Dependence on God (John 8:28-41)

And we're going to be in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

We're kind of in the middle of the chapter, still we're going to be teaching through verses 28 through 41.

You know, and today we'll continue on in this chapter as Jesus continues to answer the Jewish leader's question of who are you?

So as we as we read this together, that's where we are.

Jesus is continuing to answer that question to them.

So we're going to be starting chapter 8, verse 28.

If you're able, please stand for the reading of God's Word.

And this is something that we do out of respect for God's word.

So 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 on my own.

But just as the Father taught me, I say these things.

As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples.

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

We are descendants of Abraham, they answered him, and we have never been enslaved to anyone.

How can you say you will become free?

Jesus responded, Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever.

So if the son sets you free, you really will be free.

I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you.

I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father.

So then you do what you have heard from your father.

Our father is Abraham, they replied.

But now you are trying to kill me.

A man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.

Abraham did not do this.

You're doing what your father does.

We weren't born of sexual immorality, they said.

We have one Father, God.

Let's pray.

Lord, as we do every week, we thank you for your word.

We thank you that we have this access to it, that we can hold it in our hand, that we can study it, Lord, and that we can allow you to teach us through your word.

So that, Lord, I pray that you would do exactly that here this morning.

That you would fill each one of us with the Holy Spirit, Lord, to come to this understanding, to understand this truth that you have for us.

Lord, and then you would show us how to apply that to our lives, to continue to mold us and to shape us to be more and more like Jesus, we pray.

Lord, we would you do all of these things in us through your word and through the power of the Holy Spirit this morning, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated.

So Jesus just finished telling this crowd and these religious leaders regarding God the Father in verse 26.

He said, The one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him, these things I tell the world.

He's telling them that if you believe in God, you need to listen to what I say because it's from God.

You know, this all goes back, and we've talked a lot about this in the book of John, about how God the Father and God the Son are one.

God the Holy Spirit as well, but he's not in the scene to the capacity that we see today.

So Jesus tends right here to just talk about him and the Father in this situation.

But we're gonna see Jesus will outright say in our passage today that he can do nothing on his own.

And I think that is the biggest thing that we can glean from this passage today.

You know, if Jesus does nothing on his own, you know, and our goal is to be just like Jesus as his disciple, then we should do nothing on our own as well.

You know, we need to have the same attitude and the same conviction that Jesus has.

Recognition of our complete and utter dependence upon God for everything.

So look for that in Jesus in this passage, and then we're gonna look at how we can be like him in that very same way.

So let's get a little bit of a running start here since we're starting in the middle of the chapter in verse 26, and then we'll read through verse 28.

It says, I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and when I have heard from him, these things I tell the world.

They did not know he was speaking to them about the Father.

Verse 28.

So 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 on my own, but just as the Father taught me, I say these things.

So Jesus is talking literally here.

When you lift up the Son of Man off the ground, onto the cross, then you will know that I am who I say I am.

Jesus uses the same language earlier in the book of John in chapter 3, 14.

He says, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man will be lifted up.

And he uses the same terminology we'll see in chapter 12, verse 32, referring again to his crucifixion.

So Jesus says, When you lift up the Son of Man, the Messiah that you are waiting for, you will know that I am he.

Now, you know, we see this title that Jesus uses quite often, Son of Man.

It's Jesus' favorite title in the book of John.

Now, Son of Man, it's used 42 times to be exact within the Gospel of John alone.

And it just literally means human.

It means born of a human and therefore fully human.

And then we're going to see that he uses son of God nine times in the book of John.

You know, speaking of being fully God, literally son of God.

But it makes me wonder why does Jesus use son of man over four times as much as he uses the term son of God?

You know, it seems like Jesus likes to drive home the point of his humanity.

You know, probably to help people understand that he's fully qualified as the son of Adam to be a sacrifice for the sins of Adam, for the sins of man.

But there's also a prophetic element to this title as well that these Jewish leaders are probably fully aware of.

You know, and it comes from Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 through 14.

Daniel 7:13–14

And it's regarding end times.

And I want to read that to you.

It's up on the screen as well.

It says, I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven.

He approached the ancient of days and was escorted before him.

He was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.

So Jesus is saying, When you lift up the Son of Man, the Messiah that Daniel prophesied about, then you will know that what I'm saying is true.

So some of this crowd will become disciples of Jesus at the point of the crucifixion.

And they will finally realize that what he is saying right now is true.

At that point at the crucifixion, they'll know that what he's saying right now is true.

So look again at verse 28.

It says, Then you will know that I am he.

And then he takes it one step further and says, and that I do nothing on my own.

Again, Jesus and God are one.

They work and they move and they think in unison.

There cannot be a discrepancy between the two.

And this is where I think it relates back to us.

Jesus desires that exact same relationship with each and every one of us.

Where we work and move and think in unison with him.

Where there cannot be a discrepancy between us, and where we recognize that we cannot do anything without him.

And I put a slide up here for this, but we also have it on both sides of the TV as well.

If you want to see it, but it's John 15, fine.

It's the theme verse of our church.

It's why we call ourselves abide.

Jesus says, the one who remains in me, and I in him produces much fruit.

Because you can do nothing without me.

Do you see the correlation there between God the Father and Jesus the Son?

And then what Jesus says in John 15, 5 regarding him and us.

Jesus does nothing on his own, and we shouldn't even attempt to think about doing anything on our own.

And he wants us to have the same assurance that we see in verse 29.

So look at 29 with me.

Jesus says, The one who sent me is with me.

He has not left me alone because I always do what pleases him.

He's telling them there's no conflict in believing in God and also believing in me.

Because God sent Jesus, he has not left him alone, and Jesus always does what pleases him.

See?

Zero conflict in their relationship.

And God wants us to have that same assurance that Jesus does in verse 29, where we can say, God is with me.

He has not left me alone because I always do what pleases him.

You know, we're never going to be perfect the side of eternity.

But this is the goal, isn't it?

Always wanting to please him.

As a disciple of Jesus, that should be our goal.

So we need to ask ourselves: are we abiding in Jesus this closely?

To where we can read verse 29 and have the same assurance that Jesus shows right here in verse 29.

Now, look at the results of Jesus' words.

Look at verse 30.

As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

So think about this crowd.

You know, it's full of all of these Jewish people.

Some of them are religious leaders, some of them love them, some of them want to kill them, and everything in between.

But they hear the exact same thing, the exact same words from Jesus, and they come to opposite conclusions.

Some get saved, some try to kill them.

While hearing and seeing the exact same thing.

You know, I think that speaks to their hearts.

Makes me think of the parable of the soils.

You know, hard hearts can be impenetrable, even with perfect words, straight from the mouth of Jesus.

Look at verse 31 with me.

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him.

Now, some scholars would point out right here that there are some in this crowd that are believing his words, but maybe haven't placed their trusting faith in him as master and savior at this point, because of what Jesus says next, at the second half of verse 31.

He says, If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples.

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

So this word, let's take a look at this word continue here.

You know, it's also translated in other places in Scripture as abide, remain, dwell, tarry, and endure.

So the idea is remaining in the word of Jesus.

And not just remaining, but abiding and tarrying there.

You know, there's this element of obedience to Jesus' word here that I want to make sure that we don't miss.

And if you remember in chapter 1, it says that Jesus is the word.

The word was God.

The word was with God.

The word became flesh and it dwelt among us.

And I know this can tie our brains and knots sometimes that Jesus only speaks God's words, but Jesus is also the word of God.

So abiding in God's word is abiding in Jesus' words, is abiding in Jesus, which is abiding in Scripture.

You know, it's all one and the same thing.

And it's what Jesus' true disciples do.

Not just the twelve that he had at this moment, but us here today as well.

His true disciples abide in his word and abide in him, which is the same thing.

You know, maybe a better way of paraphrasing this is you can't be his disciple and not obey him.

It doesn't work.

It's impossible.

We can't do whatever we want and then follow Jesus on Sunday, or say that we follow Jesus on Sunday.

You can't do whatever you want and then also claim that Jesus is your master.

You can't be a disciple and live in sin, is what this comes down to.

You know, we're all gonna sin, but you can't live in rebellion to God and in rebellion to the whole counsel of his word and then call yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ.

You can't sleep around and call yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ.

You can't have the habit of running your mouth, or the habit of lying, or habit of outbursts of anger and call yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ.

You can't live in any sin and call yourself a disciple of Jesus.

Because if your example and actions say that I don't follow Jesus, but your mouth says that you follow Jesus, you're double-minded, and the only person that you're fooling is yourself.

You know, Charles Spurgeon said, There is no going on in sin and going to heaven.

That cannot be.

You must quit sin or quit hope.

But if you know his word and you abide in it, you are a true disciple of Jesus.

And you will know the truth, which is Jesus.

He is the truth.

And what did Jesus just say?

The truth will set you free.

As we'll see, set you free from slavery to sin.

But this crowd here, or at least the religious leaders, they take Jesus' words literally about slavery.

Look at what they say in verse 33.

We are descendants of Abraham, they answered him, and we have never been enslaved to anyone.

How can you say you will become free?

It's a really interesting comment, isn't it?

They're currently under Roman occupation, and they say that they've never been enslaved.

What about Egypt?

What about Babylon?

You know, God's judgment on the nation of Israel usually ended up with them being in slavery.

The historian Josephus wrote about how the Jews at this time had this unbreakable attachment to liberty at this time.

You know, even under the Roman occupation, they refused to submit or admit to submit to anyone but God.

But they weren't even doing that.

They were fooling themselves.

You know, ultimately, they just didn't want anyone telling them what to do.

And if you can't relate to that, you're lying.

No one likes to be told what to do.

So they answered Jesus, we have never been enslaved to anyone.

So they questioned Jesus, you know, how can you say we will become free when we submit to no one?

Look at verse 34.

Jesus responded, Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

Now the word slave here is also translated servant, bond, or bondman.

So think somebody that's in servitude to another.

Not an employee, but a slave.

And then the word commits here, it's in the present tense, meaning that it's ongoing.

It can uh means continues to commit sin.

So everyone that continues to commit sin, meaning living in sin, in servitude to it, is a slave to sin.

And will be either until coming to Jesus or until an eternity in hell.

If we don't have Jesus, we have no reason to not live in sin.

We have no reason to not continue to commit sin.

Did any of you desire holiness before coming to Jesus?

Don't don't, you know, keep all your hands up at once, you know.

Jesus is offering them freedom from this slavery, telling them they don't have to remain in that place of slavery.

But some of them can't even recognize that they're in slavery, either physically or spiritually.

But he extends this freedom to them.

Look at verse 35.

A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever.

So if the son sets you free, you really will be free.

So if you are a slave to a household in this time, you were a slave to that household until the household sold you or gave you your freedom or you died.

Those are basically your three options.

So what Jesus did as the son of the household of God was purchase us from our slavery to sin.

So if you are here today, if you are a slave to sin, the son of the household of God wants to purchase you.

He wants to free you from sin.

And he has the right to do that as the son of the household of God, to purchase you.

And he already paid with his blood.

And what Jesus does is welcome us to stay and be a part of his father's household.

Not a slave anymore, but as sons and daughters of the household of God.

Adopted into the family of God to be heirs with Jesus.

And this all happens when we trust and we abide in Jesus and abide in his word.

That's when we get to experience true freedom in our life for the first time.

No longer slaves, but heirs.

You know, it's funny to me that people hesitate to give their lives completely to Jesus because they are afraid that it'll be too constricting, that all the fun's gonna go away, you know, and all the things that they still want to do, they're gonna have to stop doing.

But I think it's because they've never tasted freedom.

True freedom and liberty come from choosing a master that loves you as his own child.

We're always gonna serve something, whether we believe it or not, like these people.

It's just who we choose to serve, who we choose to be our master.

The only other option other than Jesus is slavery to sin.

There's not a third option.

Is slavery to sin or being purchased by Jesus to be an heir with him.

You know.

Our relationship to sin before we come to Jesus is an abusive relationship.

It's not like an abusive relationship, it is an abusive relationship.

Now, I want us all to imagine being in the pre Civil War South.

You're a slave, and your master is cruel and abusive and slowly killing you on purpose.

And somebody comes along and pulls you aside.

And they tell you this they say, if you want, I will buy you from your cruel master and buy your freedom.

And you can live in my household as a free man, and we will treat you as family, and you will truly be free.

And all you have to do is just ask me to do that, and it's done.

You'll be purchased, and I will pay the price for you.

That's what Jesus is offering.

When it's put that way, doesn't it seem foolish to reject that offer?

But when people reject the freedom found in Christ, that's exactly what they're doing.

Rejecting the Son, wanting to set them free.

You know, when it's put that way, to me that just seems like a no-brainer of yes, I would like that freedom.

Now, in verse 37, Jesus will address their confusion regarding slavery and confusion regarding Abraham.

Look at verse 37 with me.

I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you.

You know, he's told them that his word is God's word, right?

And then tells them that his word has no place among them.

There's no place, one translation says there's no place of entrance into them.

The soil is too hard for Jesus' seeds to penetrate.

You know, see that do you see the conclusion that he's leading them to here?

That he's told them his word is the word of God, and then tells them it has no place among them.

He's telling them God has no place among you.

And this is exactly the opposite of what Abraham did.

God spoke to Abraham.

Abraham accepted God's word in faith, and it was accredited to him as righteousness.

Abraham was not perfect by no means.

He made plenty of mistakes, but he listened and trusted God's word.

You know, other than Abraham being a blood relative to these people in the crowd that are trying to kill him, they didn't share any other similarities.

They had the bloodline of Abraham, yes, but they did not have the spirituality of Abraham.

You see, Abraham heard God's word and he responded.

He did what God asked him to do.

They heard God's word and they tried to kill God.

There's a big difference there, isn't there?

Jesus continues in verse 38.

He says, I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father, so then you do what you have heard from your father.

Jesus speaks of what he has seen in heaven from eternity past.

He was there as a witness.

He was there the whole time as God.

As we saw in chapter 1, the word was with God, and the word was God.

But I get to this verse, I say, Well, who's their father that Jesus is talking about?

Well, look down real quick at verse 44.

Same chapter, handful of verses down.

Jesus says, You are of your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire.

So there's our answer of what Jesus is talking about here in this verse.

He calls them the offspring of the devil.

You know, and I think to understand this, we need to talk about Genesis chapter 3, specifically verse 15.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

And it's right after Adam and Eve sin, and God's letting Adam and Eve and the serpent know the consequences of this sin.

And God tells the serpent and Eve this.

He says, I will put hostility between you and the woman, between the serpent and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

So how can Satan have offspring?

Well, it's those that are following him, that are listening to him, that are carrying out Satan's will, and remaining slaves to sin.

That is what Satan's offspring is.

The religious leaders, not all of them, but those that are seeking to kill Jesus, their father is the devil.

Now, with that in mind, look at verse 38 again.

I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father, so then you do what you have heard from your father.

Trying to kill Jesus is satanic.

I think that's kind of a no-brainer, right?

But that's what this comes down to.

And these supposed religious leaders that are trying to speak for God are actually regurgitating what Satan was leading them to do and say.

And Jesus is saying, go ahead and do it.

He knows what this is going to lead to when they lift him up on the cross.

And now we're going to see them continue to defend themselves.

Look at verse 39.

Our father is Abraham, they replied.

If you were Abraham's children, Jesus told them, you would do what Abraham did.

Again, Abraham had faith and obedience in God's word, and they are rejecting God's word and trying to kill God.

Verse 40.

But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.

Abraham did not do this.

You're doing what your father does, what Satan does.

And here's their response.

End of verse 41.

It says, We weren't born of sexual immorality, they said.

We have one Father God.

Apparently they knew a little bit about Jesus' past.

They know about the accusations that were brought against Mary and Joseph for infidelity.

And they obviously don't believe that Mary conceived of the Holy Spirit.

If they believe that, they would probably believe that Jesus is God.

So since Jesus starts to talk about who their father is, Satan, you know, they take the opportunity to stick a little jab in there and accuse Jesus of being born out of wedlock.

So Jesus calls them born of Satan, they call them born of sin.

And they say we have one father, God.

Right after saying that Abraham was their father.

So which one is it?

You know, I think at this point Jesus has them so, you know, running in circles that they're just grasping for straws, it seems like, uh, once again.

And we're gonna look a little bit more at that in Jesus' response to them next week as we finish up chapter 8.

But I want to revisit as we close up here today what we talked about at the beginning.

Jesus' dependence upon God.

Jesus says he doesn't do anything he doesn't see the Father doing.

He doesn't say anything he doesn't hear the Father saying.

He says outright, I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father.

And he does nothing on his own.

And Jesus is the example that we need to follow as disciples of him.

That is what Jesus desires from us.

That dependence, like we talked about in John 15, where Jesus tells us outright, you can do nothing without me.

Think about how often things have gone wrong in our own life.

Right after we said, I've got this.

Or maybe not after saying it out loud, but we jumped into something without seeking the Lord first.

We neglected to include him in or to seek his will for us.

We need to take everything to the Lord and seek him in everything in complete and utter dependence upon him because he's got this.

We don't, we never do.

And if Jesus doesn't do anything on his own, why would we even try to do anything on our own?

You know, I think we all have a little bit of the Pharisees in us that doesn't want to answer to anyone, that doesn't want to submit to anyone, or to think that we know better, or maybe we just want credit for anything that looks good in our life.

You see, the hardest thing about depending upon the Lord is it takes humility, which Jesus displayed perfectly.

You know, it takes a recognition that we are not God and we do not know better than God, and that we can do nothing on our own.

That verse right there.

You know, somebody challenged me years ago.

You know, when you wake up first thing in the morning, just say good morning, Lord.

First thing, just put your mind right there, recognition that he's right there.

You know, just a way of acknowledging his presence, first thing, to help us keep him and the recognition of him at the front of our mind.

And I started doing that a long time ago, and it's been great.

And I really want to encourage you to do the same thing.

And this is not me patting myself on the back, it's just something that the Lord has really used in my life.

But over the years that's expanded a little bit.

So every morning when I wake up, maybe six out of seven days, sometimes I forget.

But I say, good morning, Lord.

I love you, I can do nothing without you.

And I want to challenge you.

I mean, think of what God can do if we all started doing that.

Just first thing in the morning, that recognition, that humility that, God, I can do nothing without you.

Whatever words you choose, it doesn't have to be those.

I just want to challenge us to start our day recognizing our dependence upon God for everything.

And then to do it in all humility.

I really think that's what the Lord desires from each and every one of us.

That's when He can really start to use us.

When we stop saying, I got this, and just realize with everything, big or small, God's got this.

Would you please pray with me?

Oh Lord, teach us how to be like you.

Teach us to follow the example of Jesus in this.

How he recognized openly that he could do nothing without you.

So help us to recognize openly that we can do nothing without you, and that we can't take credit for anything that's good in our life.

Anything that's good, it's come from you.

And anything that's messed up, Lord, it's because we were not abiding in you.

And there's gonna be trials, there's gonna be hard times, Lord.

We recognize that.

But in our own life and in the things we do have control of, Lord, help us to recognize that we need you for everything.

And help us to have that dependence and that humility upon you to abide in you for everything, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.