Uncommitted Believers
Fortifying the Foundations # 21
John 8:30-59
11-23-03
Intro
In John 8 Jesus has been teaching at the temple court. That teaching was interrupted by a challenge from the Pharisees in verse 13 and the crowd listened attentively as Jesus answered their defiance. We concluded last week with the very encouraging comment in John 8:30, “Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.” Praise God these people are responding to Jesus’ message. How nice it might have seemed had the chapter ended there. But there is much, much more to the story.
Now Jesus turns to these people and begins to talk to them about discipleship. Notice carefully the way our text begins in John 8:31, “To the Jews who (what?) believed him," Jesus said.” The rest of this chapter records Jesus interaction with these people who “believed him.”[1] How does it all end? Look with me at verse 59 “At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.”
What happened between verse 30 and verse 59? (A powerful lesson on the difference between easy believe-ism and real discipleship)
There is in many church circles a misunderstanding about what the job of the church is. Is the job of the church to simple gather a crowd of people? Is it to simply get people to pray a prayer or join a subculture with strong family values? Is it to get people to “believe in Jesus”? The answer to that depends on what we mean when we talk about believing in Jesus or receiving Christ. The people in our text had some kind of belief. But it was the kind of belief that when confronted with true discipleship led them to want to kill Jesus.
In the Great Commission Jesus has told us as his church what we are to do. (Matthew 28:19) “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations...” The interaction of Jesus with these “believers” in our text is a powerful commentary on that assignment. What is the difference between these superficial believers who seem to be responding to the Jesus at first then later turn against him and a true follower of Jesus Christ (a disciple indeed)?
Look with me at the
I. Opportunity of Discipleship Offered by Jesus in verses 31-32.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." NIV
These people have had a positive response to Christ. At that moment their response is so encouraging that Jesus talks with them about real discipleship. And he is telling them that to really be his disciple involves a long-term comment to live the way he says to live—to meinhe[2] –remain in his word—to abide in him--to continue to follow his teachings.
(1) “If you hold to my teachings (logw) you are really my disciples.”
In John 15 Jesus talks extensively about what it means to abide in him. There is a perseverance [3]that comes out of a deep commitment to Christ that was certainly not in these people. The old saying is, “Time will tell.” And it didn’t take much time for the truth to tell on these superficial believers. A true disciple will be there when its fun and be there when it’s not fun. A true disciple will follow Christ when it is bringing great joy and prosperity. He will rejoice in God’s goodness and enjoy every minute of it.
But he is not just a fair weather friend of Jesus. When the rains come, when there are trials and difficulties—when it would be easier to give up than to go on—still he continues to follow the Lord (through thick and thin).
In his first epistle John wrote about those people who professed a faith in Christ but then departed from it. 1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” Their departure from the faith demonstrated that they were not a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
There is an important doctrinal balance in scripture between the assurance of God’s keeping power and the warning against apostasy. To those who would sincerely choose to follow Christ there is much assurance in scripture that God will uphold us and lead us like a shepherd leads his sheep. Read the 23rd Psalm. Read John 10. And you will be encouraged and assured of God’s keeping power. (John 10:27-29)
27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. NIV
Even the Old Testament saints celebrated God’s keeping power. Listen to the Song of Assent in Ps 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from? 2My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3He will not let your foot slip--he who watches over you will not slumber; 4indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5The LORD watches over you--the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7The LORD will keep you from all harm--he will watch over your life; 8the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. NIV
There are no doubt some this morning that need to be reminded of God’s watchful care. At times we need to be assured of God’s grace and rest in his love. On the one hand, we know that it is God who keeps us true to Him and keeps our foot from slipping.
On the other hand, the Bible warns us to make our calling and election sure.[4]
Rom 11:22 “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.” NIV
1 Tim 4:16
16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. NIV
Those “believers” in our text didn’t even continue in their faith to the end of the chapter.
In Luke 14 Jesus had large crowds following him. Then he began to talk about commitment. Luke 14:27 “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” NIV He illustrated the decision of discipleship with two scenarios. Suppose a man decided to build a building. He would first sit down and estimate the cost to build it. Jesus is saying to uncommitted believers, “Count the cost.”
Then, suppose a king is about to go to war. He would sit down and consider whether he had the troops necessary to win. Discipleship costs; but it is always worth it.
Jesus says that for those who would continue in his word, they would
(2) “know the truth.” This is a profound promise. There are many today who are not even sure there is such a thing as truth that can be known and relied upon. Like Pilate they ask Jesus the question, “What is truth?”[5] and fail to hear the answer. In our society the distinction between the truth and a lie has become more and more obscure.
But in our text this morning Jesus makes a clear contrast between truth and lie. Truth is reality as it exists. It is not true because someone thinks it’s true. It is true because it is the way things really are. Abraham Lincoln asked the question, “If a man were to call the tail of a dog a leg, how many legs would the dog have? When the answer came back, “Five”, with a smile Lincoln would reply, “Wrong, calling the tail of a dog a leg does not make it one. The dog still has four legs.”[6]
Truth begins with the one eternal reality—God. God does not change. In Him is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.[7] So to know truth one must begin with its origin—the eternal God. “In the beginning was God...” That is where we must begin if we are to know truth. Jesus is the personification of truth.[8] Truth can be known in principle and in person. In our text Jesus talks about God as his Father. These Jews claim that God is their father. But Jesus bluntly tells them that their father is the devil. Then he gives us the source of untruth—the source of deception and illusion. John 8:44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. 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.” NIV
What does Jesus mean when he says that the devil is the father of lies? He is saying that the origin of falsehood is the devil. So you have a contrast. On the one hand, you have God—the source of truth. On the other hand, you have Satan, the source of lies or falsehood. That means that some things are true and some things are not true. If Jesus says that he is the only way of salvation and Buddha claims to be another way of salvation then somebody is true and somebody is false.
“If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth...” But these Jews in our text did not come to the knowledge of the truth. They believed a lie rather than the truth. In verse 46 Jesus asked these people, “If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?” Then he sets forth a principle, verse 47 “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." NIV In other words, since they had not committed themselves to God their hearts were in no condition to hear truth. Because of the deception they had chosen to live under, truth sounded like a lie and a lie sounded like truth.[9]
2 Thess 2:10-13
They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
13But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. NIV
The moral choice to love the truth opens the heart up to hear and understand the truth—to distinguish it from falsehood. It is the committed heart (that continues to follow the Lord—not just with intellectual pursuits—but with moral obedience) that comes into a revelation of truth.
Now here is the promise that follows that, (verse 32) “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” To walk into truth is to walk out of bondage. To allow truth to have its way in our hearts and lives is to be freed from the deceitfulness of sin. Behind every temptation there is a lie. It was true in Garden of Eden as the serpent spoke to Eve. And it continues to be true today. The lie that somehow you live more, receive more, enjoy more in sin that out of sin. (The lie that you can pluck the pleasure of sin for a season without reaping the corruption of iniquity) “God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows that will he reap.”[10] To the extent that our hearts are flooded with the bright light of truth and our minds are seeing reality from beginning to end—we would never choose to sin. There is certain madness about every sin. To violate the principles of life as they flow from the Author of life has to be insane.
So God brings truth to our hearts and as we embrace that truth and apply it to our lives we get free from the bondage of sin. “Whom the Son makes free is free indeed.”
What a marvelous opportunity stands before these people—an open invitation to follow the Lord of Life. But their reaction to Jesus’ invitation is disappointing.
Look with me at the
II. Obstacles to Discipleship Encountered by Jesus in our text.
(1) Their first reaction was a Denial of Need.
Verse 33 “We don’t need to be set free, we have never been in bondage to anyone.” It’s hard to get very far with God if you’re telling Him you don’t need Him. Pride is robbing these people of the very thing they desperately need, deliverance from their bondage of sin.
Jesus patiently makes his statement abundantly clear. Verse 34, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” That is a profound statement. Most people enter into sin thinking they will be the master and sin will serve their good pleasure. But as someone has well said,
“Sin takes you further than you want to go”
“Keeps you longer than you want to stay”
“And cost you more than you want to pay”[11]
Verses :35-36, “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus is saying to these Jews, “You are the natural descendants of Abraham.[12] Because of that relationship you are enjoying a certain privilege of opportunity. You are in the house.[13] But if you stay in your bondage of sin you won’t enjoy ongoing privilege. I, the Son, have eternal relationship with the Father. You as a slave have no permanent place in the family.
Here is the good news, as the Son I want to bring you into a permanent relationship with the Father (sonship) and a freedom from your bondage.” “So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Verse 37 “I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word.”
“Because sin still rules in your members, you are full of self—full of your own plans, full of your own opinions. You have allowed no room my word.” Here is the tragedy we must avoid—lives so filled with selfish pursuits, no space is left for God to speak to us. May God give us the wisdom to clear out the distractions and clutter and say to Him as the young Samuel said, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”[14]
Verses 38-39a “I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father,” they answered.”
And so we find in this text a second obstacle to their progress in faith.
(2) Their reliance on False Hopes.
They have already been claiming their acceptability before God on the basis of their physical relationship to the Friend of God, Abraham. Jesus does not deny their physical relationship to Abraham. But it gives no assurance of salvation. For God is no respecter of person. He looks upon the heart, not on outward appearances.
What they are doing is no different than the person who thinks he will go to heaven because he grew up in a certain church, or his family has always been good “Christian” people, or he said a prayer one time but in reality simply lives for himself.
The name “Christian” is used rather casually these days. The name “believer” is a rather broad term as it is used today. These Jews were walking on thin ice thinking all was well simply because they could call themselves children of Abraham. But their ice was no thinner than the man today who calls him self a Christian but is in no way Christ like.
In answer to this false confidence Jesus calls their attention to the
(3) Inconsistency between their profession and their behavior (verses 39b-41)
“If you were Abraham’s children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the things your own father does."
"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
What we do is the real indicator of what we are.[15] I can claim to be a rocket scientist, but if I don’t work on rockets the claim is meaningless. These people were claiming to be children of faith, the children of Abraham. But in reality their lives said otherwise.
You can tell a tree by the fruit it yields and their fruit didn’t look like the fruit of genuine faith.[16] James 2:18 “But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” NKJV
That doesn’t mean my works save me. It means my works are evidence of who I am.[17]
What a hindrance inconsistency like this is to the propagation of the gospel. What a difference there is between what many Christians sing about and hear about on Sunday morning verses what they do on Monday morning. They have compartmentalized their faith so that the belief system professed at church is altogether different from the belief system lived out day by day before the world.
Another evidence of their true condition is unearthed. Another obstruction to true discipleship is addressed in John 8:42 “Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.”
(4) Their affection is set on the wrong things. Of course their affection is consistent with their nature. But Jesus is offering to change that. They don’t want it changed. They love what they love and they want to keep it that way.
“Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. (Prov 4:23 NKJV) If my affections are set on the wrong thing, it will take me in the wrong direction. Because we follow what we love—even if what we love is sin.
Notice how diligently these people defend their ideas. It’s hard to learn new things when we’re busy defending old things. In the next few verses Jesus addresses their
(5) Inability to hear truth.
Catch the flow of this conversation.[18]
John 8:43-47
In verse 43 Jesus asks, “Why is my language not clear to you?
They respond with silence. Jesus fills in the answer.
“Because you are unable to hear what I say.”
Then he explains why they cannot hear: they are listening to another voice and have been for a very long time. Truth doesn’t sound right to them. It doesn’t sound right because they are measuring it by false standards in their hearts.[19]
In verse 44 Jesus says to them, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. 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. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
Now another question, Verse 46 “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?”
Jesus waits for their answer. But there is nothing but silence.
“If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
More silence.
So Jesus helps them with the answer.
Verse 47 “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
They can’t hear because they are not spiritual children of Abraham. They are not what they claim to be. They have been able to answer none of his questions. This is the right time for them to bow before the Lord and ask Him to open their hearts to truth.
But that is not what they do. Instead they go on the attack against the One who is trying to help them. By their answer we know they have
(6) a wrong perception of Jesus
John 8:48
48 The Jews answered him, "Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?"
49 "I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
52 At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
54 Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.)
Why were they calling Jesus a Samaritan? Were they implying that’s his real father was a Samaritan? Were they implying he was not born of a virgin? Certainly there are those today who may not call him a Samaritan but by denying his virgin birth take a stand like unto the one these Jews are taking.
Were they calling him a Samaritan because unlike them he befriended those people without prejudice? He did not avoid the Samaritan’s neighborhood but carried the good news to them like he did to others.[20]
Perhaps they were calling him a Samaritan because they could think of nothing else to say.
But here is a profound barrier to faith—a refusal to accept Jesus for who he is and who he claims to be. Do you know Jesus today? Do you know Him for who he really is or simply who you think he might be?
Jesus continues to reveal himself to them although they refuse to have their opinions altered. Verses 56 -58 “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." 57 "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" 58 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"
When Jesus uttered those words, “I am” he brought the confrontation to a head. That claim to deity left them with only two choices. Either we hear the truth and receive Jesus for who he is and bow to him as our Lord and King or we stone him for blasphemy. Sadly, these people choose the latter.
Here is their final obstacle to discipleship.
(7) Unwillingness to bow to the Authority of Christ over their lives.
Verse 59 “At this, they picked up stones to stone him...” That was their final response to Jesus’ call to discipleship. Jesus simply stepped into the crowd and slipped away. That departure was perhaps the greatest tragedy of their lives. The opportunity left them that day.
Jesus calls each and everyone of us not just to believe him at a surface level—not just to acknowledge that he might be right about some things—but to believe him in such a way that it leads to a personal commitment to hear him, to obey him, to follow him all the days of our lives.
The invitation to discipleship that these people rejected can be accepted by anyone in this room. For some the journey begins today. For others the resolution of heart to continue the journey is the response God is looking for. "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
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[1] What John meant by this in verse 30 is open to discussion. He at least means they believed what Jesus was saying. There had to be some level of belief for John to use that terminology. The point of this message is that their kind of belief did not prove to be saving faith.
[2] Aorist Subjunctive Active of menw which means to remain.
[3] In the Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13, we find that now all seeds take root and bear fruit.
[4] 2 Peter 1:10
[5] John 18:38
[6] Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, “Do With 5 Legs?’ by C.R. Anthony (Rockville, Maryland: Assurance Publishers, 1979) p. 525
[7] James 1:17
[8] John 14:6
[9] 2 Corinthians 4:4
[10] Galatians 6:7
[11] Randy West, “The Blood that Ran Part 4: Walking out of Captivity and Surrendering to God” preached at Living Faith Church of God in Crandon, Wisconsin in March 2000.
[12] John 8:37
[13] Romans 9:1-13, Matthew 15:24 In addition, Ephesians 2:11-12 reveals the lack of this privilege amongst the Gentiles. Jesus is not denying that these people are the natural descendants of Abraham but wants them to know that such natural privilege does not guarantee salvation (Romans 9:7)
[14] 1 Samuel 3:9
[15] Luke 6:46
[16] Matthew 12:33
[17] John 14:11
[18] Thanks to a sermon on this text by Ray Stedman entitled “Straight Talk from Jesus” I was able to see the flow of this conversation more clearly.
[19] We all do well to remember that truth when first heard never sounds right because we are gauging it by what we already know. This is why we must search the scriptures diligently to see if what we are hearing is true by that most reliable standard. To measure simply by our past experience or tradition is to respond much like these Jews are responding in our text.
[20] John 4
