Jesus Is Greater Than Abraham

In Matthew 16, Jesus asked a very important question. Who do you say I am? And they answered him what others say. Maybe you're Elijah, maybe John the Baptist. He wants to know what they say. Who do you say? And Peter, because God revealed it to him, declared you are the Christ. Jesus' mission was to make God known, and we know God through Christ. What we have to realize is that the disciples, they took a long time to figure this out. They even still had issues afterwards, as Peter will deny the one he claims and professes to be the Christ. As we continue to study the Gospel of John, we have to focus and ask God, help us to see who you are. Jesus, help us to know you as you revealed yourself. We must depend completely and entirely upon who Jesus says he is, being very careful about who we want him to be. Why is this? Because we love idols. Our hearts are idol factories. We have this sin problem that makes us long to worship anything and everything but God. And the most powerful idols are those dressed with Scripture. Those that present the facade of being something like Jesus. We're tempted to worship idols that we dress up like Jesus. We want a Jesus that we can tame with our rules and expectations, we want a Jesus who's for us. Forgetting that Jesus came finally and ultimately for God's glory. Jesus is the one who has come to be worshipped. Yes, he is God for us. Yes, every blessing is ours in Christ. But as we think about who Jesus is, we must remember we need to hear from him, to know him, to follow him and to obey him. This morning, we'll be looking at John chapter eight again. If you're using a few Bible, please feel free to take that home with you if you want the Bible. We're on page 895. We're in John eight. And our message this morning is this. Jesus is worthy of all worship because he is God and every blessing is ours in him. Jesus is worthy of all worship because he is God and every blessing is ours only in him as who he is and what he has done for us. Our passage is continuing a long discussion. You can see it's gone all the way back from chapter seven. Jesus gone in Jerusalem, he's at the temple speaking with the religious authorities, a crowd has gathered around him and some key questions have been asked and they're all focused on what is the origin of Jesus? Does he have this authority to speak this way? So some of the key questions, who is he? And these are questions that have been asked in the text. Who is he? Is he the Messiah? How does he teach with such authority? Where is he from? Who is his father? Is he going to commit suicide? Does he have a demon? Now, Jesus has been speaking very plainly and clearly, his message has not changed, but you can see the confusion and we can have the same confusion because we're sinners, just like the crowd gathered there in the temple. We need to remember what he said about himself. He will satisfy our thirst. He will die for our sins. He is the light of the world. Come to rescue us from the darkness. He will set us free. All these just from chapter eight. And he commands us, we must follow him. We must stop seeking sin to be our master. We must stop living in the lies of the devil. And ultimately, finally, the gospel of John tells us we must believe that Jesus is the son of God who's come to save sinners. Look with me to John, chapter eight, beginning in verse 48. The Jews answered him, Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon. But I honor my father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. The Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets and the prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God, but you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do not. I do know him and I keep his word. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad so that you said to him, you are not yet 50 years old and you have seen Abraham. Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was I am. So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Our outline this morning is just going to follow the dialogue. We'll go back and forth between what the crowd says and what Jesus says. First, verse 48, the crowd accuses Jesus of being a Samaritan and having a demon. Now, that's striking. If you look back, Jesus has told them, your father is not Abraham because you do not obey like Abraham obeyed. Your father's the devil, and they have the witty comeback. Well, no, you have a demon. And they've even gone farther. This is the only time in Scripture you must be a Samaritan. Now, we have the Samaritan's Purse, and we say there's someone who's generous and kind. Oh, what a Samaritan. In this day, this was derogatory. This was a harsh, derogatory thing to say about someone because the Jews, they didn't like the Samaritans. They saw them as foreigners. As those who have corrupted the covenant, it's not a compliment. It's insulting to be called a Samaritan by the crowd. So many times Jesus is said to be a Samaritan. Why would they make this accusation? It could be they've heard that he was hanging out at a well talking to a Samaritan woman, which a Jewish man never does. It may be that because he's questioning their worship. Like the Samaritans did that they're now affiliating him not not in his origin, but because of his accusation. Now, it's really startling. The Samaritan woman, the Roman officials, Pontius Pilate himself, they all recognized his origin. They all recognized who he was and where he was from. The Jews cannot. They have to question. They cannot understand who Jesus is and where he comes from. Again, the issue of origin and authority Who is his father? These are the key questions. They tell them you have a demon. OK, well, this would be a really good comeback if this was a battle of wits on the playground or it would be a horrible comeback. But this is a battle of truth and identity. The Jews are saying something very important here. They realize either you're right and we're wrong or we're wrong and you're right. There's only one truth here. One of them is possessed by a demon. One of them is lying. One of them is telling the truth. They can't accept that they've gotten it all wrong all these years. He's telling the crowd, your father's not Abraham. You can look back to verses 39 and 41. If your father was Abraham, you would have faith because that's what it means to be a child of Abraham. They're presenting a childish deflection by calling saying he has a demon. Now, This is a harsh reaction to Jesus' accusation. Why do they respond this way? Jesus has told them, made it very clear to them now, what they're hanging on to, what they're putting their place and their confidence in, it's false. It's a lie. They are putting their confidence in the fact that they are physical children. They're from the lineage. They're from the line and the race of Abraham. That's where their faith and their confidence is. But they're blind to see that it's not the family in which you're born into. It's if you believe the promises of God. Paul makes this very clear in Romans 4. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he'd been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith, while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who were not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. They're claiming that they're the children of Abraham, but they're only circumcised. They don't have a circumcised heart. They don't have faith. They're dead and they cannot see the promise and belief. You see, what Jesus has done here, he's put his finger right on the riddle, as Jesus does throughout the gospel. He's put his finger right on their idol and and twisted it to help them realize this is a false idol. This is a false identity. My hope is in the wrong place. Being a child of Abraham is placing your faith in the promises. It's not clinging to the circumcision. See, this would be like living as if your rich uncle were going to give you his entire estate. You live on credit for years. You build up this great debt and then your uncle dies and he didn't give you anything. All your hope was in that inheritance, you had lived as if you were going to be able to pay off all that debt you were going to, you were living as if you would then be able to continue that lifestyle with with millions. They misunderstood the expectation, they misunderstood the promise, it wasn't Their birthright, it was by faith. Their self-image, their core identity has been threatened by Christ, and so they're lashing out, you're a Samaritan, you must have a demon. No, he's telling the truth. Fitches is something about ourselves here. We have idols and the light of the gospel shines upon them. And our idols, just like their idols, they're wrapped in scripture. We have scripture to support our idols. And our idols are oftentimes our important accomplishments and our affiliations. We build too much of our own self-image and our confidence in what we do and what we know, rather than having our confidence solely placed in Jesus Christ. When the gospel confronts your idols, does it create anger and anxiety? Or does it encourage you that now you have a more pure worship as you repent of that idol and cling tighter to Christ, your true confidence? We all have idols that are wrapped and justified by Scripture. We use Scripture to protect our idols and our self-image, or are we looking to Scripture and we're saying, God, I know I have idols. Would you shine with the light of your Holy Spirit, the light of your word, and help me see what I need to repent of? Make me more aware of how I perverted worship, how I corrupted who you are. Help me see who you are and how I've corrupted it so that I can worship you more purely. That's how a Christian approaches Scripture. Here's a test. Is your identity as a Christian more focused on what you've done for God and his church or on what Christ has done for you? Your identity must first and foremost be on what Christ has done for you in his death and resurrection. Jesus responds, verses 49 through 51, the crowd calls him a demon. Jesus points the crowd to believe in the light now. I had a very difficult time summarizing everything Jesus says here, beginning in verse 49. I didn't have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. Well, first, he simply denies the accusation. I do not have a demon. But then he makes the accusation that he makes his own accusation. It makes it very clear by rejecting me, Jesus is saying by rejecting the messenger, you're rejecting the one who has declared the truth. We can think of the parable of the nobleman in Matthew 21. He left his servants in charge and he kept sending other servants back and they would beat them. And then finally, he sent his own son back and they killed him. And by beating those servants and killing the son, they've declared rebellion against the landowner, against the nobleman. By refusing the right of the messenger, you're declaring war against the one who has sent the message. Jesus, the son, is the perfect image of God, the father. He has come to make him known. And by rejecting God, whom he has come to honor, they are rejecting, by rejecting Jesus, they are rejecting God. If you want to know God, If you're here and you're wondering who is God, you're you're talking about God a lot where I'm a skeptic. Jesus is where you see God. He is the perfect revelation of God. If you want to know who God is, read the Gospels beginning in John. Verse 50, Jesus states his mission. He is not come for his own glory, but for his father's. When we continue to see Jesus claiming, I have come for my father, I am coming, not giving testimony to myself, but the father testifies, he is coming to glorify the father and trusting the father to glorify him. The real interesting point here is he says, he is the judge. Now, if you've been with us, Jesus has said before, the father has given me all judgment. When Jesus says that, he's referring to judging us. When he declares that the father will be the judge, he is trusting his identity and his mission in the father's hands. He knows his confidence is not in our recognition of who he is. His confidence in his identity and his mission is in his relationship with the father. He is the son. His father will judge rightly. It doesn't matter how we respond. His confidence in how God defines him. He is God's Son. He has come to be judged for our sins because that is the mission of the Father. Now, one of the key questions is how does verse 51 relate to verses 49 and 50? 51 stands out because it's a truly, truly, I tell you the truth. It also stands out because I say this to you. I say this even for you. If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. Or if you don't keep my word, you will die in your sin. There's two ways to live. There's believing and keeping his word and living or denying his word, which leads to death. Jesus here is helping them realize I've come, I'm declaring the glory of God, and it is for you because I have come to declare the glory of God. I have come to the mission of the father, and it is so that you will not die in your sin. He has come to shine God's light in our darkness. He has come to show us the glory of God. And that is seen first and foremost on the cross. This is for us. He has called us to believe in him. Or to keep his word or abide in his word or to walk in his light, as he said, we must cling to his promise that forgives us and obey his commands to follow him. So, as we look at what it means to abide in His Word, to avoid death, to avoid judgment, we have to look, what is His Word? Well, God's Word really is comprised of two key concepts. And this is a bit of a nerdy grammar lesson, but it's helpful. There are indicatives and there are imperatives. An indicative tells us who we are. An imperative tells us how we are to live. We must believe what Jesus says about us. If we choose to sin, we are slaves to sin. That's chapter 8, verse 34. If we die without Christ, we will die in our sins. That's 824. We are all sinners destined for damnation. That's what he says about us. We must believe what Jesus says about himself. He is the light of the world shining in the darkness. Verse 12, unless you believe He has died for your sin. You will die in your sin. Verse 824. He has come to be our substitute. Verse 28. He comes to do the Father's will. He is God himself, as we will see in verse 58. Those are the indications. We're sinners. He's the Savior. He dies in our place. What's the imperative? We're to walk in his light. We're to abide in his word, where to keep his word. If we believe he is the way we must walk in his way. If we believe that we were once in darkness and he has delivered us from that darkness because it was going to destroy us. How can we possibly think we should continue walking in the darkness? We've been delivered to be children of light, to walk in the light. If you're thinking that Christ is just one big forgiveness, if he's just a ticket to heaven, you're going to keep getting that sin debt piled up and piled up and piled up. And when you face the judge, I fear it's not going to be just this disappointment. You're going to be in despair. If Jesus is just a savior to you, if he is just there for your forgiveness so that you have a license to sin, you don't know who Jesus really is. If you're just counting on, you're building up of a sin debt, thinking that you can live however you want to, that Jesus will forgive whatever you do. I believe at the end you're going to be in despair. You're going to be judged. There won't be any anger and anxiety. There will be shame. Because he hasn't just come to save us, to give us a license to sin. He's come to die and forgive us so that we have now liberty To live for righteousness, not liberty to sin. Our next verse, how does the crowd respond? Well, this time they actually get it. The crowd understands Jesus's claim. They just simply cannot believe it. The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham who died and the prophets died? Who do you make yourself to be? Now, this is actually very helpful, I think, because the crowd, they're making it very clear. They're at least getting it that there's only one truth here and it's either Christ's truth or theirs. They're at least getting what he's starting to say. And it all comes back to Abraham. You say that everyone who keeps your word, they will not die. But Abraham, the great prophet, the great father of all Israel, he died. Your promise must make you greater than Abraham. Is that what you were saying? The question is clear. Could you be claiming to be greater than Abraham? Their logic is at least sound here. They've gone from casting names to at least understanding what he's saying and coming to the right conclusion. And yes, he's greater than Abraham. Because he's God himself who came to speak to us. He's the one true son who came to make God known. He's greater than Abraham, Moses, David, every prophet. Because he's the one true word. No longer just a prophet. He's the son who came to speak. The ESV captures the next question well. It's not who are you. Who do you make yourself to be, Jesus? There's proper suspicion. We get you're saying something pretty provocative and bold here. Who are you making yourself to be? Well, Jesus is claiming to be God. He's claiming to be the Son of God. He's claiming to be the Savior for sinners. I think this is a question for us to ask. Who does Jesus say He is? And how should we be corrected by that in who we make Jesus to be? Jesus is full of grace and truth. We must trust and depend upon him. He is God worthy of our worship. We are to live solely for him. If you're not a Christian this morning, this is a good season to start asking questions. Who is Jesus? We're in the season of Advent. We're looking forward to Christmas. We're looking forward to the birth of Christ. There's a there's a handout by John Piper in the foyer. It will walk you through some of the promises of the Old Testament that get us ready. For the birth of the King Jesus. If you have questions, who is Jesus? Read the Bible. And talk to one of us. I would love to talk to you about who Jesus says he is. Jesus' response, beginning of verse 54. Here we see Jesus declares, God glorifies me and Abraham believed in me. So yes, he is greater than Abraham. Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me. Of whom you say he is our God, but you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. Listen how he continues to press in on this idol. I'm not glorified myself. I am glorified by the one you say is your God. Implication being, you say he's your God. He's not your God. You think you know God, but you do not know him. Jesus says, I know him. And if I said I didn't, I'd be a liar like you are. Because your father is a liar and you're a liar. You're a lying liar and you do not know God. Now, this was obviously written before how to win friends and influence people. I mean, really, this is amazing. This is not polite at all. Now, one level, I want to justify my own awkwardness and then and social rudeness at times here, but this is Jesus. He's righteous. We cannot do that. It's amazing how he speaks the truth, and we have to realize what he's doing here is he's speaking truth and love. He is. He has to highlight their ideology. He has to highlight their air before they can ever understand and hear the truth. He has to point out how dark Their hearts are with his light so that they can come to the light because as children of the darkness, they by nature hate the light. Friends, as we think about this, we have to realize we're called to say difficult things. We're called to be faithful and shining the light, and as I thought about what Jesus is saying here, I don't want to justify being rude. But I do ask, do we actually shy away from shining the light because it makes us uncomfortable and takes us out of our safety? Our idols are comfort and safety. We're Americans. Our idols are comfort and safety. And we do not like to say difficult things because it makes it uncomfortable. It takes us out of our safety. We can justify these idols because safety and comfort, they're two pleasant things. They don't seem to be hurting anyone. But we have to realize that it's not the pattern of Christ. We are called to lovingly speak the truth to one another. We're called to be light to one another. Now, the key is you have to have the courage to say these things. And the courage only comes from Christ. Knowing who we are in him, depending upon his grace to empower our words, knowing that it is actually truth. Having confidence in Christ is the only way we will ever have the courage to speak the truth in love. Without having a confident relation with Christ, you'll never be bold to share the gospel with your neighbors. That is the heart and soul of evangelism, your own confidence in Christ and what he's done for you. You'll not have the boldness to speak the truth and love to other believers unless you know the power of God's Word and how it can correct and heal and be a balm to the wound. As we continue to see what he says, Jesus claims to be the fulfillment of all the promises. Now, this one verse, your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day He saw it and was glad. There's another fancy phrase here, redemptive history. That is looking at the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation and seeing promise fulfillment. And in the middle of promise fulfillment is Jesus Christ. He here is claiming a great, bold, mighty claim, and they partially get it. Every promise. Abraham was a child of promise who believed every promise. is yes and amen in Jesus Christ. Abraham longed to see. He was glad to see Jesus because every promise, those great blessings, they're fulfilled when Christ comes. As we heard from Galatians 3.16, the one son, the one offspring who will bring blessing in the midst of a cursed world. Or Genesis 3.15, the one who would defeat sin and death being crushed. I think we can picture this well in Genesis 22. Abraham is a mature man of faith. God told him, go sacrifice your one and only beloved son. So Abraham put the wood on the son's back. He carried the torch in his own hand and a knife in the other hand. They go up the mountain. The son asked, Dad, I see everything but the sacrifice. And Abraham, believing the promise of God, said the Lord will provide. He then binds his son. And as he goes back to to to bring about the sacrifice, God says, stop. He provided a lamb, he provided a replacement, he provided a substitute, but Abraham knew that wasn't the true and final substitute. It was a pointer to the one true substitute when the most beloved son from the most loving father would come down and truly be a final and perfect sacrifice. It wasn't just a lamb that could take away the sins of Isaac and Abraham, it had to be a perfect man and not just a perfect man, God himself who took on flesh. That's why we celebrate Christmas, because the son who was the most loved came from the father who was most loving. to show us his love. And while we were still sinners, he sent his son to die in our place. Friends, that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why Abraham rejoiced and was glad because he knew that lamb, the ram, he couldn't take away the sin. But the one son, Jesus Christ, he did, and that's why we rejoice. All of history revolve around Jesus Christ because he is the fulfillment of every Old Testament promise and everything we still long and hope for is in him. Verse 57, the crowd. They point out the chronological problem. Not yet getting it, you're not 50 years old and you've seen Abraham, how old are you? Abraham died 150 years, 1500 years ago. This sets up something very dynamic. Remember John 5. When Jesus simply calling God his father brought the charge of blasphemy and the stoning, here he's going to make a much bolder claim. Verse 58, Jesus says, it's not how old I am, it's who I am. Truly, truly focus, it's the truth, I am telling you the truth. I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." Now there's two major theological claims here. Who is Jesus? The first one is he pre-existed Abraham. He's always been. He is the same in the past and the present and the future. He never changes. It's a bold claim. He has pre-existed this birth that we're about to celebrate. He pre-existed even Abraham. And then it makes it clear, how could he possibly pre-exist Abraham? He identifies himself with Yahweh. This is one of the many I Am claims, but it's a unique I Am claim. In John 6, he says, I am the bread of life. In John 8, he said, I am the light of the world. In John 10, he says, I am the door. In John 10, he says, I am the good shepherd. In John 11, he says, I am the resurrection and the life. He'll also say I'm the way, the truth and the life. And I am the vine. He usually declares himself something that is fulfillment. So when he says, I'm the good shepherd, he's declaring what Ezekiel said in chapter 34, that God himself will come and be the shepherd for for Israel. He's saying, I am that king. I'm the king who's not going to abuse you. I'm the king who's going to lay down his life for you. But here he's simply saying before Abraham was, I am ego. I mean, Yahweh is a covenant name. of the God of Israel. He revealed his name first in Exodus 3. I am who I am. And then he revealed it more in Exodus 33. He reveals more that I have mercy on whom I will have mercy. But remember in Exodus 33, God could only reveal his backside. It wasn't the full glory of God. It wasn't the face of God. Jesus is Yahweh. who gives a fuller revelation of Almighty God in John 118. No one has ever seen God except the only begotten Son. He has come to make him known. He is the covenant God who has come to fulfill the covenant. We can even look back to 828 when he says when I am lifted up. You will know I am he. He is declaring, you will know that I'm the son of God when I am hung on the cross and I die and your sins are forgiven. As we look at this, this is God. And the beautiful thing we see here about God, when we know him in Christ, is that we know that God is love. We know that God is love. Because the father loved his son and the father sent his beloved son to die for us. Now, this is good news because we live in a world that apart from God, it seems indifferent to us. It seems if we look at the nature, does it really care about us? As we age, as we as we worry, as we lose, as we die, as we lose friends, we look at Christ and we see a profound truth. The creator is not indifferent to us. The creator cares for us. We know God and Jesus Christ and we know he loves us. Finally, the crowd responds like children of the devil who live in darkness. So they pick up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. They hate the light. They haven't repented. They continue to cling to their idols. They are not believing the light. They cannot let the light live because of how powerful that revelation is. I ask you this morning, is Jesus offensive? He should be, if you're not a Christian, because he's telling you you're a sinner, you're offensive to God and you will be judged for your sins. You are living a foolish life in the darkness that leads to damnation. If you're not a Christian this morning, you do not have to live that life of destruction that leads to damnation. We believe in Jesus Christ. He is that substitute. He came to die in your place. So that the judgment that you deserve in your sin is put upon him and his righteousness is put upon you. And now you receive redemption, forgiveness, adoption. If you're a Christian. Do you trust his word and what he has said? Do you trust that you're a sinner? Do you trust that you need to be corrected constantly? Do you trust that you need to be confronted? Do you long to be purified so that you walk in a manner worthy of the one who has called you? He's God. He's come to save you. He's worthy of our worship. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you are the God of light who speaks the truth. That your truth penetrates our darkness. You correct us from our lies. Help us, Lord, to see how raveled we are in our own self-deception. Help us, Lord, with the power of your word, the illumination of your spirit. And the partnership and the love of the brothers and sisters gathered as your church. or correct us. Help us, Lord, to come before you to worship you with a pure heart. Help us, Lord, to see you as you are. Help us, Lord, to repent of the sins that corrupt and pervert that vision of you. You are worthy of all our worship. We praise you that your grace is sufficient to forgive us for not worshiping you. Help us, Lord, to worship you purely. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.