“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Keep the Word and �Expand Your Image of God

John 8:48-59

⁴⁸ The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?”

⁴⁹ “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges. ⁵¹ Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (John 8:48-51)

⁵² Then the Jews said, “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. You say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ ⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? And the prophets died. Who do you claim to be?” (John 8:52-53)

⁵⁴ “If I glorify myself,” Jesus answered, “my glory is nothing. My Father—about whom you say, ‘He is our God’—he is the one who glorifies me. ⁵⁵ You do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:54-56)

⁵⁷ The Jews replied, “You aren’t fifty years old yet, and you’ve seen Abraham?” 

⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”

⁵⁹ So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple. �(John 8:57-59)

⁴⁸ The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?”

⁴⁹ “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges. ⁵¹ Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (John 8:48-51)

“It is clear that the religious rulers could not allow Jesus to stand there in the temple courts and charge them with being children of the devil. So, they countered by declaring that he, not they, was the one who wasn’t a genuine member of the Jewish race. Calling for an affirmative response, they ask whether it is true that he is a “Samaritan and demon-possessed.”

​

ROBERT H. MOUNCE, JOHN (THE EXPOSITOR’S BIBLE COMMENTARY)

“…you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?” (John 8:49)

John 7:20; John 10:20

⁴⁸ The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?”

⁴⁹ “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges. ⁵¹ Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (John 8:48-51)

⁴⁸ The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?”

⁴⁹ “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges. ⁵¹ Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (John 8:48-51)��🡪 John 5:22-33; John 7:18

⁴⁸ The Jews responded to him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon?”

⁴⁹ “I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges. ⁵¹ Truly I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (John 8:48-51)

1.) What are we willing to do to ‘keep the Word’ and find Life?

“But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son  of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

Finding “Life” in Christ �(so far in the Gospel of John)

To have “life in the Son.”

To have “life in the Son.”

Jesus promised life to the full (John 10:10) and He promised trials (John 16:33).

Do you want this life of Christ now as much you want eternity in His presence?

“Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” �(John 12:24-25)

“²² But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him— ²³ if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.” (Colossians 1:22-23)

“For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. ” (1 Timothy 4:8)

“But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power.  Avoid these people.” (2Timothy 3:1-5)

Application

“3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)

⁵² Then the Jews said, “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. You say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ ⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham who died? And the prophets died. �Who do you claim to be?” (John 8:52-53)

“Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Matt. 11:15; Matthew 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9; Luke 8:8; 14:35

⁵⁴ “If I glorify myself,” Jesus answered, “my glory is nothing. My Father—about whom you say, ‘He is our God’—he is the one who glorifies me. ⁵⁵ You do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:54-56)

“¹³ All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.”

(Hebrews 11:13)

⁵⁷ The Jews replied, “You aren’t fifty years old yet, and you’ve seen Abraham?” 

⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.”

⁵⁹ So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple. �(John 8:57-59)

2.) Is Our Image of Jesus, Too Small?

“I AM”

Our finite minds limit what can be conceived of Christ.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:15-20)

^“6 who, existing in the form of God,�did not consider equality with God�as something to be exploited.�⁷ Instead he emptied himself�by assuming the form of a servant,�taking on the likeness of humanity.�And when he had come as a man,�⁸ he humbled himself by becoming obedient�to the point of death—�even to death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8)

⁹ For this reason God highly exalted him�and gave him the name�that is above every name,�¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus�every knee will bow—�in heaven and on earth�and under the earth—�¹¹ and every tongue will confess�that Jesus Christ is Lord,�to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)

¹¹ Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. ¹² But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. ¹³ He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool. ¹⁴ For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:11-14)

4 After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

² Immediately I was in the Spirit, and there was a throne in heaven and someone was seated on it. ³ The one seated there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald surrounded the throne. (Revelation 4:1-3)

⁴ Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white clothes, with golden crowns on their heads.

⁵ Flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder came from the throne. Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. ⁶ Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne. �(Revelation 4:-6a)

Four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back were around the throne on each side. ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like an ox; the third living creature had a face like a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. ⁸ Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying,

Holy, holy, holy,�Lord God, the Almighty,�who was, who is, and who is to come.”

(Revelation 6b-8)

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne and say,

¹¹ Our Lord and God,�you are worthy to receive�glory and honor and power,�because you have created all things,�and by your will�they exist and were created.” (Revelation 4:9-11)

“How small is our view of God, but how Great is our Christ?

Application

“Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.  The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”  “Look, I am coming soon!   Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” �(Revelation 22:6-7)

SUMMARY

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