A journalist and a father of a three -year-old boy came home in 2019. The young boy saw his dad working on his iPad while he was at the house. So, while the dad was at work, the three-year-old boy picked up the iPad and tried to use it when his dad was away. Only the iPad was password protected. The little boy entered the wrong passcode. The little boy was persistent and continued to enter the wrong passcode. When the dad came home, the screen to his iPad looked like this: Yes, by the time his dad returned home, the iPad had been locked out for over twenty-five million minutes – that’s just shy of fifty years. The dad reached out to Apple to find out how to reboot the device. One person said he should try to reboot the toddler ?.1 Eventually, Apple provided a fix.
Jesus specializes in fixing problems that seem to have no solution. Tension has been mounting in chapters 7 and 8 like a thundercloud swelling in the sky. The opponents of Jesus’ day would not be stuck with Jesus for anywhere near 25 million minutes. Or so they thought.
We come to the end of a story that really begins all the way back in John 7:1. Today, Jesus debates who is the legitimate son of Abraham while promising us how to never taste death.
Today’s Scripture
“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 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.’ 55 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.’ So the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you 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” (John 8:48-59).
There is a little question at the end of verse 53 that I don’t want you to miss. Because really, it’s this question that everything turns on. The Jews asked Jesus, “Who do you make yourself out to be?” (John 8:53b). Just who does He think He is?
Sermon Preview
1. Don’t You Blink – the stakes are eternally and cosmically high at a showdown that beats the OK Corral
2. Don’t You Sleep – Jesus speaks of eternal life
3. Don’t be Shocked – Jesus’ claims to exist longer will knock you sideways
1. Don’t You Blink
“Jesus answered, ‘I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me’” (John 8:49).
Again, pressure is building. Things are coming to a head in our story.
1.1 Don’t Blink
Some moments are so tense you just CANNOT blink. The action is too fast, and the consequences are too big for you to even blink. You may miss something significant in just the nanosecond it takes to blink.
An NFL coach was asked a couple of years ago, “What’s your final message to your team,” just minutes before the game. The coach looked right in the camera and said that he told his team, “Don’t blink. If you’re a blinker, cut your eyelids off.” He continued, “This will not be for the faint of heart. We understand what type of game we're in. It’s going to take a ridiculous effort, and 60 minutes of it.” Now, if an NFL playoff game is a “No Blink” moment, how much more is the Son of God going against the forces of evil for the souls of men?
Watch Jesus take on the forces of evil and not blink. And He didn’t even need to cut off His eyelids as He is steady under tremendous pressure. Listen carefully to Jesus: “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me” (John 8:49).
1.2 Tension is Mounting
Again, the atmosphere has been growing heavy for a couple of chapters now. The acrimony between Jesus and “the Jews” has been mounting. Emotions run high, and things come to a head when we read in verse 59: “So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple” (John 8:59).
This is more than 4th quarter tension with 2 minutes to go. No, the stakes are cosmically and eternally high at this moment. Jesus’ actions don’t determine the outcome of some silly game, but determine the eternal destinies of millions of men and women, boys and girls. This is the ultimate “Don’t Blink” moment.
1.3 How Did We Get Here?
How did we get to the place where Jesus is hidden, and people are attempting to stone Jesus? The story begins with some really malicious voices attacking Jesus. Jesus replies with a one-two punch of composed patience and sound arguments.
1.3.1 Getting Rid of Jesus
In fact, His opponents are doing everything possible to get rid of Jesus. Here’s a refresher…
1.3.2 Arresting Him
Jesus’ enemies sent out the Temple guards to arrest Him (John 7:32). When the guards didn’t arrest Him, the chief priests and the Pharisees, “Why didn’t you arrest Him?” The Temple guards simply said, “No one ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46b). Can you imagine Tarrant County’s Sheriff Wayborn sending out people to arrest someone, only to see his deputies return with their handcuffs on their belts? He says, “Guys, what gives! I told you to arrest the guy.” Only to hear his deputies respond, “That guy was so impressive. Have you ever heard him teach?” Jesus is so controversial, fascinating, and even mesmerizing that the people sent to arrest Him come back with an “I don’t really know what happened” look. No, temple guards would not prevent Him from reaching the cross for you.
Failed attempt #1.
1.3.3 The Woman Caught in Adultery
Jesus’ enemies bring a woman caught in the very act of adultery. I wonder how they managed to arrange actually catching a woman in adultery? They bring her to Jesus and say, “Master, the law says you have to stone somebody like this — but what do You say?” If Jesus were to say, “Stone her, I agree with the Law of Moses,” they hoped the crowd would turn against Jesus. Not only that, but the Romans would get rid of Him because only Rome could exercise the right of capital punishment. But if, on the other hand, Jesus were to say I disagree with Moses and say something like, “Let her go free…” …then it would set Jesus at odds with the Law of Moses. They thought they had Him trapped until He said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7b). Everyone dropped those rocks, and all walked away. No legal conundrum would not prevent Him from reaching the cross for you.
Failed attempt #2.
1.3.4 Insulting Him
Now, they resort to emotional and abusive language because they cannot soundly reply to Jesus’ credentials. They see Him as a liar, a fake, a fraud, the object of their scorn, the brunt of their jokes. Look back at verse 39, “They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ … 41 … They said to him, ‘We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God’” (John 8:39a, 41b).
Like a smear campaign today, they are telling everyone that Jesus was born of unwed parents. They heckled Jesus with a personal insult. They mockingly said, “WE were not born of sexual immorality.” The Jewish leaders knew Mary was pregnant before she and Joseph were married. Of course, they didn’t believe in the idea of a virgin birth. So, by this time, an ugly rumor had been circulating about Jesus – that He was born as a result of sexual immorality. They were repeating the fictional gossip that Jesus was born as a result of a sexual encounter between Mary and a Roman soldier. 250 years later, when the Jewish Rabbis were still attacking Jesus and His followers, they wrote this rumor down in their Jerusalem Talmud and even provided a name of a Roman soldier.3 No insults and allegations would not stop Jesus from reaching the cross for you. Failed attempt #3.
1.3.5 Stone Him
Having previously brought the woman to stone, when that failed, they now attempt to kill Jesus Himself by stoning. “So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple” (John 8:59).
This isn’t the only time people have sought to kill Jesus. Jesus spoke to His hometown people in His hometown synagogue. His message that day kindled their racist thought so much that the Bible says, “And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away” (Luke 4:29-30). Either push Him off the edge of a cliff or stone Him at the edge of the Temple, either way, this is the ultimate “no blink” moment.
1.4 Can You Imagine This Moment?
Can you imagine this moment? Historians tell us that WW I began when a 19-year-old boy fired 2 shots at 11 am from a street corner in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914.4 You say, “What’s the big deal about 2 gunshots? Chicago has people murdering one another all the time.” I would tell you that these 2 shots took the lives of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie. But even more than that, those 2 shots kickoff 4 years of bloodshed where 9 million soldiers died, 10 million civilians died, and another 21 million people more were wounded.5
Now, if something that was seemingly small started all that, can you imagine the stakes of this moment with Jesus? What if Jesus died by stoning? No more cross as a logo for this international movement called Christianity. No Pilate. No rooster crowing. No Good Friday. No Easter Sunday. Everything and everyone hinged on this moment for Jesus.
Can you feel the tension? This is the ultimate “no blink” moment. The Bible says it so matter-of-factly: “Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple” (John 8:59b). God had an appointed destiny for Jesus. Jesus was to die on the cross for your sins.
Failed attempt #4.
1.5 Jesus’ Response
In the midst of the emotion, look carefully at Jesus’ response in verse 49: “Jesus answered, ‘I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge” (John 8:49-50).
Jesus says, “You dishonor me.” That didn’t mean anything to them, but it should me something to you. The last thing I would want to hear from the lips of Jesus? How about you? Jesus tells them, “You dishonor me.”
1. Don’t You Blink
2. Don’t You Sleep
“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (John 8:51).
Sleep is a metaphor for death in the Bible. Jesus promises eternal life. Does that interest you?
2.1 Eternal Life
Jesus says if someone keeps His word…
… if you believe it, cling to it, obey it, and live by His word …
… then you will experience eternal life.
2.1.1 Thinking about Meeting God
I ask you what my son asked a young man recently. The two had been talking about spiritual matters when my son asked this young athlete, “Do you ever think about meeting God at the end of your life? Do you ever think about what happens to you after you die?” The young man told my son that he hadn’t given it much thought.
I pause now to ask you – have you given this weighty, solemn subject much thought? Oh, how I wish you would devote even 10% more of your brain cells to matters of eternity!
Then Jesus simply lays it out there for all to see at the end of verse 50, “there is One who seeks [my glory], and he is the judge.” He will determine what is right and wrong. He will determine who’s innocent and who’s guilty.
2.1.2 Eternal Life
The Bible is filled with talk about eternal life.
The Gospel of John, in particular, is peppered with Jesus’ teaching about eternal life. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). Jesus spoke the words of life to the Woman at the Well: “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Jesus spoke the words of eternal life who only thought Jesus was good for another free meal: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal” (John 6:27). And lastly, Jesus speaks about His grip on those of us who trust Him: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).
2.2 I Invite You
I invite you here and now to trust on Jesus for eternal life. Your life can turn on a dime this morning. I invite and challenge you to embrace His Word for true, fulfilling freedom. Listen to those sitting around you this morning. Sitting next to you in those very pews is someone who used to go to strip clubs to seek pleasure. But they threw off the garments of a broken sexual life to welcome the words of Jesus. Now, they live by them.
Sitting right next to some of you is someone who used to spend all their mental energies worried about the future. They devoted all their brain cells to anxious thoughts. But they threw off the garments of broken, fretful living to welcome the words of Jesus when He said, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26). To anyone who welcomes Jesus’ words into their lives, Jesus offers eternal life.
2.3 Direct Personal Contact
Can you say you’ve had direct personal contact with God Himself through His Son, Jesus? I am not asking you if you believe information about Him. I’m asking you if you’ve had direct personal contact with Jesus that satisfies your every longing. Have you directly experienced God in such a way that your life will never be the same again? Real freedom comes by living by the words of Jesus. Jesus says, “I’m not just a prophet or a moral teacher. I am a chain-breaking, addiction-freeing giver of freedom. I can give you an intimacy with God and security with the Father life you couldn’t dream of.”
1. Don’t Blink
2. Don’t You Sleep
3. Don’t be Shocked
“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’” (John 8:58). There’s a lot of talk about Abraham here. Right in the middle of all this talk about Abraham, Jesus says something that knocked everyone sideways.
3.1 Abraham
The Jews are insulted if anyone doesn’t think Abraham is their true father. Essentially, the idea is simple for them: if you trace your family tree back to Abraham, God accepts you. After debating who has Abraham on their side, the Jews ask this salient question: “Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” (John 8:53).
They say, “Oh, so you knew Abraham? Did you? Oh, that’s very interesting.” Remember, all this begins with people thinking Jesus has a demon. Now, Jesus doubles down. Some would say, “He’s out beyond His skies!” Jesus turns around, and doubles down on His incredible statement that floored everyone.
Maybe you don’t have a good grasp of the timeline. Jesus lived as far away from Abraham’s day as you live from Jesus’ day. There are around 1,800 to 2,000 years of time between Abraham and Jesus.6 So, on one level, Jesus is claiming to be really old when He’s only around thirty years old. But Jesus doesn’t just claim to be old.
3.2 Ego Eimi
“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’” (John 8:58). When Jesus says, “I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’,” He uses the words, “ego eimi” in the original Greek of the Gospel of John. Bible experts go so far as to call this “ego eimi” formula because these words are so highly specialized.7 To track with me, it’s just like our word ego, but adding the eimi. There’s nothing random about Jesus’ choice of words.
3.3.1 The Divine Name
This is a big deal because the Hebrew name in Exodus 3:14 translates the “I am who I am” as the Greek words “ego eimi” in the world-renowned Greek Septuagint. Then the Greek translation even translates ego eimi as the divine name (Isaiah 43:25). Everyone knew the divine name in Greek was ego eimi. So, when Jesus quotes these words, He is intentionally and deliberately taking the divine name for Himself.
3.3 Jesus’ Family Reunion
Jesus will never take you to His family reunion and introduce you to His father or His mother. Jesus has no father, and He has no real mother for God has no beginning. Yes, Mary was to give birth to Jesus in Bethlehem, but this only signaled Jesus’ taking on human flesh. For the child born at Bethlehem created His very mother. Jesus has no beginning, and He has no end, and He has no rivals. Jesus is the only person ever born who, at the moment of His birth, was older than His mother, and as old as His Father. Jesus is Self-Existent. Friends, it’s impossible to have a too elevated view of Jesus.
1. Don’t You Blink
2. Don’t You Sleep
3. Don’t be Shocked
3.4 Conclusion
If Jesus had no beginning and He really came from eternity past, why would He put up the kind of treatment He receives here? Why did He do this? What was Jesus thinking? What motivated Jesus to do this? Because your soul was more important than His blood. Your eternal life was more important than His earthy life. Your place in heaven was more important to Him than His place in heaven. He gave up His place, so you could have your place.8
EndNotes
1 https://x.com/eosnos/status/1114651667214032896/photo/1;accessed November 19, 2024.
2 https://www.si.com/nfl/steelers/news/mike-tomlin-message-pittsburgh-steelers-chiefs; accessed November 19, 2024.
3 Origen, “Origen against Celsus,” in Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second, edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, translated by Frederick Crombie. vol. 4, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 1.32.
4 https://www.theworldwar.org/learn/about-wwi/june-28-1914; accessed November 19, 2024.
5 https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history; accessed November 19, 2024.
6 Ronald B. Allen, “Abraham,” in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1:12
7 Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 139.
8 I owe this illustration to James Merritt. https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-outlines/143732/christmas-doxology-3-of-3/; accessed December 4, 2022.
