John 8 Accusations and Answers

Accusations and Answers

John 8:48-59

Secular:

People are typically incensed when you tell them they are wrong… I am not talking about discussion… I am talking about pointing flat out… they are wrong
Especially tough when it is a subject in which they would claim expertise…
Telling your lawyer his preparations were bad… your doctor his diagnosis is off… a mechanic that he didn’t get the job right…
Telling a Pharisee that they don’t have there theology right…
Jesus was challenging their understanding because truth and eternity hang in the balance…
I talked last week about the world hating the message of Christ and in turn his messengers…
It is not that the world thinks we are “bad people”…
But we live in a pretty sheltered bubble in the Western world with our Judeo-Christian foundation… and yet even here the cracks are beginning to show…
Everyone assumes that are an expert on themselves…
That they know themselves better than anyone…
Our message is a tough one… shared in love…
Matthew 10:35 "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36 and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. 37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. 40 "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.
Even to the alienation of Family… the message of Christ is MORE important…
It is not about making life easy… it is about truth…
38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”… the Passion of the Christ… reminded me…
It is not about making life easy… it is about truth…

Biblical:

John 8:48 The Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" 49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. 50 "But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. 51 "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death." 52 The Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.' 53 "Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?" 54 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'; 55 and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 57 So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." 59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

Personal:

We probably gone toe-to-toe with someone…
It started out as a soft spoken correction… a pointed question…
It climbs to elevated voices… (gets louder)
It escalated to a bit of an argument…
and then it explodes… (hopefully not physically)
The greater the conviction at the beginning the more firmly you stood your ground…

Bridge:

Jesus shows us his love by dealing with accusations with answers of love…
The primary message of Scripture…
Mark 12:30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' 31 "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these…
Love your God… his truth and holiness
Love others… showing the love and compassion of God
Love God – Love Others – Love Truth

Body:

False Accusation… how far from the truth…

John 8:48 The Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"

How far from the truth…

Calling the Son of God… a demon
Calling the God of Love… a tool of Satan
Calling the compassionate, merciful Messiah… a hated and evil feign

Speak in hyperbole of the things they do not know
Against Jesus
Matthew 9:34 But the Pharisees were saying, "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."
Mark 3:22 22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."
Matthew 12:2 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath
Matthew 26:59 Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death.
Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, "We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King."
John 18: 29 Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?"30 They answered and said to him, "If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you."
NOT JUST CHRIST….
Stephen… Acts 6:11 Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God." 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. 13 They put forward false witnesses who said, "This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law;
Paul…Acts 17:6 When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, "These men (Paul and Company) who have upset the world have come here also; 7 and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus." 8 They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things.
Our world…

Accusations of prejudice
Accusations of arbitrary exclusivity
Accusations of elitism
Accusations of sedition

That is not the message…

Christ came to reconcile the world to his Father…
Christ came to demonstrate the Father’s love
Christ came to give hope…

2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, 17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word
Sounds like the love of Saviour…
Sound like a loving God…
Even in the face of accusations…
Love God – Love Others – Love Truth

Answer with Truth…

49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honour My Father, and you dishonour Me. 50 "But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. 51 "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death."

Respond…

not with anger
not with venom
not with elitism

Respond with truth….
Jesus… I do not have a demon

but what I do… is I honour My Father
you dishonour Me… (I and the father are one)
The Father is worthy of glory…
And it is the Father who judges… I seek his approval only!
Acts 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; 20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."

What I am about is a promise….

Not about ritual
Not about self-aggrandizement
Not about a man thing
This is about a God things
1 Timothy 2:3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And how is it that they come to be heirs of this promise?
Matthew 19:29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.
1 Tim 6: 12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
John 6:40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

Jesus was called an agent of Satan…
and He responds with his message of hope and reconciliation…

"Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death."

Love God – Love Others – Love Truth

Accusation Advanced

52 The Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.' 53 "Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?"

Just who do you think you are!
Abraham and all the prophets lay decomposing in their grave… the breath of life extinguished… the Patriarchs, the Prophets of God….
Yet you say “….if anyone keeps My word he will never see death."
Come on… if your Word is the word of God and our Father in Faith Abraham didn’t garner the reward and lies in the grave… who do you think you are!
“whom do You make Yourself out to be?"… you are a glory hound…
How is it that you can stand before us and make such claims?
Accusations are advanced…
Love God – Love Others – Love Truth

Jesus Answers with truth…

54 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'; 55 and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 57 So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."

If I glorify myself it is nothing…
We have all heard a braggart…. If they are the only one singing the praises of their talent, giftedness… or other attribute… odds are the praise is baseless…

Douglass…

Jesus response is not that of a braggart… but is the response of the Son of God… it is my Father who glorifies me…
Heb 5: 5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, "YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU"; It is the Father who glorifies the Son!
This is the God you claim as your God… yet you do not know Him…
You claim to act on his behalf… but unlike you who claim to know God… are liars… I do know and speak truth…
And I am committed to the will of the Father
and unlike you… I do know Him and keep His word.
Your Father Abraham believes in the promises of God… and I am the Promised One…
He has believed as you haven’t…
Jews… Your are not even fifty… how could you have met Abraham let alone seen Him rejoice…
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. Jesus pre-existed the world, all that is in it, and all the universe!
Rev 1:8 8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
Jesus answers in truth… ego eimi

59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

Jesus just announced in clearest terms…
Ego eimi… “I AM”
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
Yahweh…
Faced with truth… faced with the Love of God…
He faced persecution…
They were going to stone him… the penalty prescribed for a blasphemer.
They did not believe…
They clung to their disbelief…
They clung to their ignorance in the face of truth…
They chose to ignore the promise of the Messiah…
They missed the opportunity to worship the Son of God
Love God – Love Others – Love Truth

Conclusion:

In the face of accusations…

Respond in Truth and Love
Don’t water down truth
Don’t hide your love

2 Cor 5:20 we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.