Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Exegetical Point: Jesus claims are valid because he is the eternally existent God.
Homiletic Point: Jesus is God, obey His Word.
Intro
Recap
Continued conversation after the feast of tabernacles, but we will come to the conclusion of that conversation today.
Jesus is speaking to a crowd, some of whom were staring to believe in Him
Jesus has revealed that they are not true disciples, and in fact are sons of Satan.
They can’t receive Jesus, because they don’t belong to God.
The evidence is obvious.
This gets the crowd riled up.
They are not happy to be accused of not being God’s children.
Q&A - Three questions asked in ignorance, but Jesus answers with powerful truth!
Three questions.
Three Answers.
The first Q&A reveals the...
Life Giving Word (v48-51)
Wild accusations - You’re a demonic heretic!
They would rather cast aspersions on Jesus than deal with the statements.
Deflection is a familiar thing… whether you be arguing with your spouse, your bother/sister, or suffering persecution from the world.
Instead of dealing with the actual content of the issue (in this case their attitude and actions), they insult Jesus.
This is not a mere racial slur and casting aspersions on Jesus’ sanity, they are suggesting that he is outside God’s kingdom, heretical, and under the control of God’s enemies!
Jesus responds and implies that they best be careful about such aspersions, because to dishonor Jesus is to dishonor someone else too:
Jesus is our honoring his Father with words and actions, and their response is to dishonor Jesus.
Jesus is doing the opposite to what they’re doing.
But in case you got the idea that Jesus was doing all this for his own reputation and honor, he’s not.
But there is someone who is trying to glorify Jesus.
Who is this mysterious “glorifyer”?
“The Judge”
How will he Judge?
He will Judge according to the Word of Christ.
Jesus words are the guide and standard for all people, because they are God’s words.
He only speaks what the Father Says.
Earlier in John we are told that Jesus is the judge, John 5:22, but here Jesus talks about the Judge as if he were someone else.
The Father Judges through the Son!
The Son of God is the agent of Judgment of the world.
It’s like when the police commissioner speaks at a media conference and talks about “our investigation” or “we arrested” somebody.
The commissioner himself doesn’t do the investigating or the arresting, but he is the one who delegates that authority in some sense.
God is the Judge of the world.
He is one God in three persons, Father, Son & HS.
The scriptures teach us about different roles that they have and how they interrelate.
John is famous for the way it reveals this relationship so clearly.
Everything that Jesus does is for the Father, including judgment.
So we can speak here of the Judgment of God the Father, even while we recognize that Jesus the Son is the “face” of that Judgment!
The Son and the father are so entwined that sometimes it is hard to tell them apart!
Jesus is not seeking glory for himself, but the Father is seeking glory for Christ, and he will judge those who dishonor him!
But there is a way to please God.
There is a way we can face the Judgment of God with hope.
And that’s where Jesus goes.
He really wants you to hear this, so he starts with” “Very Truly” or truly truly”, this is super important.
The one who keeps the word of Jesus will never see death.
There is an escape from death!
So there is a simple application here: Keep Jesus’ word.
Obey Jesus.
Are we to sophisticated for such rudimentary statements?
We want to dull the sharpness.
Perhaps explain it away with other verses.
But we must resists this temptation!
This is God’s word.
Let it stand.
It is the way of life!
Obey Jesus’ word!
Then you will have life!
Yes, you are a sinner, and no you can’t earn your way to eternal life by keeping Jesus word, but if you are keeping His word, you would acknowledge your sin, and believe in Jesus for salvation.
If you were keeping His word you would take seriously the call to discipleship.
You would fight sin in your life!
If I started naming those sins, you know what would happen?
Many of us have proud hard hearts that would resist this call to repentance.
Like Jesus hearers on that ancient day!
We will happily cast up deflections, like Adam & Eve, blaming everyone else.
How about you own up to your failures and repent of them!
What is to be gained by living in excuses?
Will they cause you to grow in Godliness?
Will they give you eternal life?
Every time your wife brings up that ungodly fruit in your life will you deflect and get angry?
Will you make excuses and blame everything else?
Or will you own up to it?
And deal with it?
In Adam we die as cowards, ashamed of our sin.
But, Christ has appeared as the second Adam, and he has given us a word of life: Whoever believes on the Son of God will be saved from their sin.
Stop making excuses for your sin, and come to the one who will wash them all away.
Then strive, strive for the holiness that you need to see the Lord.
Run that you may obtain the prize!
Keep the word of Jesus.
Obey him!
And receive eternal life!
But,
Do you know what Jesus says?
How will you keep His word unless you know it?
Search the scriptures!
Meditate on them!
Learn what Jesus says so that you may keep His word and obtain eternal life!
Our next Q&A Reveals...
Abraham looked to Jesus (v52-56)
This statement, that if you keep Jesus Words you will not see death, has made the crowd even more incredulous.
They, as is usual for the Gospel of John, miss the spiritual, heavenly meaning of what Jesus is saying, and get caught up on the literal physical implications of what Jesus said:
They think that this is patently false, what Jesus has said.
They can’t believe it.
Abraham, their father in faith, and the literal father of their nation, he has died.
He heard from God, he lived a nice long life, but then he died.
As did many holy prophets down through the ages.
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