Scripture Introduction
The relationship between Jesus and the religious leadership continues to deteriorate. By refusing to acknowledge their importance, his ministry threatens their power and prestige. Therefore, they turn on him: attempted arrest, entrapment, theological tests, dismissing his answers on technicalities, and now mocking his words.
Jesus responds with what we might call, “Tough Love.” He warns of their precarious position before God—they risk dying in their sin. Unless they find a provision for their failures, they will face their Maker clothed in their own righteous deeds, which the Bible calls “polluted garments,” or “filthy rags.”
God records this interaction to challenge where our faith rests. Many claim Jesus without committing themselves to who he claims to be. May God give us grace to hear and examine ourselves in the light of the Word. [Read John 8.21-30. Pray.]
Introduction
The story is told of a man walking in his neighborhood when he came face-to-face with Death. Death was obviously shocked to see the man, but said nothing; the two simply passed in the street. But the more that fellow thought about this strange meeting, the more frightened he became. So we went to a wise friend and asked what he should do. The friend told him that Death had probably come to take him away the next morning—he had best flee.
So the man headed to a distant city to elude Death. He traveled treacherous streets slickened by snow, roads rarely used at night because they wound through steep mountain passes. But he survived the terrible journey, and congratulated himself on having escaped. As he watched the sunrise, however, Death tapped him on the shoulder and said: “I have come for you.”
“What are you doing here?” exclaimed the terrified man, “I thought I saw you yesterday near my home!”
“Yes, you did,” said Death. “That was why I looked surprised—for I had been told to meet you today in this city.”
That is an obvious parable for how we cannot cheat death. It reminds me of the inscription on the tombstone:
Pause, Stranger, When You Pass Me By,
As You Are Now, So Once Was I.
As I Am Now, So You Will Be,
So Prepare For Death And Follow Me.
Someone scratched into the weathered cement these two additional lines:
To Follow You I’m Not Content,
Until I Know Which Way You Went.
Benjamin Franklin wrote a friend: “Everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Death cannot be avoided. The Cryonics Institute in Michigan will freeze your body if you pay them enough. They advertise: “When future medical technology allows, our member patients hope to be healed, rejuvenated, revived, and awakened to a greatly extended life in youthful good health, free from disease or the aging process.”
Such dreams are silly and foolish. Instead, the Bible tells you the truth: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9.27). Everyone dies, and everyone faces judgment. “Which way we go” depends on whether we die “in our sin” or “in the Lord.” These are the only options.
In this text, Jesus looks into the lives of religious men, leaders in the church, and says, “Your hope is in your goodness; but it is not good enough. Therefore you will die in your sins.” Please be careful here; do not mistake Jesus’ criticism for a condemnation of their efforts. They have sought, as Paul affirms in Romans 10.2: “They have a zeal for God.” Jesus does not dismiss good works; instead, he warns that seeking to establish their own righteousness, they reject the gift of God’s righteousness. Hold on to your own, or let go and grab hold of God’s. Which will it be? To answer that question…
1. We Must Beware Seeking Which Does Not Save (John 8.21-24a)
On Thursday I tried to re-shelve volume one in Manton’s Works. The color and markings stand out, so rather than look carefully for the location, I scanned the shelves where I expected to see the set. My books are filed alphabetically by author, so I knew generally where to look. But my first glance did not reveal the match. So I quickly ran my eyes down the shelves, starting in a place I was sure was before the correct location and continuing until I knew I was past. Still no matching volumes.
Confused, I looked again at the spine—yes, it was Manton. I verified that I had begun at “Luther.” I did my alphabet: L—M—N—O—yes, I was on the correct side of “L.” Where are the Mantons? I knew what they looked like, here was one of the set in my hand. So I went to the first, “M,” and checked book by book: MacArthur, Machen, Mack…Manton. There it was—with a white dust jacket I had taken off this volume while reading it. When you “know” exactly what you are looking for, an unexpected difference can blind you.
The Jews had long scanned the shelves of time for Messiah. They knew exactly how he would look: a mighty King like Solomon and David who would rescue and restore Israel to her former glory. But God wraps Messiah in a different “dust” jacket. They sought a lion; God provides a lamb. As a result, they cannot “see” God’s solution, resulting in this sad pronouncement: “You will seek me, and you will die in your sin.” Jesus—always attractive, always inviting, always welcoming—harshly warns: “Your seeking can be in vain.” Specifically, there are two ways to seek God and yet not find him.
1.1. Seeking God from a Good Opinion of Self Does Not Save (John 8.22)
The religious leaders with whom Jesus is arguing were well known for their obedience. So careful was their conformity to the details of the law, that they snipped 1 of every 10 leaves of the dill and mint and cumin growing in the windowsill planter, in order to perfectly tithe. That is why Jesus used the universal consensus of their obedience to challenge salvation by works: “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5.20). Everyone agreed that these men were righteous.
So it was natural for them to believe about themselves what everyone else thought: these religious leaders were saved. God had punched their tickets to heaven. They were chosen for their goodness. So when Jesus says, “Where I am going you cannot come,” they thought: “I know I am saved because of my good works; this man says he is going to a place I cannot go; maybe he is planning suicide, since that guarantees damnation.”
John MacArthur: “Since they assumed that they were going to heaven, the Jews mockingly suggested that Jesus must be speaking of killing himself, in which case he would go to hell. Smugly confident in their self-righteousness, they were not just deaf to Jesus’ words, but they mockingly, blasphemously twisted their meaning…. Self-righteousness is a deadly deception, and utterly contrary to genuine salvation.”
These folks sought a Messiah who spoke well of them. All Jesus needed to say was: “You guys are leadership material; you are great; you will be important when we take over.” Instead, Jesus honors the lowly and broken: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick…. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’…. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2.17; Matthew 9.13).
Nor does this message differ from what was preached in the Old Testament. Isaiah 57.15: “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit.’” They could not see Jesus as he really was because Jesus refused to see them as really good.
It seems that church-folk often believe that sin is the only thing which keeps people from God. But the Bible confronts another problem. Oh yes, sin is there; but it can be varnished over with a layer of good works. Sin separates us from God; goodness keeps us from seeing sin.
Here is one great challenge of raising godly children. We strive to keep them from the stain of the world, from egregious rebellion, from the pitfalls of the ungodly. We do well to do so. But even covenant children have a sin nature, and it longs to take those gifts and make them the basis for God’s favor. When children raised in the church give a testimony of their conversion, often it is not their sin which first must be repented of, but their righteousness.
What about you? How do you respond when others ignore your goodness? When you are not spoken well of? When the church fails to recognize your contribution as invaluable? Do I seek God from a good opinion of myself, or from a good opinion of Jesus?
1.2. Seeking God for a Good Opinion from Others Does Not Save (John 8.23-24a)
When the word, “worldly” is used in church, religious people think of secular humanists, atheists, rebellious pagan, and other forms of rank ungodliness. There are placed where the Bible uses the word that way.
But Jesus is speaking to church officers; he refers to the worldliness of performing religious acts in order to be seen by others. Instead of seeking the “Applause of Heaven” (the title of a Lucado book), the worldly seek the applause of people.
Criticize Rick Warren and his “Purpose Driven” programs is popular, but he accurately observes: “We can measure our servant’s heart by how we respond when others treat us like servants. How do you react when you’re taken for granted, bossed around, treated as an inferior…? Unfortunately, a lot of our service is often self-serving. We serve to get others to like us, to be admired, or to achieve our own goals. That is manipulation, not ministry…. Thinking like a servant is difficult because it challenges the basic problem of my life: I am, by nature, selfish. I think most about me….”
Seeking God so that others will think more highly of me is not the seeking which saves—we will die in our sins.
Judas sought God for his own agenda. He saw in Jesus’ success his own opportunity for advancement. So he betrayed the Lord. Later, when he realized what he had done, he returned the money (to some of these very men we are reading about) and said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But he found no mercy and killed himself. Esau, too, sought repentance with tears, but found no grace. These sad stories warn of the danger of putting off repentance and refusing the grace of Jesus. There is a seeking which does not save. But we must not despair; instead…
2. We Must Seek God Through Faith in Jesus (John 8.24b-29)
Earlier I noted that though we all die, there are two ways to do so. You can die “in your sins” (as Jesus warns three times in these verses), or you can “die in the Lord.” That distinction is clarified in Revelation 14.13: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’”
The title of today’s sermon asks: “Why does it matter exactly who Jesus is?” It matters because you must believe he is who he claims to be in order to have the courage to accept what he offers. He offers a way to die that yields eternal life and joy. “Unless you believe that I am he,” Jesus says, “you will die in your sins.” But those who “die in the Lord” will rise with the applause of heaven. Which will you choose? Not, “Do you claim Jesus?” but are you committed to the Jesus he claims to be?” To encourage us to trust his word and seek his applause, three reasons are given:
First, because of his proclamation. In verses 25-27, we learn that Jesus preaches the message given him by God. He has the right to dictate the terms of salvation because he is commissioned directly by the Father: “I declare what I have heard from him.”
Second, you should trust his word and seek his applause because of his person. Verse 28: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he.” There is complex of meaning in these words. First, he will be lifted up on the cross. But that “lifting,” though it will produce death, will precipitate the lifting from the grave and the lifting into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. Together these prove his claim to the Son of Man, the new Adam, the redeemer of God’s people. So we have his person (the Son of Man, God’s appointed Savior), and his proclamation (the very words of God), and…
Third, you should trust his word and seek his applause because of his perfection. Verse 29b: “I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” You need to know that the Bible always expects obedience to the law, and behavior which pleases God. (Today’s worship service focused on the third commandment. It pleases God not only that we say the words, “Hallowed be your name,” but also when we seek to do so in our thoughts, our speech, and our behavior.) Because there is only one true and living God, all mankind is bound to keep the whole moral law, whether you are a Christian or not. The problem is that we fail. Then what do you do?
Most people think, “I know I am not perfect, but my good outweighs my bad.” They trust in their goodness. Jesus offers something different: he offers his perfection—he always pleased the Father.
Martin Luther writes in his Commentary on Galatians: “For the true Christ neither calls you to a reckoning for your sins, nor bids you to trust your own good works. And the true knowledge of Christ does not dispute whether you have done good works to righteousness, or evil works to condemnation, but simply concludes: ‘If you have done good works, you are not therefore justified; or if you have done evil works, you are not therefore condemned.’ I neither take from good works their praise nor commend evil works. For it is Christ alone who justifies me, both against my evil deeds and without my good deeds. If I have this persuasion of Christ, I lay hold of the true Christ. But if I think that He exacts the law and works of me to salvation, then He becomes unprofitable unto me, and I am utterly separated from Him.”
3. Conclusion
When instant cake mixes were first marketed, one company offered a mix that required only water to be added. Tests were run, surveys were made, and the cake mix was found to be of superior quality to the other mixes available. It tasted good, it was easy to use, and it made a moist, tender cake. The company spent large sums of money on an advertising campaign and then released the cake mix to the general market. Few people bought it.
The company then surveyed people to find out why the cake mix didn’t sell. Based on the results of this survey, the company recalled the mix, reworked the formula, and released the revised cake mix. It sold wonderfully. The difference? The new formula required water and an egg. The first recipe was too simple to be believable. People would not accept it unless they could do some significant work in creating the cake.
My sin nature says the same thing about the gospel. It is too easy! I want to do something myself, to contribute to my salvation, to have something I can take pride in.
This is exactly what Pastor Tim Keller speaks of in his comments on “getting the gospel”: “Irreligious people seek to be their own saviors and lords through irreligion, ‘worldly’ pride. (‘No one tells me how to live or what to do, so I determine what is right and wrong for me!’) But moral and religious people seek to be their own saviors and lords through ‘religious’ pride…. Both are forms of self salvation. To ‘get the gospel’ is to rely on Jesus’ record for a relationship with God. The irreligious don’t repent at all, and the religious only repent of sins. But Christians also repent of their righteousness.”
Why does it matter exactly who Jesus is? Because unless you see him as he truly is, you will never have the courage to abandon your good works for his. Think about that, amen.
