2017.02.12 John 8:
21-36
Genuine Discipleship
Good Morning everyone… It is wonderful to see you here… I
have Good news for you… His name Is
Jesus… As many of you know… We teach
through the Bible verse by verse… We are studying the Gospel of John and we find ourselves in John ch 8 again this morning… As I have been saying we are near the
end of Jesus earthly ministry… In about 6 months He will be crucified and He will Rise from the dead… His enemies
are becoming more and more determined to kill him… In fact in this chapter
alone… They tried to attack Him 10 times… They did not succeed… That is because
it was not yet time… As we pick up the text today…. Jesus is once again
offering His enemies a chance to see
with their ears…. Repent and believe the Gospel… He is confronting their
sin and pride and rebellion… There is still
time for them to repent… Today in the middle of this chapter, Jesus teaches those who have believed
what true and genuine discipleship means…
As we saw last week… Salvation begins
with Scandalous Grace… That is what happened to the woman caught committing Adultery… And to the woman at the well…
When we see the truth about ourselves… Then we repent of our sins and we
believe the Good news of the gospel…
We receive the same radical grace and
mercy… But Just like the woman caught in the act of adultery… We also here
the Command… Go and sin no more… For context… let´s read beginning at John 8…
v21…
John
8: 21-29 NKJV slt 2000
21
Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will
die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”22 So the Jews said, “Will He kill
Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?” 23 And He said to
them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not
of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for
if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” 25 Then they
said to Him, “Who are You?”And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been
saying to you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge
concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those
things which I heard from Him.” 27 They did not understand that He spoke to
them of the Father. 28 Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of
Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as
My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me.
The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please
Him.”
21 Nun sprach Jesus wiederum zu ihnen: Ich gehe fort, und
ihr werdet mich suchen, und ihr werdet in eurer Sünde sterben. Wohin ich gehe,
dorthin könnt ihr nicht kommen! 22 Da sagten die Juden: Will er sich etwa
selbst töten, daß er spricht: Wohin ich gehe, dorthin könnt ihr nicht kommen?
23 Und er sprach zu ihnen: Ihr seid von unten, ich bin von oben. Ihr seid von
dieser Welt, ich bin nicht von dieser Welt. 24 Darum habe ich euch gesagt, daß
ihr in euren Sünden sterben werdet; denn wenn ihr nicht glaubt, daß ich es bin,
so werdet ihr in euren Sünden sterben. 25 Da sagten sie zu ihm: Wer bist du?
Und Jesus sprach zu ihnen: Zuerst das, was ich euch eben sage! 26 Ich habe
vieles über euch zu reden und zu richten; aber der, welcher mich gesandt hat,
ist wahrhaftig, und was ich von ihm gehört habe, das rede ich zu der Welt. 27
Sie verstanden aber nicht, daß er vom Vater zu ihnen redete. 28 Darum sprach
Jesus zu ihnen: Wenn ihr den Sohn des Menschen erhöht haben werdet, dann werdet
ihr erkennen, daß ich es bin; und ich tue nichts von mir selbst aus, sondern
wie mich mein Vater gelehrt hat, so rede ich. 29 Und der, welcher mich gesandt
hat, ist mit mir; der Vater läßt mich nicht allein, denn ich tue allezeit, was
ihm wohlgefällt.
You will remember that we read verse
21 last week… Jesus
was offering His enemies the same Radical
grace and mercy that He had shown the woman taken in Adultery… He was
pointing to His substitutionary death
for their sins… They knew He was talking about dying… But they did not
clearly understand what he was saying… Then He pointed out the truth that He
was their only hope for Salvation…
v23,24…
I am from above… Just a few day before they heard Jesus say… I am the true bread come down from heaven… John
6:51…
v24… If you do not believe… you will die in you
sins…
He is offering them the truth… He wants them to repent of
their sins and come to Him for Life… It was all so difficult for them to take
in…. They did not want to repent and so they refused to believe… look at v28
v28,30… When
you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He… Jesus is again Prophesying of the cross… I
always do what the Father taught Me and
say what the Father tells me to say… These references to the Father are more proclamations of His Diety… let´s read the next
section… v30…
John
8: 30-36 NKJV slt 2000
30
As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews
who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And
you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 33 They answered
Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone.
How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”
34
Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a
slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son
abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free
indeed.
30 Als er dies sagte, glaubten viele an ihn. 31 Da sprach
Jesus zu den Juden, die an ihn glaubten: Wenn ihr in meinem Wort bleibt, so
seid ihr wahrhaftig meine Jünger, 32 und ihr werdet die Wahrheit erkennen, und
die Wahrheit wird euch frei machen! 33 Sie antworteten ihm: Wir sind Abrahams
Same und sind nie jemandes Knechte gewesen; wie kannst du da sagen: Ihr sollt
frei werden? 34 Jesus antwortete ihnen: Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch:
Jeder, der die Sünde tut, ist ein Knecht der Sünde. 35 Der Knecht aber bleibt
nicht ewig im Haus; der Sohn bleibt ewig. 36 Wenn euch nun der Sohn frei machen
wird, so seid ihr wirklich frei.
v 30… “As He spoke these things, many came to
believe in Him… many believed in Jesus… At least some of
these who believed Him… Saw with the eyes of faith… They Heard with their ears…
v31…Then
Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My
disciples indeed… If you abide… You are truly my disciples…
Who is a true disciple? Who is a true follower of
Christ? True in the sense of genuine,
authentic…?
In v 31… we are reminded of a very
important Biblical truth… Many
people say that they are Christians… They make professions of Faith… They get
baptized… They become faithful church goers and do good things… But in truth… They are only fans of Jesus…
Trying to use Jesus to get what they want in life… For many, It is cool to be a
Christ follower… Sure why not… He will give me everything that I want… I can
have perfect health and perfect wealth… They name the name of Jesus… They want
to identify themselves as believers… And so they do all of the Christian
things… But in truth they have not been converted… God has not taken out their
hearts of stone… He has not yet given them hearts of Flesh…. He has not yet put
His Holy Spirit in them… They have not moved on into genuine faith and
discipleship… There are many fake Christians in Europe and America… There are
no fake Christians in Muslim lands…. They know the price of true Christianity
in those dangerous places… There is no easy believism in Saudi Arabia… There
are no prosperity mega churches in Iran… Jesus points to perseverance In Him
and His Words of Life as the ultimate proof of the genuineness of faith… His
disciples knew what He was talking about… Jesus had been teaching about the
differences in the people who say they believe for some time…
Many of Jesus´ parables pointed to the difference between
true faith the results in Salvation… And a false temporary faith that is not
real at all…
Most of Matthew 13 is about the differences…
Often in the Gospel
of John we have seen examples of faith and belief… We
have seen true faith in the case of
the early disciples already in chapter
one... And we’ve seen less than true faith in chapter two… Remember…
Jesus didn’t commit Himself to them because He knew what
was in their heart… and He knew their faith wasn’t real…
Now, we meet another group of believers here in verse 30
who came to believe in Him… In verse
31... John refers to them as…Those who had believed… We they genuine
believers…? Genuine faith is demonstrated in joyful
obedience…
This is not a new issue…
Jesus has called for true faith and obedience all along… There is no easy believism in Jesus´ Words of Life…
Everywhere we look we see the connection between faith and obedience from the
heart…
Here in these verses… Jesus is focusing on true
discipleship… Jesus says… You believe…ß Then abide in my Word…. Live in it….
Follow it…. Charis it like David did… Hide it you heart… Abiding in my word Always includes genuine faith… And genuine
faith produces obedience…
I mentioned Matthew
13…. Here Jesus gives us a picture of the kingdom in His parables… Perhaps the most important is the parable of the soils… There we discover
that there will be people who make superficial
commitments…
We see them in the rocky
soil and the weedy soil… Their faith is superficial… It’s
temporary… and when tribulation or persecution comes along… or because of
the love of riches or the cares of this world…
They wither and die… That is why there are no fake Christians
in Muslim lands…
Jesus describes them as “Those who believe for a while…
Luke 8:13… And
then poof… They disappear…
The Apostles were very much aware of this issue… Listen to what John wrote in 1 John 2… v19…
1
John 2:19 NKJV slt 2000
19
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us,
they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made
manifest, that none of them were of us.
19 Sie sind von uns ausgegangen, aber sie waren nicht von
uns; denn wenn sie von uns gewesen wären, so wären sie bei uns geblieben. Aber
es sollte offenbar werden, dass sie alle nicht von uns sind.
John is saying… there are going to be people who are
going to be superficial Christians… They are not real…
They will not
endure… They will go out from us… and demonstrate that they really are not genuine believers…. They are not
true disciples…
So
how do we know who is real?
There are many who
“believe” in some sense… But they fade away… The fact that they fade away is
proof they were not genuine believers… Back
to John 8… v30,31…
John
8: 30,31 NKJV slt 2000
30
As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.31 Then Jesus said to those Jews
who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
30 Als er dies sagte, glaubten viele an ihn. 31 Da sprach
Jesus zu den Juden, die an ihn glaubten: Wenn ihr in meinem Wort bleibt, so
seid ihr wahrhaftig meine Jünger,
So here we meet some Jews who… according to verse 30 and
31, had believed in Jesus… They believed
because at first it’s kind of easy to believe... You’re drawn by the crowd… as we saw in John chapter 6… Many were fascinated by the
supernatural… He’s healing
people and casting out demons… He’s giving free food… Jesus was doing all those kinds of things… He provided amazing benefits… It all
seems so wonderful…
Sadly… People still
seek Jesus on the basis of what they believe He will give them…
They still come after Him seeking personal fulfillment… They
are people who want a better life… people who want answers… They want more out
of life… They want to feel secure… Many are afraid of death… And they should
be…. The wages of sin is death… Romans 6: 23…
For
all these reasons and more… Starting to
believe in Jesus is easy… But
when their own sin filled fallen nature starts to pull them away from Jesus… The kinda sorta believer walks away from their
only hope… That is because half-hearted believers still love their sin…
They are unwilling to yield to the hard demands of true repentance and humble submission to Christ….
They are the hard
ground and rocky soil of the parable…
They only showed a Shallow… temporary faith… Their hearts
have not been transformed… Paul warns of danger and encourages us to hang on to
Jesus… look with me at Romans 12...v2…
Romans
12: 2 NLT Neues Leben
2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you
into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know
God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
2 Deshalb orientiert euch nicht am Verhalten und an den
Gewohnheiten dieser Welt, sondern lasst euch von Gott durch Veränderung eurer
Denkweise in neue Menschen verwandeln. Dann werdet ihr wissen, was Gott von
euch will: Es ist das, was gut ist und ihn freut und seinem Willen vollkommen
entspricht.
Let God transform us into new people…. He will transform
the way we think… How? By abiding in
His Word… In the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus asked a very important
question… Look at Luke 6: 46…
Luke 6:46
NKJV slt 2000
46
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
46 Was nennt ihr mich aber »Herr, Herr« und tut nicht,
was ich sage?
You say I am Lord…. But you do want you want…. Come on
now… Stop pretending to love me…
So what is the mark of a true believer? It’s not a profession… It’s not some past event… It is a continuing
loving obedience… Obedience out of love
for the Lord who has redeemed them…
It
is in following the Word of God… That is the proof that our Salvation is
real… We become True Disciples… It
is where we find a precious gift… Look at
verse 32…
John
8: 32 NKJV
slt 2000
32 You
will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.“
32 und ihr werdet die Wahrheit erkennen, und die Wahrheit
wird euch frei machen!
v32…You
will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.“
The truth is that
Jesus is Lord and he deserves to be Lord of our lives…. We have been bought
with a price… We have been redeemed…
Knowing
and believing the Truth will produce true freedom... True
freedom comes from Genuine discipleship…People are looking for and freedom… No
limits… We want what we want… When we
want it… And no one has the right to limit our freedom...
They want the truth that frees them from their confusion
and struggles… They want the truth that frees them from fear…
They want to be free from the fear of sickness and death… Freedom from the
bondage of sin and death…
Here in verse 32 Jesus offers something wonderful if we become genuine disciples… He says… You
will know the truth… What truth is he talking about? He is talking about spiritual truth… The
truth that produces transformation and Salvation…
Jesus is offering the life transforming Radical grace
that changes everything… It is the truth that makes us truly free…
So what kind of freedom is Jesus offering them? Look at verse
34…
v34… Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I
say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin…
Freedom from what? Freedom from Slavery to sin… These scribes and Pharisees were not free… They were slaves to sin… How do we know they were slaves to sin? Because sin was the pattern of their life… It
was religious sin… pride… arrogance and
rebellion… It was all carefully hidden in their very religious ways…. They
kept the law perfectly… At least that is how it looked to the people… It was
all a show… Jesus loved His enemies
enough to tell them the truth… He was offering them grace and mercy… He wanted
to set them free… Look with me at Matthew 23: 23-28…
Matthew 23: 23-28 NKJV slt 2000
23 “Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and
have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.
These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind
guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but
inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first
cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean
also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like
whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full
of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear
righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
23
Wehe euch, ihr Schriftgelehrten und Pharisäer, ihr Heuchler, dass ihr die Minze
und den Anis und den Kümmel verzehntet und das Wichtigere im Gesetz
vernachlässigt, nämlich das Recht und das Erbarmen und den Glauben! Dieses
sollte man tun und jenes nicht lassen. 24 Ihr blinden Führer, die ihr die Mücke
aussiebt, das Kamel aber verschluckt! 25 Wehe euch, ihr Schriftgelehrten und
Pharisäer, ihr Heuchler, dass ihr das Äußere des Bechers und der Schüssel reinigt,
inwendig aber sind sie voller Raub und Unmäßigkeit! 26 Du blinder Pharisäer,
reinige zuerst das Inwendige des Bechers und der Schüssel, damit auch ihr
Äußeres rein werde! 27 Wehe euch, ihr Schriftgelehrten und Pharisäer, ihr
Heuchler, dass ihr getünchten Gräbern gleicht, die äußerlich zwar schön
scheinen, inwendig aber voller Totengebeine und aller Unreinheit sind! 28 So
erscheint auch ihr äußerlich vor den Menschen als gerecht, inwendig aber seid
ihr voller Heuchelei und Gesetzlosigkeit.
They were lying to themselves… Jesus says… You fool the
people…. But I know the truth about you…. And I am offering you the same grace
and mercy that I offered the woman that you dragged in here… It is not too
late… repent and believe the Truth…. I
am your only hope…v36…
v36…
Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed...
Jesus alone offers freedom from slavery to sin… freedom
from spiritual blindness… freedom from the fear of death… You will never have
to live in fear of judgment… You
don´t need to be afraid ever again… That is true freedom… Paul gives us a
wonderful Explanation of this great truth…
Close
Look
with me at Romans 8 v1-4…
Romans
8: 1-4 NLT Neues Leben
1 So
now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And
because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you
from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to
save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law
could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have.
And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son
as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the
law would be fully satisfied in us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but
instead follow the Spirit.
1 Also gibt es jetzt für die, die zu Christus Jesus gehören,
keine Verurteilung mehr. 2 Denn die Macht1 des Geistes, der Leben gibt, hat
dich durch Christus Jesus von der Macht der Sünde befreit, die zum Tod führt. 3
Das Gesetz konnte uns nicht retten, weil unsere menschliche Natur ihm
widerstand. Deshalb sandte Gott seinen Sohn zu uns. Er kam in menschlicher
Gestalt wie wir, aber ohne Sünde. Gott zerstörte die Herrschaft der Sünde über
uns, indem er seinen Sohn stellvertretend für unsere Schuld verurteilte. 4 Das
tat er, damit die gerechten Forderungen des Gesetzes durch uns erfüllt würden
und wir uns nicht länger von unserer menschlichen Natur, sondern vom Geist
Gottes leiten lassen.
It is all about Jesus… He has done this work in us… In an
instant we are perfect in God´s eyes…
He
has made us Holy…. And we are being made holy day by day… We are being
transformed into the likeness of His dear son… Hebrews 10: 14-18…
What good news… Jesus paid it all for us… That
is the scandal of Grace… It is His grace and mercy poured out on us… that should motivate us to love and serve the
Lord with all of our hearts… Joyful obedience to our great LORD AND Savior
Jesus Christ… Let´s pray…
