laymen and professionals, who support the game with their money and encourage it with their presence, but who are no different in life or character from many who take no interest in religion at all.

As an athlete uses a ball so do many of us use words: words spoken and words sung, words written and words uttered in prayer. We throw them swiftly across the field; we learn to handle them with dexterity and grace—and gain as our reward the applause of those who have enjoyed the game. In the games men play there are no moral roots. It is a pleasant activity which changes nothing and settles nothing, at last.

Sadly, in the religious game of pious words, after the pleasant meeting no one is basically any different from what he had been before!

Many people have no problem with God, the idea of a deity, yet just as we see in this encounter between Jesus and his opponents, there will always be those who are more enamored by their concepts of religion and faith than they are with affirming their identity as sinners separated from God and Jesus as the God-man who died for their sin. The result of this is devastating - when we miss Jesus, we miss it all. This is the warning Jesus gives in verse 24, “Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe I am he, you will die in your sins.”

Jesus goes on to say in response to the question “Who are you?” in verse 25, “Exactly what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning” - Many today are asking the same question and the answer has been given and yet rejected.

II. The Cross - A Divine Revelation

The greatest need of every person is a recognition of their sinful and separated state and to be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Regardless of how we may interpret various passages of scripture, the one great truth that is clearly portrayed throughout all of scripture is that man is lost, incapable of saving himself and needs to be rescued from the judgment of God.

Focusing on the Cross

V.28, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he..”

When Jesus refers here to the time of his lifting up, he is referring to his mission and glorification - his work on earth as the sacrificial lamb of God and Son of Man who would be nailed between heaven and earth on the cross and then raised from the dead in power and victory. He is essentially saying to these unbelieving men, unbeknownst to them, you will lift me up on a cross and kill me, but it will not serve the purpose you intent, but God’s purpose. Because of his work, all who run to him in faith and trust will be saved from their sin.

Alas, and did my Savior bleed?   And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head   For such a worm as I? At the cross, at the cross where   I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away, It was there by faith I received my sight,   And now I am happy all the day!

Alas, and did my Savior bleed?   And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head   For such a worm as I? At the cross, at the cross where   I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away, It was there by faith I received my sight,   And now I am happy all the day!

To be saved from their sins and Jesus is that Savior. To miss Jesus - to miss his identity, to reject him, is to be lost forever.

2

Was it for sins that I had done   He groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity! grace unknown!   And love beyond degree!

3

Well might the sun in darkness hide,   And shut His glories in, When Christ, the mighty Maker, died   For man, His creature’s sin.

4

Thus might I hide my blushing face   While His dear cross appears. Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,   And melt mine eyes to tears.

5

But drops of grief can ne’er repay   The debt of love I owe; Here, Lord, I give myself away,   ’Tis all that I can do.

To miss Jesus - to miss his identity, to reject him, is to be lost forever. This is what Jesus is referring to in his words to the religious leaders in verse 24, “you will die in your sins.”

Sinful men must repent before forgiveness can be obtained. When we focus on the cross, any idea of human goodness or merit to obtain salvation vanishes away.

“Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us.”― John Stott

Conclusion:

We are left in verse 30 with an encouraging statement, “As he was saying these things, many believed in him.”

Whether or not this is true saving faith, we do not know, for verse 31 makes clear that a continuation in the faith is the evidence for genuine faith. However, we are to be reminded that ultimately following Jesus is a matter of life and death. If we ask the question, “Who are you?”as it pertains to Jesus, we have his answer. He is God. He is the Savior. He is the only source of eternal salvation. We believe him and have eternal life. We reject him and experience eternal death. So the question I want to ask you is, “Who are you?” Are you someone who can say you have believed in Jesus and have committed your life to following him?

“We either receive salvation by grace or experience condemnation under God’s Law. We either walk in the light and have eternal life, or walk in the darkness and experience eternal death.” - Warren Wiersbe