Characteristics of a True Christian - John 8:31-59

©Copyright March 28, 2021 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

Today you hear many different people identify themselves as Christians. They believe in God, in Jesus, and in eternal life. But does that make them true Christ-followers, or are they counterfeit believers, deceivers, who sometimes even deceive themselves?

This morning we look at a rather lengthy passage in John 8:31-59. In this dialogue between Jesus and the teachers of the Law Jesus defends Himself and as he does so He gives us some important characteristics of what a genuine believer looks like. This is not a popular topic, especially today. Whenever we talk about true and false believers we get comments that we are narrow-minded and judgmental. We have gotten the “who do you think you are” comments. Please understand, we know we have no qualification to make these judgments . . . but Jesus does. It is His words we look at today.

As we concluded last week the comment was made in verse 30: “many heard Him say these things and believed in Him. In verse 31 Jesus begins describing the one who is “truly my disciple.” I believe Jesus is making a distinction between the “believers” and the “followers.” Dr. Boice says of those who are “believers,”

they are not genuinely born-again Christians, but neither are they hostile to Christianity. They believe the doctrines. It is just that they have never committed themselves to Jesus Christ and are not really his. They believe, but they are not disciples. They do not deny Christ, but neither do they follow him. [1]

I think this is a definition of too many who call themselves Christians. What Jesus says in the verses that follow will help us to evaluate our own lives so we will be sure that we will be with Christ at the final Judgment rather than merely standing on the sideline watching.

True Believers are Faithful to the Lord’s Teachings

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The first characteristic of a true disciple is they take the commands of Jesus seriously. They do not water them down, they do not write them in notebooks and put them on a shelf, they do not debate them. They hear His words as coming from God Himself (because that is what they are). They respond as if God spoke to them directly.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is given to us freely but that does not mean it is without cost! Dietrich Bonhoeffer, used the phrase “cheap grace.” He said it was a faith that didn’t require confession of sin, sacrifice, discipleship or really any cost in our lives. The Lord gave everything for us but Bonhoeffer saw many believers thinking there should be no cost at all to following Him. Even though we receive the grace of God as a gift, Jesus still tells us that we should count the cost of being a disciple.

In John 8, Jesus draws a distinction between those who profess faith but continue to live an unchanged life with those who have taken a different path, the path of obedience. This division is only going to become more dramatic as our society moves further and further from the teaching of Jesus.

The people in our day who are most opposed to the gospel message feel they are the ones who are enlightened and need to silence and defeat those who hold to Biblical truth. Like the Jews, they threaten persecution for those who will not acknowledge their superior definition of truth.

Jesus made the bold statement that those who truly follow Him will know the truth and that truth would set them free. Some today would turn this around and say the only thing that enslaves is taking the teachings of Christ literally.

We live in a secular society.

Secular, in terms of contemporary sociological and intellectual conversation, refers to the absence of any binding theistic authority or belief. It is both an ideology, which is known as secularism, and a consequence, which is known as secularization. (Albert Mohler, The Gathering Storm p. 4)

In other words, a secular world is where God is NOT seen as the Supreme Being and King in any real sense. There is also no fixed standard of truth. Truth is that which is defined by those who are in power. And, unfortunately, these people will define truth by what they hope will KEEP them in power or grant them more power (for example, the power to determine what kinds of “free” speech that are acceptable and unacceptable.

The Jewish leaders thought they too, had it all figured out. Jesus confronted their arrogance and said they were turning away from the truth of God. Jesus went so far as to say they were not children of Abraham (or of God) at all, they were actually children of the Devil! Jesus describes the Devil,

For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me!

Contrast this with the follower of Jesus. He says, “The truth will set us free.” Only God’s truth can liberate us. What are we liberating from?

1. Guilt from sin

2. Condemnation

3. Aimless living

4. The fear of death

5. Bondage to the power of sin

6. The changing whims of contemporary opinion or fuzzy values

It used to be that you could somewhat easily straddle the fence between what is secular (apart from God) and walking with Jesus because Christian values were the foundation of our country. But things are different now. These values are eroding quickly.

Imagine you are standing on some ice afloat in the sea. You have one foot on one piece of ice and the other foot on another piece of ice. As you look down you see the ice pieces are starting to get further apart. You are faced with a quick choice. A decision has to be made. It has to be one or the other.

True Believers Love Jesus.

In verse 42 we read,

42 Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me.

Jesus is pretty clear: If you are truly a child of God, a genuine believer, you will love Christ. But what does that mean? There are an increasing number of people who tell you they love Jesus, but the Jesus they love is not the Jesus of the Bible, or of history. Their Jesus is a good man, but He was just a man. He died on a cross, but He didn’t do it as a payment for our sin. He certainly did not rise from the dead! His goal was to inspire us to live good lives and give ourselves for our fellow man. That is not the Jesus described by those who walked with Him through life.

Listen to what is affirmed in these words of Jesus

· He is the One who makes us free (32, 36)

· He came from the Father’s presence (38, 42)

· He tells us the truth from the Father (38,40)

· He is sinless (46)

· He is glorified by the Father (54)

THIS is the Jesus we are to love, embrace, and serve. If we love Him in this way, we will follow Him wherever He leads us. We will recognize Him not merely as a good model for the way to live life, we will see Him as the Lord of Life, the One we serve, follow, love, and on whom we depend for salvation and new life.

This is not a Jesus of our imagination (like loving Batman) it is the Jesus of history. He is a specific, real, objective person. We do not define Him, He defines us.

If you made a statement like this about Jesus in a public meeting today, many (most?) in the crowd would turn on you and say you are an empty-headed, judgmental, superior, and a narrow-minded bigot. “How dare you declare that Jesus is God and the only way to Heaven?” However, we are not the ones saying it . . . Jesus is. And if anyone took the time to actually examine his credentials, they would know His credentials backed up what He said.

True Believers Submit to the Word of God. (47)

In verse 47 Jesus says,

Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.”

This is a litmus test of a true Christian. In the Reformation the cry rang out “Sola Scriptura” as a reminder that our authority is the Word of God, not councils or hierarchies. The Bible declares it is the inspired Word of God. These words were viewed as God-breathed in the early churches. It is the standard of truth for true believers. Jesus is clear: those who do not respect the Word of God are not genuine believers.

When Jesus talks about listening to the Word of God, He is not suggesting the true believer should get the Bible on CD (or on your phone) and listen to it. That’s not a bad practice, but it is not what He is saying. The person who listens to the Word of God is the one who hears and then does what it says.

Think about it, if you get low and look your child in the face and say, “Hey, I want you to listen to me.” You are not asking that child to merely hear the sounds that are coming out of your mouth. You want them to pay attention to what you are saying, and you expect a response of obedience . . . Right? This is the kind of listening the Lord requires.

Unfortunately, many today are not listening even though they claim to revere the Bible. They feel free to dismiss, revise, and twist parts of the Bible to suit their own preferences and beliefs. People who do such things are false teachers! This is true when it comes to the value of life, sexual expression, gender, respect for family, false testimony, Judgment, Heaven and Hell and much more. The authority of the Bible is another issue that sets up a great divide among people. People resist authority of any kind. The Bible is a standard for truth that does not waver because popular opinion does not like what it says.

Paul warned us,

3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

The Bible is our Owner’s Manual for life. It tells us the way God designed us to live. We can ignore the instructions (like we do in many other things in life) but it does not change God’s design and purpose.

Have you ever heard someone say, you cannot legislate morality? The thing is, we are always attempting to legislate morality! Most laws that are passed are written to legislate morality. The question is not should we legislate morality, the question is: “Who is going to legislate our morality? God or the state.” You can’t make someone obey the law, but you can make sure they understand what is expected. And, just like laws passed by the legislatures, there are penalties for breaking these laws. Likewise, there are penalties for breaking the Law of God.

The true believer reads the Bible like they read a letter from someone they love. They pay attention to every word and look for clues for how they can love the other person better. In verse 51 Jesus said, “Those who obey will never die.” (They will live eternally). It is not that we “earn salvation.” Are obedience is the evidence of our genuine faith. If we really trust Christ as our Savior we will go where He tells us to go and do what He tells us to do.

They Believe Jesus Is God

There is one more characteristic of a true Christian,

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!” 59 At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. (John 8:58-59)

This odd sounding statement was provocative because it is a claim by Jesus that He is God. First, Jesus uses the name of God (I AM) and applies it to Himself. Second, He claims He existed before Abraham. Abraham likely lived almost 18 centuries before Jesus! The crowd certainly heard this as a claim to be eternal. I believe this is exactly what Jesus meant to say!

There are people who say Jesus never claimed to be God. They say it was a title given him by the church to create a more devoted follower base. But read the text! The people understood His words the same way we are reading them. They picked up stones because they believed it was blasphemy to say you are God. The penalty for blasphemy was death. Of course, remember, it is only blasphemy if it isn’t true. Jesus was declared with power (through the Resurrection) to be exactly who He said He was.

Most of the people could not accept the idea that Jesus was God in human form. If we are honest, we know we would be the same way. However, the true believer has come to see that Jesus is who He said He was.

Now this one fact helps us with all these other things. It is, if you will, the glue that motivates all the other traits. If Jesus is truly God we will love Him, serve Him, listen to Him and follow Him. If you see that Jesus is God in human form who has come to rescue us, it is not a chore to do these other things. In fact, we should be HIGHLY motivated to serve our Creator and our Redeemer.

Conclusions

Let’s draw some conclusions from all of this. First, Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is actually a follower of Christ. Some people are religious. Some like Jesus and may even be fascinated by Him . . . but they are not interested in letting Him be the ruler in their life. Only those who embrace and follow Christ are true believers. Knowing the right words, being part of, or even serving in a church, does not make one a Christian. Jesus belabored that point today. Many people don’t like this, but that does not change what Jesus told us. We don’t help anyone by not telling them the truth.

Today and next week many people will journey back into churches to celebrate Palm Sunday and Easter. Some do it out of tradition. Others actually love the hope the Easter story presents. It gives them comfort about family members who have died. Still, many of these people have not come to Jesus as their Savior and Lord. They are fine with “cheap grace” but the idea of taking up their cross and following Him is just unacceptable. The idea of taking a stand with and for Christ is not part of their life plan. They want to fit in with their friends and fellow workers. They want to straddle the fence. Jesus does not leave that option open to us.

Second, There will always be people who will try to lead you astray. We cannot get our theology from public opinion. You have to be discerning even as you listen to religious speakers on radio and television. Just because someone quotes the Bible does not mean they are quoting it or interpreting it correctly. We must be students of the Word or we will be deceived.

We need to be strong in our faith and know what the Bible is teaching us. People ARE going to try to persuade (either with words or coercion) you to cater your theology (your belief about God) to the views of those in power. Our command is to obey God rather than men. This means we will, at times, be at odds with the contemporary culture. We are not given license to take what God calls evil and rebrand it as “good.”

Third, each person has to examine their own view of these things. God will evaluate each of us on the basis of how WE responded to Jesus. This will not have anything to do with the church you attend, the Bible you read, the education you have ,or the money you have given. There is only one question: What did you do when Jesus summoned you? Did you embrace Him or hold Him at arm’s length?

Those who embrace Him will have been given the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God will work in all who truly believe to lead us to hunger and thirst for these things that characterize a true believer. He has the strength and the resources to help us. Our job is to let Him do so. This will not make us popular . . . but it will lead us safely home.

[1] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John: An Expositional Commentary p. 637.