John: The Truth-teller

How can we tell who your parents are? If we got all the kids into a big group, and mixed you all up, then we asked a random person off the street to come in and sort out which children belonged to which parents, do you think they’s be able to do it?

More or less, yes!

Like Father like Son. Genetic traits, but also personality, mannerisms and even what we wear all indicate the clan or family that we belong to!

How could someone be able to tell who your spiritual father is?

We should have family traits, we should look and sound like we belong to God, and we do that by LISTENING & OBEYING Jesus! This is why it is so important to listen and obey your parents, because they are training you to be able to Listen and Obey GOD, your heavenly Father.

But, if we don’t listen and obey God, we have to ask ourselves, do I belong to God? Perhaps you are

Recap

Off the back of feast of Tabernacles

Jesus going toe-to-toe with people, esp. the religious leaders who are trying to murder him.

the Gospel of John is all about showing that Jesus is the one we must believe in to receive true life. We’re not just talking about life as in you’re breathing right now, but we’re talking about the fullness of life - through new-birth we can have this life as it is meant to be lived, and guarantee of an even better life to come!

In this part of John’s Gospel, God teaches us more about what it means to believe in Jesus and have life. There were plenty of people who were at least partly willing to believe Jesus was a divine messenger, but Jesus pushes them to be all in. Because unless you are all-in with Jesus, you’re not in at all.

Even today, there are plenty of people who are willing to claim some connection with Jesus, but don’t take him seriously. Consider the fact that the census data that has just come out shows that almost 44% of Australians identify as Christians. This self identification has no basis in reality, because that would mean 2 out of every 5 people in Australia should be regularly attending Church!

These people are willing to have some loose connection to the Christian religion, but are not willing to hold on to Jesus teaching.

But this instruction from Jesus is not just for all those people out there who tick “Christian” on the census without any regard for what Jesus says. This is for us too, we who follow Jesus, and regularly listen to what he has to say. It is for us who pray to him. It is for those who dare to step into pulpits across Sale and across Australia today, claiming to speak on behalf of Jesus.

Are you really a disciple of Jesus?

We want to “make every effort to confirm [our] calling and election.” (2 Pe 1:10).

We want to be sure that we have “not believed in vain” (1 Cor 14:36).

We want to make sure that Jesus will NOT say to us “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Mt 7:23).

Are you really a disciple of Jesus? In order to answer this question, we will ask 5 Questions that this text will answer for us.

These questions are in-part all the same question, just asked from different angles.

5 Questions that will help us determine if we belong to God.

Are you Free? (v31-32)

This is the first question.

Jesus will tell us how we can be free in these opening verses. But lets start at v30 to set the context:

John 8:30–32 NIV

Even as he spoke, many believed in him. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Who is the audience for these words? People who believe in Jesus. As we shall see from the rest of this passage, that term “believe” must be used loosely. When push comes to shove, there will be many people who “believe” in Jesus who will reject him. Theirs is a fake faith. It is not genuine.

These “believers” are responding to what Jesus has said, they like what he’s talking about.

But Jesus is not content to leave people in the safe-space of easy-beleivism. Like he did back in Chapter 6 of John, he wants to drive home the gravity of what it means to follow him.

You can’t just say he’s a great bloke, you can’t just tick “christian” on a census, you can’t just be sprinkled when you’re a baby, you can’t rely on being a church attender. Being a true disciples of Jesus involves receiving all that Jesus has said. Not just the bits we like. In fact, you know you have a real faith when you come up against doctrines that grate against you, but you believe them anyway because it’s in the Bible. It goes to show that we believe that we must conform to Jesus and not He conform to us.

So here, Jesus presses these believers “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” - All the fun bits, all the hard to swallow bits. If you hold to Jesus teaching, you are his dsciples.

But this isn’t just a head thing, it’s a life thing. It has implications for how we live. We can’t say “I believe Jesus’ teaching” and the turn around and do the opposite. You’re not really “holding” it the are you? The greek work that is translated “hold” here is probably better as “abide” which you will find in some translations. Remain, stay in, continue it, exist in. It is the place where Jesus disciples dwell.

But what is the result of remaining in Jesus teaching? You will know truth.

You will know what is true, because Jesus is truth, he is the word of God and no liar. You will know the truth about the world and be able to see through all it’s lies.

And knowing this truth, you will be free. Free from the yoke of deception in this world. Free, as we will see shortly, from Sin. Free from the need to measure up, free from the need to proove yourself to God. You are free to live the holy life in Jesus Christ.

Application:

The Sinners prayer - great and terrible (like Ron has said). It shows you how easy it is to come to Christ - nothing in my hands i bring, but it glosses over the fact that coming to Jesus means giving up your whole life!

Real disciples abide in Jesus teaching, not just the bits that are convenient.

Real Disciples are free!

Are you really a disciple of Jesus? The next question will once again help us answer this.

Are you Slave or Son? (v33-37)

The crowd who are listening to Jesus, many of whom are “believers” respond to what Jesus has said:

John 8:33 NIV

They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

They had obviously been slaves to many foreign powers in a literal sense, but they thought that, spiritually speaking, they were not enslaved.

The other nations were enslaved to idols and to demonic gods, but they were Israelites part of God’s chosen possession. Ever since God called Abraham, their people group had known the true God in some sense or another. Despite the rulers like Egypt and the Romans who ruled over them at that time, they saw themselves as spiritually unshackled, not enslaved.

They saw their decent from Abraham as a sign of their freedom. Abraham was the father of their nation.

But Jesus is going to set the record straight...

John 8:34–37 NIV

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word.

Now it’s made clear, the practice of sinning has made them slaves of sin. They may have been free from idol worship, but they were still slaves to sin.

Lets hone in on this opening line here: Everyone = All. Practice sin, Lives in sin, it is the life of sin not the occasional slip up. This person is a slave. And what slave can free themselves?

This is our state unless Jesus frees us from sin. All of us naturally are born into this state.

God reaches out and gives us new life, cleanses us and frees us. We are Justified, and given the Holy Spirit. Now we are no longer slaves! We have the power, in Christ, to overcome sin.

We must acknowledge that although we are positionally made right with God, we still have a sinners nature, until the day that all things are made new.

So right now we fight against sin, and God gradually improves our holiness. Sanctification will continue to expose sin, but then we must deal with it. Like cleaning a house - dust, but then sweep, but then vacuum, but then shampoo, etc. When we deal with the most obvious sins, often now we are freed to see the others. The little scuff on a white wall is all the more obvious because the rest of the wall is white!

But the person who thinks it is OK to “believe” in Jesus, but keep slapping muck and mud on the holy white robes he gives us is deceiving themselves. There is an in-congruence here between their claimed identity, and who they really are.

Continuing in sin means that you are a slave to it, no matter what protestations you might make about having belonged to Abraham's family, or even Jesus’ family.

Jesus pushes this idea further but showing how you can’t be a slave to sin and belong to God: Slaves don’t get to be part of the family, only the son gets the privilege.

“Sons” this is privileged language, in a good way! Jesus talks about his people as Sons. In the ancient world the sons inherited the estate of their father. And the eldest son often got a double portion because he was expected to look after his widowed mother and other unmarried women in the family. Christians, men and women, are described as Sons because it is the “best” position in the family in terms of privilege and honor.

Jesus compares this position of Son in the family with the position of a slave in the ancient household. The son is a permanent part of the family, but slaves are not.

But, if THE Son of God, Jesus Christ, sets you free from this slavery to sin, then you will have the freedom of sonship in God’s family.

Jesus acknowledges that the Jewish folks he was talking to are literally descendants of Abraham, but their slavery to sin is visible from the outside because they are planning to murder Jesus.

They want to claim their identity as part of God's family through Abraham, but their actions reveal that they are slaves.

I wonder what your actions reveal? We know that our actions cannot make us Christians, our salvation is a free gift of God, but our actions reveal who we are. We expect trees to produce fruit after it’s own species, and if we are made holy, we expect fruit of the holy Spirit. Is that true of you?

If you are a slave to sin, continuing in sin, then REPENT! Turn away from this sin. Reject it. Confess it to God. Make room for the Words of Christ.

Are you really a disciple of Jesus? The next question will once again help us answer this.

Are you Son of Abraham? (v38-41a)

As Jesus talks to these “believers” to press them on whether they have true faith, he wants to reveal who they really are.

Given that these folks value their decent from Abraham, Jesus uses this to question their spiritual parentage. And he implies that they might have a different spiritual father than what they like to believe, and Jesus would know because he has come from God the Father’s presence!

John 8:38–41 (NIV)

I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.” “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.”

You see Jesus Himself is speaking from experience. He is a true witness. What he has been teaching, what he says is directly from God the Father. In fact, Jesus is so like God the Father, that to see Jesus is to see the Father. Jesus is a spitting image of his Dad.

But, it goes the same way for those listening to Jesus. Jesus speaks on his father’s behalf, and they speak on their father’s behalf. Jesus is implying that his Father, God, is different to their father.

They protest, “No” we are children of Abraham, once again trying to press their ancestry, probably starting to bristle at the idea that they might belong to anyone other than the God of Abraham.

Well Jesus now drives home his point. If “like father, like son” then you’re certainly not Abraham’s children. You’re trying to kill me!” Abraham, though a sinner, tried to please God and walk before him in righteousness. These guys have plotted murder!

Abraham believed what God has said, and it was credited to him as righteousness. He was justified by faith, just as we are. He heard what God had said, and even though it was hard to believe, he trusted what God had said.

Unlike the people Jesus was speaking to, who were not willing to abide in Jesus teaching. They would not believe the words of God in their entirety, and so they were wholly unlike their father Abraham. They may have been physically descended from him, but they were not displaying the family traits.

Here’s the wild thing, although you and I are in all likelihood not descended from Abraham physically, we can become part of that family linage, by faith! Paul wrote about this:

Galatians 3:7–9 NIV

Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

We can be true children of Abraham, unlike those who had taken their linage for granted. We can be like our spiritual forefather and trust in God, and receive the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Disciples of Jesus are true Children of Abraham, and the believe what God has said.

Are you really a disciple of Jesus? The next question will once again help us answer this.

Are you a Son of the Devil? (v41b-44)

The crowd Jesus is speaking to are starting to get a bit wound up. They don’t like where this is going!

John 8:41–42 (NIV)

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.

With these accusations about whose children they are, Jesus hasn’t yet named their true spiritual father. In that sense it is still “up in the air” and they’re left wondering who this unnamed father might be.

The other day I saw this clip from one of those trashy family drama TV shows. They had a lady and two men up on stage. One of the men was her ex-boyfriend, and one of them was her current boyfriend. Now this lady had fallen pregnant around the time that she had broken up with the one and got together with the other.

Now the question is, who is the father? Which of them is the true father of that child?

The sexual immorality had led to this question. Now before the days of paternity tests, they would have had no idea who the dad was. But now we have the technology to check!

So they did the tests, and on the show they were going to reveal the results. Here’s the thing, you know what the results were? Neither of them was the dad! There was a third bloke involved somewhere along the line that the other two didn’t know about! It was a complete mess of lies and cheating. That poor child!

You can see now why the jews are protesting, we’re not illegitamate children, we’re not like the children of people who sleep around, who have no idea who their true father is! They are offended at the accusations of Christ.

Perhaps a jab at Jesus parentage, because he was conceived out of wedlock, this was miraculous, but most people would have suspected that it was sexual immorality.

These folks took pride in being part of God’s covenant people, but they have shown that they are in fact only part of God’s people in name, because they are rejecting Jesus. “If God were your father you would love me”

It’s that simple.

True children of God love Jesus.

So, if the “believers” were not children of God, then whose children are they? Jesus tells us as he shows why they cannot receive the true message he has from God:

John 8:43–44 NIV

Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Ooff!!

That’s gotta hurt!

They can’t hear what Jesus has to say because they belong to the Devil. He is their true father.

They are trying to carry out the Devil’s desires.

The devil was one of those good spiritual beings that God created, yet he rebelled, like a great many of the Sons of God. The devil stands out as the ringleader of rebellion to God’s rule and God’s word. He is an accuser and an adversary.

From the Garden of Eden he was twisting God’s word and casting doubt in the mind of humanity.

He was happy for Adam & Eve to only believe part of what God had said because it was their downfall. He was a murderer by proxy.

The Jews in front of Jesus fit right in with the Devil. They are displaying his family traits! They plot murder and they reject truth.

These folks in front of Jesus were deceived. They thought they belonged to God when all the evidence was to the contrary. Even though they liked to think of themselves as God’s children, the truth was quite different. Reality doesn’t conform to the notions we have about ourselves.

We like to think there is some grey. Many of us find the black and white of rejecting Jesus, or loving Jesus quite harsh. But regardless of how we feel about it, it is the truth that Jesus puts forward, even to these “believers”.

The world is binary in this sense. There is man or woman, dead or alive, day or night, wet or dry. There is Son’s of God and Sons of the Devil.

With Jesus, or against him. There is no third way. No sliding scale.

At Judgement day there are those of God’s Left and those on His right. Eternal punishment or eternal life.

The devil is happy to have a great many people who have blunted their consciences and believe that somehow they are on God’s side even while they remain his enemies. This includes the whole Muslim and Jewish world today. The devil is their father.

The devil is the true father of all who tick “Christian” on the census and yet do not obey Jesus Christ.

He is the true father of all those who see the underlying “truths” of scripture while rejecting what Jesus plainly teaches.

All is not lost, Jesus is plundering the devil’s kingdom. His subjects are being whipped out from under his nose. How does God do that? by revealing the truth to them!

God’s spirit is at work bringing new life to hearts. And you need not despair! The concern you fear at being deceived by the Devil is a great sign that you are a disciple of Jesus.

If you have no fear of God, and no concern about whether or not you are a true disciple, then there is reason to worry. As we shall see now, those who are true disciples will hear this word.

Are you really a disciple of Jesus? The next question will once again help us answer this.

Have you heard the truth? (v45-47)

This is our last port of call for this morning. This section of Scripture closes with Jesus reiterating the paint that they CANNOT hear Jesus words because they do not belong to God:

John 8:45–47 NIV

Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

Because his hearers are sons of the Devil, they automatically reject Jesus truth. Jesus speaks truth - they will not believe it.

But it’s illogical, because if they tested Jesus truly, they would see that he is sinless and everything that he says is true. What perfectly sinless person lies? There is no such thing, it is a contradiction in terms. Yet despite the logical truth that is right there, plain as day, they reject it because they do not belong to God.

The same is true today, a great many people will reject the message of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, because they do not belong to God.

Have you heard the truth? Has it entered into your heart? Then abide in it. Remain in the teaching of Jesus. Do not depart from the truth!

Are you a disciple of Jesus?

We can test this by following Jesus words,

Disciples of Jesus, know the truth and are Free.

Disciples are not Slaves to Sin, but are free Sons in God's house.

Disciples of Jesus are Children of Abraham by faith in God.

Disciples of Jesus love Jesus,

Disciples of Jesus Hear what God says through Jesus.

All overlap and intersect.

We must take care to remain in the truth.

If this has revealed to you that you are not a true disciple, then here’s what to do...

References:

Carson’s Pillar Commentary on John.

Hutcheson’s commentary on John

Hendrickson’s commentary on John

Sermons by Richard D. Philips,

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version. Orlando, FL; Lake Mary, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2005.

Phillips, Richard D. John. Edited by Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani. 1st ed. Vol. 1 & 2 of Reformed Expository Commentary. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2014.

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