58

John 8:48-59 A PROMISE OF EVERLASTING LIFE

Introduction:

In our previous text Jesus told a crowd of unbelieving

Jews at Jerusalem that God is not their spiritual Father.

He told them that the Devil is their spiritual father and

that the Devil is the one who prompts them to do the deeds

which they do. This offended the Jews and they responded

with angry accusations.

I. Angry accusations from the Jews

V. 48, "Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say

we not well that thou art a Samaritan..." This statement

reveals that some of the Jews had already been saying that

Jesus is a Samaritan and they feel now that He has now

confirmed that this is true. They think that He would not

have called them the children of the Devil if He were not a

Samaritan.

I cannot help but wonder why they would ever think of

Jesus a being a Samaritan. They certainly knew that He was

from Galilee. They knew also that He was from the house of

Joseph and Mary. They had earlier spoken of Him as being

the son of a carpenter. The only thing I can think of is

that they may have thought that He was an illegitimate

child. They knew that He was in the home of Joseph, but

must have thought that he was conceived by a Samaritan.

But even if they thought that He was illegitimate, that

still would not explain why they would think He was a

Samaritan. Why would they think that a Samaritan had

conceived Him? The answer seems to be that they thought of

the Samaritans as being the epitome of all that is evil and

they thought of Him as being evil. Also they knew that He

had been friendly to the Samaritans. So they jumped to the

conclusion that He is a Samaritan.

Particularly they thought of the Samaritans as being

demon possessed people and they thought that Jesus was demon

possessed. (V. 48), "...and hast a devil?" They really

thought that He was demon possessed. This is not the first

time they had said so. However, the reason they said so at

this particular time is because they were responding to what

He had said about them being children of the Devil. Jesus

said that they were of the same spiritual nature as the

Devil and they, in turn, said that He was possessed by one

of the evil spirits from the Devil. They were merely trying

to give Him a greater insult than what He had said about

them.

II. The response which Jesus gave to their accusations

V. 49, "Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour

my Father, and ye do dishonour me." Jesus ignored their

accusation about Him being a Samaritan. However, He denied

that He is demon possessed and pointed to evidence to show

that He is not. He pointed to His efforts to honor God the

Father. By His deeds He had brought honor to God -- not to

the Devil. The numerous people whom He had healed and their

families praised God for their healing. The healings all

brought honor and glory to God the Father. Furthermore, in

all of the things He had said, He had sought to give honor

to God. He had not sought to bring honor and glory to

Himself, but to God the Father. This is most certainly not

like a man who is demon possessed. V. 50, "John 8:50 And I

seek not mine own glory..."

(V. 50), "...there is one that seeketh and judgeth."

While He had not sought to bring honor to Himself, God the

Father had seen to it that He was honored. By assigning Him

the task of healing the sick and performing the other great

miracles God the Father had made sure that He was honored.

III. An amazing promise from Jesus

V. 51, "Verily, verily, I say unto you..." The word,

verily, means "truly." So Jesus was saying, "Truly, truly I

say unto you..." This was a way of saying, "What I am now

about to say to you is of far more importance than me

talking about the honor that the Father has bestowed on me.

I want you to especially take notice of what I am about to

say because it is most certainly true and it is especially

important.

(V. 51), "...If a man keep my saying, he shall never see

death." Jesus had repeatedly told them that He has the

power to save lost sinners and to give them everlasting

life. Perhaps John 3:16 is one of the better known

statements in which He said this. "For God so loved the

world that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but

have everlasting life." John 3:36 says essentially the same

thing. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:

and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but

the wrath of God abideth on him."

Jesus had revealed God's plan of salvation for lost

sinners. If a man would hear Him and believe His promises

about salvation, he would be saved.

God's plan of salvation is that God had so loved lost

sinners that God sent His own Son to the world to be the

Savior of men. If any lost sinner would repent of his sin

and trust in God's Son for salvation Jesus would save him

and give him everlasting life.

IV. Another accusation and a question from the Jews

In the previous statement, Jesus was clearly trying to

get away from swapping accusations and trying to let them

know that He loved them and desired to save them. But the

Jews would have no part of that. They became more bitter

than ever toward Him. V. 52, "Then said the Jews unto him,

Now we know that thou hast a devil..." That is, we are now

more convinced than ever that you are possessed by demon

spirit from the Devil. They altogether missed the point

that He was offering to give to them everlasting life. They

missed the point that He was offering to save their souls.

All they picked up on was that He had claimed the power to

give everlasting life and they considered this impossible.

Furthermore, they considered this as being contrary to what

they knew about Abraham and the Old Testament prophets. (V.

52), "...Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest,

If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death."

In their own minds they thought this was just another

way Jesus had of seeking to glorify Himself and they would

have no part of it. V. 53, "Art thou greater than our

father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead:

whom makest thou thyself?" They thought this was just an

effort of the part of Jesus to show that He is greater than

Abraham and that He is greater than the prophets of old.

And indeed He is greater than they are. But Jesus was not

trying to glorify Himself by this information. Rather, He

is trying to convince them that He is the God sent Savior

and that His mission in the world is to save people like

them and that He is willing to save them.

V. The response of Jesus

V. 54, "Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is

nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me..." Jesus was

not trying to honor Himself. He had all the honor He

desired from the things which God the Father had done to

honor Him.

(V. 54), "...of whom ye say, that he is your God." If

these people had known God the Father and were in touch with

God so that they could understand the things of God, they

would have believed God and accepted Jesus as being the

Christ the Savior. They claimed God as their heavenly

Father, but God, the Heavenly Father, was not their

spiritual father. The Devil was their spiritual father.

V. 55, "Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and

if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto

you: but I know him, and keep his saying." The Jews were

trying to get Jesus to admit that He was not of God and that

He was demon possessed. But Jesus could not do so because

in doing so He would be lying. He said, "I would be a liar

like you."

Now Jesus gets back to the subject of Abraham. V. 56,

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day..." Now in this

first part of this verse Jesus did not intend to claim that

Abraham literally saw His day. Rather, He is saying that

Abraham was rejoicing with anticipation looking forward to

the time when He would see the actual day of Jesus.

But then He adds, (V. 56), "...and he saw it, and was

glad." If, in the first part of the verse, He was not

talking about the anticipation with which Abraham looked

forward to seeing His day, then the latter part of the verse

would be just a repetition of the first part. He would be

saying in the first part of the verse, "Abraham rejoiced to

see my day" and then in the last part of the verse, He was

saying, " and Abraham rejoiced to see my day." But the

first part of the verse was talking about Abraham rejoicing

because he anticipated seeing His day. Then in the latter

part of the verse, Jesus said, that Abraham did actually see

His day. He did see the coming of the Lord.

What in the world was Jesus talking about? Jesus was

informing them that Abraham was not as dead as they seemed

to think. He was indeed, dead physically, but Abraham was

still very much alive spiritually and was in the Paradise of

God. When Abraham died and left his physical body behind it

was buried in a grave, but in his spiritual body he moved

into the Paradise of God. In Luke chapter sixteen Jesus

said that Abraham was still there to welcome the beggar

Lazarus when he came to Paradise. The Scripture said that

when Lazarus died he was carried to Abraham's bosom.

Abraham embraced Lazarus to his bosom in Paradise. Then

later at the time of the crucifixion, Abraham would still be

in Paradise to welcome the thief who had believed in Jesus

while they were on crosses.

VI. Another question from the Jews

V. 57, "Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet

fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" They thought,

"If Abraham could see you, then you must have been able to

see Abraham." They thought, "If He acknowledges that He has

never seen Abraham, then this will be the same as

acknowledging that Abraham has never seen Him." They

thought they had Him trapped.

V. 58, "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto

you, Before Abraham was, I am." I'm sure they were not

expecting this. Jesus simply said, (And I put it in our

East Texas terms) "I lived before Abraham ever lived. I

existed before He did." He was talking about His existence

as eternal Spirit God even before He was born in a human

body. As the Second Person of The Holy Trinity He had

always existed. He had, indeed, existed before Abraham. In

the first chapter of this book we are told that He was in

the beginning with God and that He was God. We are told

there that He made all things that have ever been made. He

is the Creator. To answer their question: Of course, He

had seen Abraham.

VII. Their effort to stone Jesus

V. 59, "Then took they up stones to cast at him: but

Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through

the midst of them, and so passed by." Jesus very easily

avoided the stoning. He simply walked right out right

through the midst of them and out the front gate of the

temple.

VIII. The main thing Jesus would want you to see

Now listen, there are lots of things of great importance

in this text. But there is one thing of utmost importance

which the Lord Jesus would have every person here to

understand. If you miss everything else that I have said,

please, do not miss this. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent to

this world to save those who are lost in sin. He came to

this world to offer eternal life to men. Through His words,

through the words that He spoke while He was here on earth

and through the words that God has inspired to be written in

the Bible about Him, God offers everlasting life to every

man. If you will believe His words and trust Him to keep

His promise, then He will give you everlasting life.

From the physical point of view, it is appointed to

every man once to die and after that the judgment. But from

the spiritual point of view, those who accept the words of

Jesus and trust in Him to save their soul, they will never

taste of death. When they get sick and die or when they

have an accident and die, , the only pain they will feel

will be whatever physical pain they suffer before they die.

After they are dead there will be no more pain. Not ever!

They will simply move out of their physical bodies and wake

up in Paradise. They will be with Abraham. They will be

with the Lord. They will be with all of the redeemed who

have entered Paradise before them. They will await the

resurrection there. At the resurrection the trump of God

will sound and all of the saved dead will re-enter their

physical bodies and come out of the graves.

Listen, when Jesus offered to save men so that they

would never taste of death, He meant every word of what He

said. And that is just exactly what is going to take place.

Just as Abraham anticipated the first coming of Jesus to the

world and lived in Paradise to see it, even so we anticipate

the second coming of Jesus and the resurrection