John 8. John Griffith lived in Oklahoma in 1929 and lost all he had in the stock market crash. So he moved to Mississippi where he took a job as bridge tender for a R/R trestle. One day his 8 year-old son, Greg, spent the day with him at work. A ship came through and John opened up the draw bridge. After a moment or two he realized his son wasn’t in the office and as he looked around, to his horror, he saw him climbing on the gears of the draw bridge. He hurried outside to rescue his son but just then he heard what he knew was a fast approaching passenger train, the Memphis Express, filled with 400 people. He yelled to his son, but the noise of the oncoming train made it impossible for the boy to hear him. And all of a sudden John Griffith realized his horrible dilemma. If he took the time to rescue his son the train would crash killing all aboard, but if he closed the bridge, his son would die. He made the horrible decision, pulled the lever and closed the bridge, and his own son died that day. Unlike this story, the sending of Jesus to the cross was not a panic move, it was planned before the creation of the world. But just like this story, God could not spare us and spare His Son. When Jesus was on the cross the people taunted Him, saying “He saved others, Himself He cannot save” which was true. He could not at the same time save others and Himself. So God closed the jaws of death around His own Son, and because of that, anyone who keeps Christ’s Word will never see death. You can see that in verse 51: “I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." Won’t even see it, much less experience it. My sermon title this morning is, Jesus Christ purchased eternal life for us.
In vss. 42-47 Jesus had proved that these Jews were children of the devil because they were murderers and liars, the devil was a murderer and liar. Like father like son. In vs. 48 resort to ad hominem and in essence say “oh yeah? Well you’re a demon-possessed Samaritan.” So in vss. 49-51 Jesus makes some statements that no demon could ever make. He says “I honor my Father”, referring back to the 5th commandment, I don’t seek glory for myself and finally, “if anyone keeps my Word he will never see death.”
1.So far we have seen 3 heart-searching “ifs”. We have seen the “if” of discipleship in vs. 31 Jesus says “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples”. You know it is hard to watch people stop studying their Bibles, and shortly thereafter they stop coming to church. They can go to work, and the store and the doctor’s office and their family. But they are not in the Word at home and so they don’t want the conviction. Listen, be careful not to get out of this Book. Don’t let the distractions of life choke out the Word, don’t let the deceitfulness of wealth keep you from God’s Word. “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.”
2.And then we saw the “if” of freedom in vs. 36 “If the son sets you free you will be free indeed.” Freedom from the curse of the law, the guilt of sin and the kingdom of Satan.
3. and last week we saw the “if” of sonship in vs. 42 where Jesus said, “If God were your father, you would love me” so that the distinguishing characteristic of God’s children is that they love Jesus. They love the Head, Christ, and they love the body, the church.
4.Today, notice the “heart-searching if” of eternal life, in vs. 51 Jesus says “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." This is, quite frankly a shocking statement that if someone lives in obedience to the Word of Jesus Christ they will never taste death. In vs. 53 the Jews say, “Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
And in one sense the Jews were right. Every human being on this earth will die, so what did Jesus mean if we keep His Word, we will never see death? Well what is death? If you ask 10 people on the street what death is, every one of them will give an answer in relation to our physical bodies. But Jesus called that sleep. Jesus said Lazarus who had been dead 4 days, and was rotting and stinking, was merely sleeping.
What we call death, Jesus called sleep. Death must be something much more horrible, much more terrible and horrific than mere sleep. Death is eternal separation from God, it is being under the wrath of God, it is literally being God-forsaken, it is living in outer darkness, it is us paying the penalty for our sins. That’s what death is. No believer will ever face that. A genuine follower of Christ will never experience death nor see death, will never know death nor taste death…
…because Jesus came "by the grace of God [to] taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9). And if you look at Jesus Christ on the cross He is not merely sleeping, He is dying. He is separated from God, He is under the wrath of God, He is thrown out into God-forsaken darkness because He is paying the penalty of our sins. That’s death!
Unbelievers die, but believers never see death. Unbelievers face judgment and the wrath of God, believers have already been judged at the cross. Unbelievers face eternal separation from God, but nothing can separate us from the love of God because Jesus was separated from God for us. Unbelievers face an eternity of darkness, whereas Jesus entered the darkness for all believers that we may live forever in the Light.
28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27-28 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. John 17:2 And this is what he promised us--even eternal life. 1 John 2:25
Now Jesus makes an amazing statement to these Jews, He says that Abraham is a witness to this eternal life in Christ. Abraham was a man who lived thousands of years BC, and yet he saw the day of the Messiah. Look at verse 56: “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” Now this tells us a whole lot about Abraham; it tells us what he was thinking and what he was feeling. Abraham was thinking of Christ, he was Christ-centered. And being Christ-centered he was joy-filled. Look at it, the thought of Christ rejoiced his heart and made him glad.
So when exactly did Abraham see Christ’s day? And what does it have to do with us today? Well Abraham saw Christ’s day in Genesis 22, let’s look there together. In Genesis 22 God tested Abraham, not only to prove what was in Abraham’s heart, but also so that Abraham would get a glimpse of Christ’s day.
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Wow, what a horrible testing of Abraham, to take his one and only son and kill him. I mean this was Isaac, the promised child, the child born supernaturally, the one in whom all nations would be blessed. And Abraham is told to sacrifice this one and only son, this son whom he loves? You might as well have told him to plunge a knife into his own heart. What is God really doing here? Because Isaac is not Abraham’s only son, God knows Abraham also has Ishmael, so why does God call Isaac “your only son”? And why does God want to get Isaac to a particular mountain?
You can see from vs. 4 that it is a 3-day journey to get to this particular mountain. Why God? Why wouldn’t Abraham just sacrifice Isaac in the nearest field, why go 3 days away to a particular mountain? What’s so special about this mountain God?
But Abraham trusts God, he loves God, and he doesn’t ask all the questions that we are, so he takes his “one and only son” and sets out on the journey. The promised son is now under the death sentence for 3 days.
And Abraham tells his servants in vs. 5, “you stay here with the donkey and I and the boy will go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” The NT tells us that Abraham believed God would raise his son from the dead, that’s why he could say we’ll go worship and we will come back.
Then vs. 6 says, “Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife.” Can you imagine the father having to put the wood on the back of his own son, the very wood that the son would die on? And how did the father feel watching the son carry that wood up the hill? And Abraham carried the instruments of death, the fire and the knife. The father was going to bruise his own son and put him to grief, and kill him on some wood. Oh my God!
7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. Genesis 22:7-8 (NIV)
When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Genesis 22:9 (NIV) Look at the son here. He doesn’t fight. Josephus says Isaac is around 33 years old here, he is in the prime of his life, he could easily have overpowered his father. His father is old, he is “Ancient of Days”, Isaac could easily have said “no way, I’m not getting on that wood.” But he was a willing sacrifice!
And then in vs. 10 Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Can you imagine the agony? The father remembers the laughter that he had when his boy was born, and they had 33 years of experience together, Isaac becoming the very heart of his father.
But God stops him in vs. 11 and tells him not to lay his hand on the boy, Abraham having passed the test. You see God didn’t want the death of Isaac, He wanted the heart of Abraham, and He had it. And so in vs. 13 they look up and see a ram and they sacrifice it instead of Isaac. So the father receives his son back on the 3rd day. That son that was under the death sentence for 3 full days is now back, as from the dead.
But the most amazing and perplexing thing about this story is that Abraham then names the place Yahweh-yireh” meaning “the Lord will provide.” So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided." Genesis 22:14 (NIV) Why are we looking to the future? God had already provided, He provided a ram. This story only makes sense by Jesus saying “Abraham saw my day, and was glad.”
Abraham sees in this very story the day of Christ, a day yet future when God would take His Son, His only Son whom He loves, and He would take Him to this very hill, to Mt. Calvary in the region of Moriah, and there God would put the wood of the cross on His only Son, and Jesus would carry that cross and our sins up the hill as a willing sacrifice, saying “nobody takes my life from me, I lay it down of my own accord.” And there the Father bruises His only Son, and puts Him to grief, and makes His very life a guilt offering.
And this time as the hammer is raised to pound nails into the flesh of the Son, there is nobody to stop it. No voice calls out to save Jesus. There is no ram to save Jesus’ life, Jesus is the ram saving our lives. Though God spared Abraham’s son He did not spare His own son. Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” And so at the cross God has become our Yahweh-Yireh. The Lord has provided. God has provided Himself a Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He has provided forgiveness for you and me. He has provided atonement for your sin and mine. He has provided freedom from guilt and salvation from sin. He has destroyed death and provided eternal life. Vs. 14 is fulfilled at the cross,
God has become Yahweh-Yireh, God has provided.
Oh yes, Abraham saw Christ’s day, the day Christ would abolish death and bring life and immortality to light through the gospel. And it made Abraham glad. He rejoiced. It was as if he heard God say “Abraham, you’ve not withheld your only son from me, and I’m not going to withhold my only Son from you. He is going to die to pay the penalty of sin so that all nations on earth will be blessed with eternal life through Him.
Abraham rejoiced and was filled with joy by seeing Christ’s day. But notice a totally different response on the part of the Jews. Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!" Here Jesus is declaring that He is the Great I Am, the Yahweh of the Old Testament, and unlike the Jehovah’s Witnesses of today, the Jews know that He is claiming to be God. So in vs. 59 they pick up stones to stone Him to death. Abraham rejoiced and was filled with joy, the Jews want to kill Him. Which is it with you today? A sacrifice of that magnitude demands a response from us. Is your response anger that you’re called a sinner, or is it heart-felt joy that Christ has removed your sin? Are you wanting to stone Christ or can you agree with the words of this poem? Listen to these words, and see if you can feel as though you wrote them. If you do, then you are saved forevermore and will never taste death.
My sins laid open to the rod, the back which from the law was free
And the eternal Son of God, received the stripes once due to me
No beam was in His eye, nor mote, nor did He ever share any blame
And yet His cheeks for me were smote, the cheeks that never blushed for shame.
I pierced those sacred hands and feet, that never touched or walked in sin
I broke the heart that only beat, the souls of sinful men to win.
That sponge of vinegar and gall, was placed by me upon His tongue
And when derision mocked his call, I stood that mocking crowd among
And yet His blood was shed for me, to be of sin the double cure
And balm there flows from Calvary’s tree
That heals my guilt and makes me pure
