From Belief to Apostasy Part 2

John 8:31–59 (ESV)

The Truth Will Set You Free

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Before Abraham Was, I Am

48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying 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 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 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, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who 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 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. 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, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

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Often if you go to a State Fair or to a public festival of some sort, you will see a guy or a lady sitting with an easel in front of him and drawing portraits

But they aren’t really portraits. They are actually caricatures.

Caricature: a picture, description, or imitation of a person in which certain striking characteristics are exaggerated in order to create a comic or grotesque effect.

Caricature artists are very adept at seeing the unique physical characteristics of people and emphasizing them and coming up with picture that is comic.

I’ve never had my picture done, but I find it amusing to look in the news paper and see how political cartoonists do this to our political leaders.

Show pictures.

We can laugh at this. Maybe it’s OK in some respects to have our own ideas of what people do or should look like.

But what caricatures actually do is re-invent someone into the image that someone wants them to be, not who they actually are, or what they actually look like.

But what’s not OK is to do this with God

I want us to open up to the book of Exodus 3

The scene in this chapter opens up in the wilderness of Midian, in vicinity of Mount Horeb.

There we find a shepherd, his skin burnt and weathered by the harsh desert sun.

This shepherd named Moses is suffering from a massive identity crisis.

He is a Jew—having been born to a Hebrew woman

He is a Prince—having been brought up in the household of the Pharaoh’s daughter

He’s a murderer—having unlawfully killed a man

He is a fugitive—having fled the land of Egypt to save his own life

He is a shepherd—doing the work that he used to hire others to do

He is confused—it’s possible that somewhere along the way he has heard about the One True God, the God of his forefathers. But is probably more familiar with the Egyptian pantheon of gods. And now he has married into the family of a priest of the Midianite gods.

Religiously, he might be an agnostic at the best.

We know the story about how he found himself on Mt. Horeb. Just another day in the burning desert, watching dumb sheep.

When suddenly he sees an incredible sight!

A bush that is burning, yet not being consumed! There is no one else around. How did this bush start on fire? And why isn’t the fire spreading to other bushes?

He says, “I gotta go get a better look!” Who wouldn’t?

Little does he know that his life is about to change drastically!

He finds himself in the presence of a Being who commands his worship and respect and fear

This is the One True God, the God of his forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The one who he had only heard rumors about.

And God, being a missional God, immediately gives Moses a mission

Moses is stunned. His head is spinning. Up until this very moment, he was a shepherd, tending dumb sheep.

Now he’s supposed to rescue and lead a nation?

Moses says, “who is going to listen to me? I’m nobody! I need some authority behind me! I’ve heard of you, but I don’t really know who you are.

Whom should I say has sent me?

And God responds with the declaration which could not be uttered by any other being.

I AM WHO I AM. Tell them I AM has sent you!

Exodus 3:15 (ESV)

15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

I AM WHO I AM

A name so sacred that the Jews of old would not utter it, but rather say Adonai meaning “My Lord”

A name so sacred that they would not write the entire name, but rather write YHWH

A name so sacred that once written, it could never be erased.

I AM WHO I AM.

God present, yet God wholly other.

God personal, yet God unapproachable.

God declaring His Name, yet God unknowable.

This was God from whom, even though appearing in a burning bush, Moses still hid his face.

This was God who his His face from Moses on Mt. Sinai because no one can look on the face of God and live.

This was God who appeared as a towering pillar of cloud during the day and a towering pillar of fire at night.

This was God whose presence dwelt in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, and later in the temple. Who could not be approached except by one man under very strict instructions.

This was God, Almighty, All-knowing, All-present, Eternal, without beginning and without end.

This was God who would not be made into any other image

Whose very two commandments to His people were

You shall have no other gods before me

You shall not make any likeness of any gods and bow down to them. I am a jealous God and I do not give up my glory to another.

This was God who visited devastating judgement on His people for violating these commands.

This was the same God who after over 400 years of silence, stepped back out of time and sent His own Son, the Word to earth

The Word, of whom John says, “He was in the beginning, He was with God, and He was God. And The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

In John 8, This very same God who appeared to Moses in the ancient past was now in the form of Jesus engaged in a pointed conversation with the Jews, who although John says that they believed were not ready hear the truth about some things

They were not ready to hear the truth about themselves

And they were not ready to hear the truth about Jesus

“This section of the discourse is addressed to those who believe and yet do not believe. Clearly they were inclined to think that what Jesus said was true. But they were not prepared to yield to Him the far-reaching allegiance that real trust in Him implies. This is a most dangerous spiritual state.”—Leon Morris

What these people were more inclined to do was to ignore what Jesus said and re-invent Him into their own image. Like a caricature.

Here’s who they thought Jesus was, or who they wanted to believe that He was:

Not a true Jew like them

vs. 39 “Abraham is our Father”

Who’s your father again?

In fact, you’re a Samaritan aren’t you?

He did not have a spiritual connection to God like they did

Vs. 41 “we have one Father—even God”

We know we at least pay lip service to the True God

Who’s your God again

They even made jabs at His birth

Vs. 41 “we were not born of sexual immorality”

they could do the math and at least suspected that Jesus was conceived before Mary and Joseph were married

They really went deep with their mockery and accused Him of having a demon. Twice

They made Him out to be a liar or a crazy person for saying that those who believe in Him would not taste death.

This conversation was was going around and around, spiraling downward

As it becomes more and more obvious that this group of Jews, even though John said they believed, and maybe they even really did want to believe in Jesus, they simply could not commit.

Until Jesus finally looks squarely at them and says the words that had not been uttered for hundreds of years.

He said that name which hadn’t been declared for generations.

Before Abraham was, I AM!

I AM WHO I AM.

In my mind, this is the crowning statement in the whole of the book of John

The NT

the Bible

Today so-called theologians and bible scholars debate the question, “Did Jesus really claim to be God”?

And because if would mess with their lives too much if Jesus really was God, they fall all over themselves trying to find evidence to the contrary.

But Jesus could not have made it any clearer here

He could not have used any other name or title which would have been more shocking to the devout Jews.

What Jesus was saying was this:

I am who I claim to be

You cannot and will not make me into any other image or caricature

You must accept all of me

This is what He said to the Jews and we see their reaction. It was a violent reaction.

They had painted their own caricature of Jesus and that’s what they wanted to stick with.

Sadly, as I look at my own heart and as I look at many Believers today, it is still our tendency to invent our own image of Jesus and be unwilling to change.

We often put more effort into defending our image of Jesus than we do seeking to know the real Jesus.

We want a Jesus that fits our political persuasions

We want a Jesus that fits our cultural upbringing

(Here’s a hard one) We want a Jesus that fits our religious upbringing.

Looks like a Republican Elephant

Looks like a Democratic Donkey

Maybe wearing a T-shirt making a stand with one of the many cultural battles going on today

Maybe He’s demonstrating for equal rights for all

Maybe He’s picketing in front of an abortion clinic

Maybe Jesus is leading a mega-church with multiple campuses or He’s the lead singer in a kickin’ worship band

Maybe wearing a robe like Menno Simmons or a hat like Jacob Amman

Maybe Jesus comes to church and just sits quietly.

Maybe Jesus constantly reminds Himself that we shouldn’t rock the boat too much

And He hopes that He isn’t asked to do anything too hard

And He wishes that we could sing more hymns like we used to, or more worship songs like other churches do.

If any of these, or a ton of other things, describe our idea of Jesus, then may I say that we aren’t that much different than the Jews who had Jesus in their box and would not accept that He didn’t fit their box.

I AM WHO I AM

What does this mean for us?

Look back at verse 31 at what Jesus says that sets this whole discussion off:

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.

“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free”

Abiding and Knowing

Abide: to stay, remain, wait for; to remain in a state or place, and expect something in the future

Know: to get to know someone. This is deeper than just knowing facts

Jesus said to abide in His word. To remain in His word with an expectation of something in the future.

Now it’s probable that when we read that statement, we think, “Oh that means that I am supposed to read the Bible often and memorize Scripture”.

And that certainly is part of it. But remember, the Jews didn’t have the Bible as we have it. They had OT Scriptures, but not the Bible

So maybe Jesus is talking about something deeper here.

WE call our Bible the word of God. Meaning this is God’s words to us. His message.

But remember, Jesus is THE WORD. He IS God’s revelation to us.

We read these words in order that we might know THE WORD

Jesus also says, you will KNOW the truth and the truth will set you free

Again, we can read Scripture so that we know things. So that we have information.

But in chapter 14, Jesus identifies Himself as The Truth

I think that Jesus is talking about knowing Him!

Abiding in Him, The Word

Knowing Him, The Truth

These two things take a daily walk. A daily and a moment by moment knowledge that

I can be the best-looking Christian on Sunday but not have time for Him during the week

I can know all about Him, yet it’s possible to come to the end of my life and have Him look at me and say, “But I never knew you. Depart from me!”

The only way that we can do these things is if we are convinced that He is really worth abiding in

If we are convinced that He is really worth knowing and abiding in

And the only way that I can think of, that would make Him worth abiding in and knowing, is if He really is I AM.

If He really is God.

God, is wholly other, yet in Christ Jesus is “God with us”.

God who is an approachable, yet we can come before His throne of grace, through Christ Jesus

God unknowable, yet personal through Christ Jesus

But Jesus, is inviting us to know HIM, the Truth. To abide in HIM, the Word.

To know Him and abide in HIm as the great I AM.

But that takes a dying to ourselves and our ideas and our caricatures of Him. A hard thing to do.

The Jews found it hard too.

How did they go from supposedly believing, to being ready to kill Him?

They couldn’t face the truth about themselves

And they couldn’t face the truth about Jesus

So they picked up stones to throw at Him.

But He hid Himself and went out of the temple.

He went out of His house.

I think it’s a convicting picture of what happens when folks continue to reject who Jesus really is.

Remember what Jesus said, “Those who have ears to hear, let him hear”. And “To those who have, much will be given. To those who have not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Today, WE are the temple of the Holy Spirit

There comes a time, I believe when Jesus will no longer contend with someone who doesn’t want to hear what He has to say.

It’s not to say that there is no hope for such a person, but I think His voice will grow fainter and fainter and soon it will be just as if Jesus has left His temple.

This is a tragic spiritual state for anyone to be in.

What about you? What about me? Do we want to hang on to our ideas of who we think Jesus should be, or do we want to know Him, the Great I AM?