Sermon: Next Stop Heaven
Series: The Gospel of John
John 8:13-30
Introduction
Today we’re resuming our series in the Gospel of John where we are going verse by verse, word by word and examining the life of Jesus Christ through the eye’s of the Apostle John.
Today, I want to start off by telling you a real life story of a man named Arland Williams.
Arland Williams and five others knew their situation was hopeless. Floating in the icy Potomac River, the six survivors of Air Florida Flight 90 knew there was no way to reach the shore just 40 yards away.
They could hear the rescuers trying to reach them, but each attempt to cross the icy waters failed. Just as they were giving up hope, they heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. A life ring fell into the hands of one of the survivors, and he was pulled to safety.
Next it fell in Arlands hands. He could be saved. But before the helicopter could pull him up, he handed the life ring to someone else. The chopper could only hold two, so it turned toward the shore and sped away.
A few minutes later it returned. Again, the life ring fell into Arland’s hands, and again he handed it to someone else. The third time he did the same. There would be no fourth opportunity. By the time the helicopter had returned, Arland had disappeared below the surface.
In 2007 an article was written about Arland Williams sacrifice and appeared in Men’s Health magazine. After recounting Williams story, the author of the article ask,
“Why would anyone put the lives of strangers ahead of his own? He couldn’t even see the faces of the people he was saving, because they were on the opposite side of the wreckage, yet he made a sacrifice for them that their best friends might have refused.”
We live in a world today where the words ‘hero’ and ‘courage’ have been overused and cheapened. Arland Williams is a true hero. It took real courage putting others before self and braving the icy water.
The author in the Men’s Health article is perplexed by the idea of someone laying down there life for someone they didn’t even know.
To the author and maybe many others the idea of self-sacrifice might makes sense in certain situations…
It might make sense to lay down one’s life when it comes to protecting your family. It might make sense to lay down one’s life for a very important leader, for country, or for some noble cause.
But sacrificing one’s life for a complete stranger, for someone you can’t even see, is a little crazy for some. What Arland Williams did doesn’t make sense to most people. Arland should have took the life ring and made it home safely, but he didn’t.
To those of us in Christ his actions make perfect sense. When we look at this story through the lens of our Christian world view, we can relate his actions to the words of Jesus.
Jesus said this, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 NLT
A Christian worldview doesn’t see self-sacrifice as a foolish choice; instead it sees self-sacrifice as the highest act of love.
Matter of fact, we arrive at this view of the world not only by listening to the words of Jesus but also by seeing Jesus‘s example.
In spite of many conversations with Jesus, the religious leaders don’t seem to understand Him. Jesus isn’t making this difficult, He’s keeping it pretty simple for these religious leaders.
He’s summaries what He’s doing and why He came. Jesus gave up the comfort and luxury of Heaven so that we could go to Heaven. That’s why He’s here, it’s what He came to do…
Slide 1. Jesus Came from Heaven
You might recall the last time we seen Jesus in the Gospel of John, He was standing up during one of the Jewish festivals and inviting those who were dying to come to Him for life.
Then the religious leaders brought a woman to Him to be put to death for adultery, and Jesus responded by forgiving her and giving her life, after which He called Himself the light of the world and called all of them to follow Him.
Following Him was the only way to find life, but the religious leaders, the Pharisees, would not listen or believe…
The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.” John 8:13 NLT
Why? The Pharisees are claiming it’s not valid because Jewish law requires more than one witness.
So how does Jesus respond to this. How does He deal with their unbelief?
Seven times in this conversation He tells the Pharisees that He came from heaven…
Look at what He says…
14 Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me.” John 8:14 NLT
Jesus answered the Pharisees charges, saying that He could make such claims about himself because he knew both where He came from (which was Heaven) and His destination (which was Heaven).
He then pointed to the most vital witness for His case, His Father who sent Him…
16 And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. John 8:16 NLT
18 “I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.” John 8:18 NLT
23 Jesus continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not.” John 8:23 NLT
26 “I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but I won’t. For I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and he is completely truthful.” John 8:26 NLT
29 “And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.” John 8:29 NLT
One of the many things that I admire about Jesus is that He knew His mission and He stuck to it. Jesus wasn’t on His own mission to gain glory and fame for Himself; He had come to fulfill the Father’s will by dying on the cross.
His death on the cross revealed His absolute submission to the Father’s will. Jesus best summed it up this way, …I always do what pleases Him (please the Father).
The heart beat of Christianity has always been self-sacrifice. We live in a world where power, wealth, and authority are considered great achievements.
Yet, Jesus shows us a different way and He says to us, “Follow me.”
He challenges us to give up our rights for the good of someone else. He tells us the way to be great is to serve others.
Jesus shows us a radical way of living, the way of self-sacrifice. He made a sacrifice that is far greater than any sacrifice that we could ever make. He gave up Heaven.
Why? Why did He give up Heaven? He gave up Heaven to give us Heaven…
Slide 2 Jesus promises entrance to Heaven
Jesus gave up Heaven to give us Heaven. He tells these leaders, in no uncertain terms, they cannot get to Heaven. The way to Heaven has been blocked by their sin
21 Later Jesus said to them again, “I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going.” John 8:21 NLT
If the Pharisees wouldn’t believe in Jesus while He was with them, they would run the risk of not having any further opportunity to receive eternal life. These religious leaders would continue to look for the Messiah, though the real one was standing right in front of them.
These Pharisees fatal sin would be in rejecting the only one who could save them.
Here’s the human dilemma, we were made to know God, to enjoy God, to walk with God, and to live with God, but we rebelled. Our rebellion has made it impossible to know, enjoy, walk with, and live with God.
Human religion (our manmade religion) is an attempt to get back to God. It’s our effort to regain what was lost by our rebellion.
But here’s Jesus basically saying to the most religious men around, “You can’t do it. You can’t get to God. You can’t get to Heaven. Your sin will always keep you away.”
Attempting to get to God apart from Jesus Christ is like trying to work your way through a religious maze. It’s pointless…
You turn the corner labeled good works and find a barrier. Then you take another turn and find a corner marked sincerity, but there’s no way through. Each turn in your religious maze is a dead end and there isn’t any relief insight.
But Jesus came to make away. He came to knock over the barricades that keep us out. He gave up Heaven to give us Heaven.
How?
First, He lived a perfect life.
Look at verse 29: 29 “And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.” John 8:29 NLT
No one other than Jesus can say that. No one else can make that claim. Only Jesus is without sin.
Second, He died for sinners.
Sin is one of those fancy churchy words we like to throw around a lot. What is sin? Where did sin come from?
Well, the Bible described sin as an act going against the law of God and rebellion against God.
We touched on this last weekend but sin had its beginning with Lucifer, probably the most beautiful and powerful of the angels. Not content with his position, he desired to be higher than God, and that was his downfall, the beginning of sin.
Renamed Satan, he brought sin to the human race in the Garden of Eden, where he tempted Adam and Eve with the same enticement, “You shall be like God.”
Genesis 3 describes Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God and against His command. Since that time, sin has been passed down through all generations of mankind and we, Adam’s descendants, have inherited sin from him.
Romans 5:12 tells us this:12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Romans 5:12 NLT
So death was passed on to all men: 23 For the wages of sin is death,… Romans 6:23 NLT
Through Adam sin entered the human race, and human beings became sinners by nature. When Adam sinned, his inner nature was transformed by his sin of rebellion, bringing to him spiritual death and corruption which would be passed on to all who came after him.
Why do we have death? Suffering? Why do we have to deal with sin and hardship? In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve rebelled and with there rebellion sin entered our world
We are sinners not because we sin; rather, we sin because we are sinners.
Yet, look at the rest of Romans 6:23: …but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 NLT
Jesus died for our sin…
Look at what Jesus said in verse 28: 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that IAM he. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me.” John 8:28 NLT
Jesus is referring to his death on the cross. The Jews in Jesus’ day understood the expression lifted up to signify crucifixion.
Jesus will take the penalty we deserve in order to give us what He deserves. He will take our death and give us His life.
Jesus lived perfectly and died in our place in order to give us Heaven, but something is required from us. Not work or busyness, not effort, or some religious ritual, but faith.
Look at what Jesus said, 24 “That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24 NLT
The word ‘unless,’ is such a beautiful word…unless you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, unless you believe that He gave up Heaven, unless you believe He took your sin, unless you believe that He can give you life and hope and joy and Heaven.
“…unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24 NLT
It really is that simple. All it takes is faith. All that’s required is to believe. The difference between Heaven and Hell is faith in Jesus Christ
However, faith isn’t simple. Jesus points this out to the Pharisees.
He says,15 “You judge me by human standards, [the Pharisees didn’t know Jesus’ divine origin; they didn’t realize He was from Heaven and considered Him to be a FAKE, a fraud Messiah; meaning they were judging the King of kings; Lord of lords by human standard] but I do not judge anyone.”
16 “And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me.” John 8:15-16 NLT
Jesus is pointing out these Pharisees limitations
We need to do what the Pharisees were unwilling to do. We need to come to grips with our own limitations and our own understanding.
We are fleshly people. We are in one place at one time. Our understanding will always be affected by our limitations. We have to decide what we will identify as the ultimate authority in our life.
The Pharisees would have said, “Dude, our ultimate authority is God.“
Jesus is basically telling them, “I don’t really agree with that. You’re judging by human standards. You’re judging by your own standard making yourselves the ultimate authority. You judge according to what you think. You judge according to how you feel. You judge according to the flesh.”
Do you ever think about how many times of day you have to decide on who to trust.
For example, we took our children to the doctor for yearly checkups. The doctor had prescribed some medicine. When we picked up the medicine from the pharmacy, we had to trust our doctor who prescribed it and our pharmacist who prepared it.
We also had to trust the company that developed it and the government that approved it. Plus, we had to trust the people who train the doctor and the pharmacist and the many hands at the drug company who prepared and packaged it.
Do you ever think about how much trust we put into everyday ordinary things…When it comes to our physical life, we trust our care to a lot of people.
Can I ask you something? And when I ask you this I want you to answer the question honestly and really examine it. When it comes to our spiritual life, who do you trust?
Do you trust your authority, do you trust yourself. Do you trust what you think, how you feel, do you trust in your experiences?
Or, when it comes to your spiritual life do you trust in God’s authority. Do you trust in what He says through His written word.
Do you really want to trust yourself with your eternal future?
You have limitation. You have a very finite mind. My understanding, your understanding of the world is very limited and at times shallow.
Matter of fact, you didn’t exist until 30, 40, 60, or 80 years ago. You can’t keep yourself from getting sick or hurt. You can’t guarantee you’ll be alive tomorrow.
Do you really think you’re the best choice to be the ultimate authority in your life?
There are many reasons Jesus is trustworthy. Here’s a few, He’s God, He never lies, He never sins, He’s loving, He’s perfect, He’s the creator and sustainer of life, everything was created through Him and for Him, and the list goes on…
But here’s one key reason to trust him: He gave up Heaven, He gave up perfection, He gave up luxury and comfort, to give it to us. He gave up Heaven to give it to us.
If you can find someone who sacrificed more for you than Jesus did, trust him, but if you can’t, then Jesus has earn your trust.
