The Second death - John 8:51

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. John chapter 8 verse 31. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

They answered him, We are the offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever.

So if the son sets you free, you'll be free indeed. I know that you are the offspring of Abraham. Yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father and you do what you have heard from your father. And they answered him, Abraham is our father.

Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works of your father or the works your father did. They said to him, we're not born of sexual immorality.

We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and I am here. I came not on my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? Is it?

It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. Verse 48.

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 who 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. 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 50 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. Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the words of the Lord remains forever. Let's just come to our Lord in prayer for a moment.

Father, we ask now that you would be with us, that you would meet with us this evening. Lord, if you don't presence yourself among us by your Holy Spirit, then we do this in vain. So we ask of our Heavenly Father, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who shed his blood to cleanse us from our sin and to glorify your great holy name, meet with us this evening, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. I wanted to read the whole of this narrative from verse 31 throughout the rest of chapter 8, just so we've been here for a while, just so it's in the back of our minds, so that we have the detail of what we've already examined, what we've already exposed, what we've already meditated upon together as a congregation, as well as what we're going to meditate upon together in these verses and what is yet to come. Because this evening, by God's grace, we'll be looking at verses 48 through 50. The audience are still the same. We know.

Nothing has changed since the last time we were in the Gospel according to John. But what we find from verse 48 is a transition starting to happen. Something new is taking place. If you remember, back in verse 31, I said something new happened back then. You might remember, I said back then is when Jesus' audience are primarily those who have confessed or professed a type of faith in Jesus Christ.

We're told these are, and He said to the Jews who believe in Him. from 31. But now here in verse 48, a new transition is taking place. Because those people who professed in Christ, who professed to have believed in Christ, had become more and more agitated, probably uncomfortable is the word I want to use, with the words of Jesus. They weren't agreeing with what he said.

So there was a bit of pushback from their point of view at Christ. Some agitation was starting to occur. But here, here from verse 48 onwards, we will see the emotions of these people and their heart's attitude change to one step deeper again. Actually, in fact, they become, they go from being uncomfortable and agitated and more just pushing back on what Christ says to now being outright nasty towards our Lord. That's what takes place.

Because then, from 48 throughout to the end of the chapter, we'll see these people hurl some very horrible personal insults at the Son of God. It grieves our soul, but this is the nature of one whose heart is not restrained by the Spirit of God. What we've seen thus far is this. Jesus's words have hit a very sensitive spot in the hearts of the people who are supposed to be people who had believed in him. A very sensitive spot which has caused these people to react in this way.

These people thought themselves to be distinguished from the rest. The very thing that they thought set them apart from the disgusting, uncircumcised, dirty Gentiles was their ethnic privilege. And Jesus here, in the previous word, he pieces that notion and bursts their bubble. And they don't like it. They don't like it one bit.

Especially when our Lord says to them that they are in bondage. They don't like those words. We're in bondage? I mean, that's settled on one thing and one thing for sure. As an ethnic people, as the Jewish people, as a privileged people, they saw themselves as above the rest.

And if there's something they thought of themselves more than anything else, it was that they were religiously and spiritually free. That this freedom, this liberation that Jesus has on offer and that Jesus is presenting to them is something they don't need. Why would free people require a rescuer? Jesus, we're free already is what these people have already said. We're the offspring of Abraham.

We're the offspring of Yahweh. We're his children. But now Jesus clears up their mental fog and gives them a dosage of reality. shows them that they are deluded in their sinful, darkened understanding of spiritual things. And they are less than impressed.

In fact, they get angry. They get really angry. And their side of the dialogue between them and the Lord, which had some semblance of peace and civility, turns very, very ugly. They can't handle the truth. They didn't like what was coming out of the mouth of our Lord.

It was too offensive to their Jewish sensibilities. The truth, this was a truth they weren't willing to hear, nor could they bear to hear the truth that is coming out of the mouth of our Lord. What is that truth? Well, I think our Lord says it best in verse 43. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. Your spiritual father is not Abraham. Your spiritual father is not Yahweh. No, you're wrong on both.

Your spiritual father is the devil himself, is what Jesus is saying. Now, Christ has proven that to these people in that principle that I mentioned a few weeks ago, like father, like son. If these were indeed the children of Abraham, then their works would be as the works of Abraham. There'd be some resemblance between Abraham, who believed, and it was counted to him, righteous, and their works. And if what they claim, they said, we are children of God.

Then if that were to be true, then they would have the heart of God. They would love the things that God loves. And the object of the father's love is his son. And now the son of God comes and stands before them and they hate him. They're not Abraham's sons and they are not the sons of God.

They are sons of the devil. That's a harsh word, but it's truth. Truth stings. And I don't want to hear it, but it needs to be said. And beloved, the Lord uses that word here for devil.

He uses the word diabolos. Diabolos meaning slander. There's other word, another word that Christ uses to speak of the devil, and that's satan, Satan as we know it. Now, when he speaks of, for example, in John chapter 13, when Judas Iscariot goes from among Christ and he says that Satan entered him, right? That word Satan means the foe or the enemy or the adversary entered into Judas.

But here, in this context, our Lord is using another word. He's using the word diabolos, which means slanderer. So not only are the two attributes that our Lord has already referenced that belong to Diabolos, those two, if you remember, is that he's a liar and the father of lies, and that he's a murderer, and before the end of the chapter, our Lord will prove that these people who are opposing him on every corner and now outright insulting him are guilty on both those offenses, they are liars and they are murderers, but also, He'll prove that the name that he uses of Satan, of the devil, Diablo, slanderer, is perfectly fitting to these people also. Because like father, like son, these men begin to hurl some very low and slanderous words and accusations against our Lord, indeed proving the word that our Lord had spoken to them. And in fact, the last words that together as a congregation, we meditated upon a couple of weeks ago from verse 47.

Our Lord proves those words to be with pinpoint accuracy with the people that he's speaking. And this is what he says there, he says, whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. You see, when it's all said and done, that's what it comes down to. Jesus is looking these Jews in the eyes and He's saying, you know why you act the way you act?

Because you don't know God. You belong to the slanderer. You belong to the one who indulges in sin and depravity and immorality. That's where your heart is. That is what's gripped your soul.

Now let's continue where we left off last time in verse 48. The Jews answered him, and are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a devil? My apologies, and have a demon? Again, as I said, it's a nasty, nasty accusations coming out of their lips. Probably the two most awful insults that a Jew can think of on the spot in the first century was that.

That you're a Samaritan, and we'll get into that in a moment, and that you're a demon-possessed person, or you're one who has a demon. And in fact, the way that The Apostle John has worded it for us. He says, are we right in saying, seems to suggest that this is a settled opinion of not just the single lone person that just threw this at Christ, but actually others in the group were in agreeance. Now, from our point of view, the words that have come out of the mouths of these Jews are quite nasty. They're quite low.

They're outright evil and they're derogatory. We can all agree on that. It was a wicked thing to say about our Lord, no doubt. But I actually think there's more than meets the eye. I think because of their delusion, because of their darkness, the darkness and the moral darkness of their hearts on spiritual matters, we've seen that over and over again in the gospel according to John.

I think they were actually thinking they were saying something that would point to their nobility. I think they thought themselves as defending Yahweh in these words. Let me explain. Translated literally, that word right, when they say, are we not right in saying? You can, on occasion, connote more than factual correctness.

Now the question does presuppose, the way the grammar's put together, a yes answer. So it's more of a statement they're making. They're not really asking, Christ, can you please give us a yes or a no. It is more of a statement in question form. However, there's more to it than simply what we see.

It looks like they're wanting more than just simply to gather some facts or get some facts straight. Because literally that word can be translated, it can be translated, are we not right? But also, are we not honorable in saying? Or are we not commendable in saying that you're a Samaritan and have a demon? The point is that their likely intentions is to revile Christ.

I mean, their hearts are wicked. We know that. But in some twisted way, they want to come across as honorable. They want to come across as being with Yahweh. We're religious people.

This is what we do. We defend Yahweh from blasphemous people like you, Jesus. evidence that their moral compass was way out of whack. That's why I believe our Lord calls them out in verse 54 when he says, you think you know God, but you have no idea. Are we not right in saying you're a Samaritan?

See, even from our point of view, that's a very low thing to say. We know enough about the Jews to know that they weren't very fond of the Samaritans, nor were the Samaritans very fond of the Jews. Now, Samaria in the first century was a big chunk of land that comprised what was known to be the northern kingdom of Israel. It was the region or the parcel of land between the south, which is Judah, and Galilee, to the north. Samaria was nestled somewhere in the middle.

But calling Jesus a Samaritan wasn't simply referring to his place of origin. No. It was a racial slur, but it was a racial slur that had deep-rooted hostility and also had some religious significance. I said before the feud Well, I said before that the Jews weren't fond of the Samaritans, the truth be told. I should have used the word they despised for the most part, the Samaritans.

So much so that when the Jews were making a trip, as I said earlier, you have Judah on the bottom, or Judea on the bottom, and you had Galilee at the top. So much so that if a Jew wanted to make the trek from the south to the north, or even the north to the south, that would take a detour around to the east, around over the Jordan River, cross through up the Perea, and go back into Galilee, just so that their feet would not be contaminated by the dust of Samaria. Why did they hate the Samaritans so much? Without going into much detail, we should remember from the Old Testament that the United Kingdom of Israel was united under David, the Golden Years, as well as Solomon. But after Solomon, there was a fracture, a split in the kingdom.

We had the Northern Kingdom and then the Southern Kingdom, if you remember. Now we know that both kingdoms came under the judgment of God because of their wickedness, because of their unfaithfulness, their idolatry. But it's the northern kingdom that fell first, and then the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom manifested more wickedness early. In fact, out of the 19 kings that the northern kingdom had, from Jeroboam I to Hosea, We're told not even a single one of them was a righteous king.

Not a single one did what is right in the eyes of the Lord. Now, it's sometimes difficult to go through all the kings, the 40 plus kings that we have had in Israel, North and South. It's difficult to know, was that king to the North or the South? Well, a good place to start is this. If you read, and that king did what is right in the eyes of the Lord, or he was a righteous king, you know automatically that's a king in the South.

That's a good place to start. Anyway, in 722 BC, because of rank wickedness, God gave over the Northern Kingdom, otherwise known as Israel. Now, the Northern Kingdom was called Israel because most of the tribes of Israel were to the north. Otherwise sometimes in the Old Testament we know that the Old Testament prophets speak of the Northern Kingdom as Ephraim. But in 722 the Lord poured out His judgment upon these people and He did it through the then empire of the Assyrians who came in and they overtook the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

We know that back then the plan was to take the affluent and the ones with aptitude to take them back into Assyria to use them. But then the poorest of the poor, and that was normally the strategy, the poorest of the poor, they just left in the land. And that's what they did. Then over time what they did is they got people, the Assyrians got people from the surrounding territories and got them to come back into the Northern Kingdom. and to come in and to cohabit or inhabit the kingdom or the land with the poor people of the northern kingdom.

And then what you had, you had this mix of people. And of course, as we know, that when the pagans or the people who were brought in to mix with the Israelites came in, they came in with their cultures. They came in with their religious practices and their pagan ideologies. And the idea was that when they do come and they mix, what happens is the nation that was existed in the first place would lose its identity. It would be forgotten.

And that's very much what happened. And the mixed breed, they began to intermarry, of course. And this mixed breed had come to be known as the Samaritans. According to many of the Jews, most in fact, the Samaritans were no longer considered brothers because they are no longer a pure race. Instead, they considered them and treated them more like foreigners, more like Gentiles.

And there's much history in the Old Testament that I won't get into today, but briefly, When the Assyrians populated the land, and I said this earlier, and they intermixed, the pagans that came from outside the territories around to come and inhabit the land, as I said earlier, they brought their religious practices with them, and they began to build shrines, temples, shrines, and small altars, and they sacrificed, and idols. This is what they began to do, and they brought in their religious practices into the land. Yahweh was angry. Actually, Yahweh's anger was kindled, and so he sent a plague. You might remember this from 2 Kings.

Yahweh sent a plague into the land of wild lions to devour these people who were doing these evil things. Wild beasts began to devour those who were practicing this pagan type of very sinful, evil, wicked worship. And there were some of the people who remained, the people of Israel, who were God-fearers. And then they saw what was going on. They recognized this was judgment from God.

So they appealed to the king of Assyria. And they said, help us. Like, this is no good. This is what's going on. So the king of Assyria sends them a priest.

So this priest could retrain them once again so they can reinstitute worship to Yahweh. He does that. But of course, the influence of the pagans that had come in had not gone anywhere. And before you knew it, over time, you had this mix. So you had this mix of some who want to worship Yahweh and others who want to worship others, and you had these shrines in high places worshipped on the mountains, and you had this mix, a very strange type of religion that is displeasing to God.

Now fast forward a little. Because I said earlier, when the northern kingdom was taken, it wasn't that much longer, maybe 140 odd years, when the southern kingdom was taken over also. Because the kingdom of Judah, the kingdom to the south, was in rank immorality as well. And so in 605 and 597, so those three deportations, 605, that's when Daniel and his friends were taken back into Babylon because it's no longer Syria. Syria was overtaken by Babylon, headed by Nebuchadnezzar.

So he brought the men in that attitude like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He took them back into Babylon in 605, first deportation. The second in 597, Ezekiel was taken back to Babylon. And then on the third time he comes because of the rebellion of the king Zedekiah. no longer paying the tribute and aligning himself with another.

Then the king, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar came in with his fury and he burnt the city down. Jerusalem was no more. 586 BC. The temple was burnt down to an absolute crisp. But then as the prophecies, and we said this a few weeks ago, of God and God's promises to his people in the prophecy in Jeremiah, 70 odd years later, they came back.

They came back with the edict of Cyrus. Now, they came back headed with Zerubbabel, who was then the governor. And so Zerubbabel came back with, say, under 50,000 people, only a very small remnant of those who were exiled. They came back to re-inhabit the land that was once Judea. It's called Yehud now, but it's still the same land under the governance of the Medo-Persian Empire.

And when they came back, of course, what did they want to do? They wanted to build the temple. That was their heart. That was their concern. To rebuild the temple, to come again and to to worship Yahweh because they knew and understood it was because of their idolatry, because of their lack of Sabbath keeping, because of their rebellion against God, that God sent them over to judgment from a wicked nation like Babylon to come and take them into exile.

So they decided to build a temple and now this is where the Samaritans come in. Because the Samaritans hear this. They're interested. So they come and approach Zerubbabel and the fathers, and they said, we heard that you're beginning to build a temple. We want a part of this.

We want to help you. We want to worship the same God that you're worshipping. We've been worshipping him anyway. We want to worship together. Of course, Zerubbabel and the fathers, most likely aware of their strange type of worship, which is quite unimmoral before the Lord, quite wicked.

They said, no, you'll have no part in this. We will build the temple, but you'll have no part in this. And so the Samaritans took offense to that. And from that day, there's a strong hostility between those in Samaria and the Jews. In fact, the Samaritans went back, and they didn't go back peacefully, but they began to hinder the rebuilding process of the temple for a while.

And there was a strong hostility between the two. The Samaritans went back to this strange type of worship, eventually building their own temple in Mount Gerizim, and they were offering sacrifices to God in that place. Now you might remember when Jesus in John chapter 4 met with the woman at the well in Samaria, she asked him a question. She said, we worship on this mountain, you worship in Jerusalem. So basically she's asking which one is correct.

Now Jesus answers the question two ways. The first, he makes her aware, you Samaritans worship who you do not know. We Jews worship who we do know. In other words, God has a centralized place of worship and it's in Jerusalem. And the oracles of God were given to the people of Jerusalem.

The oracle and the scriptures have been preserved. And the fact of the matter is, the Messiah of God will come through Jerusalem. He stands before her. But the second thing he said, which is a glorious thing, you remember? He said, there'll come a day where it doesn't matter whether you're at Mount Gerizim in Samaria or Mount Zion in Jerusalem, because there will be a day where God the Father will seek worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth, no matter where you are across the planet, praise be to God, because that's the new covenant, the new covenant that we're in.

The point is, the Samaritans were recognised by our Saviour to be worshipping falsely. Their worship was not accepted by Yahweh. They had mixed some pagan types of worship, brought that into the peace, and they thought themselves to be able to institute something brand new and God would approve, and He didn't. Now I hope that that little brief survey may have helped us to see what's going on in this section before us. Because not only is it a derogatory label to call someone a Samaritan, it wasn't simply an ethnic slur by these people.

It was a stab at Jesus' faith. It was a stab at the religion that Jesus is preaching. It was a stab at what Jesus believed. That's what they're doing. They knew that Jesus wasn't from Samaria.

Only a day earlier, in the end of chapter 7, which was taking place only 24 hours before the contents here of chapter 8. They already recognized that Jesus was from Galilee. You remember. They spoke to Nicodemus, who was seemingly supporting and and defending the Lord. And they said to Nicodemus, you don't search for yourself.

Does any prophet come from Galilee? They knew that Jesus wasn't from Samaria. They weren't concerned with that. They were thinking more sinister than simply where he's from geographically. This was a low blow.

Jesus, you want to say we true Jews aren't the offspring of Abraham? Jesus, you want to say that we aren't the true children of God? Okay, how about this? We're going to turn the tables on you. We are the true Israel.

We are the true children of Yahweh. And you, Jesus, are the one out of religious orthodoxy. You're the Samaritan, not us. You're the one who believes in a defiled, idolatrous religion, not us. We're pure Israelites.

We're worshipers of Yahweh. You, on the other hand, Jesus, you are closer to a pagan than a Jew. You don't know Yahweh, Jesus. You're a Samaritan. How dare you lecture us on religion?

You Samaritan. See what they're doing? It's low. And it's more than simply saying that you come from the region to the north. And then they add to this vilification.

They add to the insults. And they say to him, you said that we are sons of the devil? You say that we're slaves to sin? From our standpoint, Jesus, it looks like you're the one who belongs to the devil. You have a demon, Jesus.

We've convinced that the demon, the devil, the slanderer has a grip on you. You're the one bound by the demon, Jesus. You say that we are the liars, but like father, like son, if you're the one with the demon, if you're the one demon possessed, that means you belong to the devil, and therefore you're the one lying, not us. Brothers and sisters, do you see what's going on? It is so predictable.

When someone is cornered in truth, and they have nowhere to go, and their pride is pierced, and they're offended, they react sinfully in a knee-jerk type of reaction, and then they begin to accuse the other person of the very things the other person accused them of. That's just sinful. You call us a liar, you're the liar. You say we belong to the devil, you have a demon. You say we're not the offspring of Abraham, that we don't know God and our religion is aberrant.

You're the Samaritan who doesn't know God and you're the one who speaks in this false religion like all the other Samaritans, Jesus. Like children in the park desperately trying to prove the other person wrong. That's what they're doing. And then they resort to blatant lies. Beloved, they cannot make any of these accusations stick, no matter how hard they try.

Jesus has already said in the previous verses, remember in 46 where he said, can anyone of you convict me or prove me in a single sin? No one has a shred of evidence that our Lord had ever sinned. ever. He's pure and holy. He's the righteous one of God.

So these religious men, these people who began to at least seemingly believe in Jesus, are now using their disgusting, slanderous tongues to accuse our Lord with things they will never be able to prove because they are blatant lies. How sad. How sad the light of the world stands before them and reveals the state of their deluded hearts. The fact that they're not free. The fact that they are slaves to sin.

The fact that they will perish in their sins. He reveals the truth to them and shows them that they are under the wrath of God and he doesn't keep them there, but he offers salvation if you just believe in me. If you just trust in my words, if you just repent of your sins and come and embrace what I say as truth, you will live. Why would you perish in your sins? Why would you die in your sins?

You know your heart, I've revealed your heart, I've shone the light of God in your heart and you've seen how wicked it is. Instead, bowing their face before this, this Jesus. Instead of recognizing His words, that if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. Instead of coming and worshiping at His feet, once He's revealed their disgusting, wicked heart, instead of doing that, what they do is they start to hurl insult, disgusting, immoral insults at our Lord, only deepening their judgment to come. They are yet slaves to sin.

And that's a scary state to be in. So our Lord responds to their accusations. In verse 39, he says, Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. I don't know about you, but whenever I'm reading in the Gospels and I see how the religious leaders in particular were throwing insults and abuses at our Lord, His responses just melt my heart. Such composure, such calmness, such beauty, such wisdom.

He's the eternal Son of God. We know according to the prologue of John, he created these men. Jesus created these men. Let's not forget that. He's speaking to creatures that he's given life to.

He's the source and the substance of life. The only right response of these men to our Lord would be to fall on their knees, face down, and kiss his feet. And yet they accuse him and abuse him with these filthy words. And yet Jesus stays calm, just says. I don't have it in.

No, you're wrong. Simply trusting in his father's plan, and he speaks only the truth. Brothers, what an example for us to follow. Revolved, mocked, and scorned by these men And he takes it because he has another thing in his heart, another thing on his mind, and that is the glory of God. You know, Peter spoke to this in 1 Peter 2, verse 23.

Listen to what he says. Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example. Hear those words. Leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. Brothers and sisters, this is for us.

He committed no sin, and neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges rightly. You say I have a demon. You're wrong.

I don't have a demon. Here's some facts. I honor my father. and you dishonor me. I honor my father and you dishonor me.

The Lord has made it clear from the very beginning that He has come in the mission of the incarnation to do the will of the Father. His food is to do the will of the Father. His joy is to do the will of the Father. It is what satisfies the deepest longings of the incarnate Son of God to do the will of the Father. It is to esteem and to exalt His Father.

He does it with his words. He does it with his deeds. He's done it with his thoughts. Everything was to exalt and honor the Father. His concern is to honor God.

He represents God in honesty, in truth, and in love. These Jews dishonor Jesus. They dishonor the one the Father has sent. They dishonor the Son of God, who is the only one who makes God known. I honor what Jesus is saying, but you dishonor.

There's a big difference. There's a world of difference. Jesus can see what they're doing. They're trying to drag him in by slurring the very, by saying the very things that Jesus has accused them of in truth, trying to bring him in and saying that you're the one who's guilty of these things. So maybe they can go toe to toe with these insults and these reviling to see how far he goes.

But Jesus says, I'm not like you. I'm not like you. I'm not like you. You're wrong. You're evil.

I honor my father, but you dishonor me, which is akin to dishonoring the father. And I'll get to that in a moment. Look at the contrast between who Jesus is and who these Jews are, these sinful men. Already we've seen that Jesus is the light of the world. Purity is found in him.

There is not a shadow of sin in him. Yet these men are steeped in moral darkness. Jesus is life. We've seen that already. And these men have the stench of death.

Jesus knows God, and he seeks to glorify God. But these men do not know God, nor do they honor him, because he who dishonors the son dishonors the father. John 5, 24, whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. You see, these men took such great offense because our Lord said that they don't know God. Here's the proof.

The Son of God, the very image of God, the one who speaks the words of God, the one who does the work of God, stands before them and they don't recognize Him. Instead, they revile Him. They deride Him, proving themselves of which family they belong. You remember, two families in existence. One, children of God, the other, children of the devil.

Which one do these men belong to? They've made it clear. Verse 50, and this is where we'll spend the rest of time that we have together. Yet I do, this is Jesus speaking, yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is judged.

Beloved, these words really do summarize the whole incarnation ministry. Understanding them will show us how Jesus is able to endure the abuses and the insults from the mouths of these wicked men, and yet remain so composed, so calm. In love, he sought not in his own glory, but the glory of his Father. Unlike his opponents, he wasn't in this for pomp or prestige or popularity. He was not concerned with receiving the praises of men.

He was resolved only for one thing, and that was to please the father, to glorify the father. His concern wasn't what men thought of him, but what the father thought of him. And that is because of the eternal love between the son and the father and the father and the son and reciprocating love that it spans out from all eternity. The son is chiefly concerned with glorifying the father. And the father is concerned with glorifying the son.

As our Lord said in John chapter 541, I do not receive glory from people. Therefore, in his eyes, the glory from men, beloved, hear this, is empty. Empty. Absolutely empty. Unlike his opponents who sought their own glory and they would go for it no matter what because in this engagement, you remember, still in the treasury, still in temple, people listening.

If they lose this argument, they lose. They become like embarrassed among the people. It's our prestige, it's our reputation on the line. We're not going to lose this. So even if we've got to slander this man, even if we've got to lie against him, then we'll do whatever it takes in order to preserve our reputation.

But here Jesus is saying, I'm not here to preserve my reputation among men. I'll do what is right because I'm concerned with what the Father thinks. A few days earlier, this is what he says, he says, the one who speaks of his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falseness. His words and his works were all to that end. The glory of God.

And the father was glorified in the full submission of the son to do the work that the father had given him. And what was that work, beloved? Well, we can go to many scriptures and collate what the work of Christ was, but Galatians 4 really gives a nice summary. Galatians 4, it says, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son. Why?

It says, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law. Jesus came into the world to accomplish the work. salvation. That's why He came. It was necessary that the Son of God become man and come into this world.

And every single deed and every thought and every word in the incarnation was done primarily to bring glory to God through the accomplishment of the salvation of God's people. His life, his teaching, his signs, his healings, his wonders, all of it. His death and his resurrection for the glory of God. This was Jesus' heart. This was Jesus' goal.

Think about that for a moment. Think about what he needed to endure to accomplish the work the Father had given him. Beyond the slurs of these men, these evil men, I mean, their slurs didn't even go, didn't prick even skin deep with the Lord. But beyond that, think of what He needed to endure to bring glory to the Father. Beloved, the cross, the fury of God.

The wrath of God upon unrighteousness will be poured out on this Jesus in order for this Jesus to fully and perfectly submit and obey the Father's will for Him in the incarnation. And beloved, it's just tremendous when we work through the scripture and we see the fact that when Jesus was at the point of His greatest anguish, When Jesus was at the point of when His Spirit within Him and His heart was troubled like no other time. The deepest distress that He'd ever experienced in the Incarnation. Even then, it wasn't self-preservation He was thinking about. But even then, in that time of darkness, He was thinking about one thing and one thing only.

the glory of the Father. That's remarkable. Listen to what he says in that moment. He says, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father saved me from this hour, but this is the purpose I came into, or this is the purpose I have come to this hour.

Then these remarkable words. Father, glorify your name. On the eve of his crucifixion, the angst of his soul, the time is coming where he will bear the sins of all his people and be treated like a filthy, dirty sinner. He bore our sins in his body, 1 Peter 2. On that eve, unimaginable anguish going through his heart.

And the one thing on his mind is this, Father, glorify your name. What resolve, what incredible love. Father, glorify your name. And then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it. and I will glorify it again.

Yet I do not seek my own glory, there is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Beloved, we know the one who seeks the glory of the Son is the Father himself. The translators of your Bibles probably have the one in capital zero, capital O, trying to signify to you that this is indeed the Father. But Jesus makes that clear in verse 54. Anyway, there's a tremendous eternal love in the Godhead, beloved.

And the glory of the Father is so precious to the heart of the Son, and the glory of the Son is so precious to the heart of the Father. Actually, we may not see it so clearly in English, but the word seek here is what they call, it's in the present active participle. So it really means and it connotes an action taking place repeatedly. So the father is the one, the one who seeks the glory of the son is continually seeking the glory of the son. It's like a perpetual seeking of the glory of the son.

It's incredible because the Son is glorifying the Father and the Father is simultaneously glorifying the Son. I love that. The hearts are so knit together in an absolute, pure, eternal love. Nothing else matters to Christ. The opinions of all the men in the world won't add an iota to his joy.

Otherwise he would go for it. Otherwise he would seek the favour. Otherwise he would go toe-to-toe with these men and try to win the affection of the crowd, bringing glory to himself. But he doesn't. He lives to please an audience of one.

What the Father thinks of him is the only thing that matters to Jesus, because the Father is the one He has come to glorify, and Jesus knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Father will glorify His Son. Beloved, any other glory for Christ is absolutely worthless. Now don't take my word for it. Look what He says in verse 54. Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is what?

Nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me of whom you say He is our God. That complete devotion between the Father and the Son, that love that expands out to all eternity will necessarily see the exaltation of man in the eyes of our Lord as meaningless and empty. And when he's reviled, when he's vilified, when he's mocked, when he's ridiculed by these men in the temple, he doesn't so much as penetrate his skin because his heart is completely satisfied with the divine love of the Father. committed to the Father's glory and this is a reciprocal commitment that the Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son.

Beloved, it's that love for the Father that those and for those he has given him his bride that enabled Jesus to drink that bitter cup of judgment upon the cross to come. Because beloved, your salvation and mine is rooted in a love relationship between the Father and the Son and perfect obedience of the Son to glorify the Father in all the work that He had given Him. So in the cross, both the Son and the Father are glorified. That's how Jesus could say in John 17 verse 1, He says, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that your Son or that the Son may glorify you.

You see that reciprocating glorification? Father, glorify me. And whilst you're glorifying me, I will be glorifying you. Even when He's being glorified, His heart is to bring glory to the Father. That's what's behind the words in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2.

We know the verse. He says, Speaking about Christ. What is that joy? Yes, it's the glorification of the Son. Yes, it's the coronation of the Son as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Yes, it's the enthronement of the Son at the right hand of the Father. But that joy included the glory of the Father. Because it's this reciprocating glory. The Son's heart was to glorify the Father, and the Father's heart was to glorify the Son. And so the joy of the Father and the Son is in their reciprocated love relationship to glorify one with the other.

In essence, that's what's behind the passage that is in Philippians chapter 2. You know the passage. You can open it if you like. Philippians chapter 2 from verse 5. very much speaks to this point.

Philippians chapter 2 verse 5, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being bound in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted, has highly glorified him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, glorification, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This is all about the glory of the Son, but what's the last three words or four words? To the glory of God the Father.

Can you see how every time the Son is being glorified, the Father is being glorified also. Christ is being coronated and enthroned as King by the Father for the glory of the Father. You can't separate the glory of the Son from the glory of the Father. You cannot separate the two. Now, beloved, of course, in Jesus's faultless submission and in obedience to the work that the Father had given him to accomplish, there are some unique factors in there, right?

So when we read, for example, in 1 Peter 2, he says that Jesus Christ, He suffered, and this is an example for you. And we look at that and we say, we need to do as Christ has done. There are uniqueness to the work of Christ in the incarnation. And that is, He is the one who died on the cross of Calvary to bear the sins of His people, to shed His blood as an atonement for many. You and I won't do that.

That's a once and for all sacrifice. So when we say we ought to be like Christ, we ought to follow His example, not so much in those things, the unique work the Father had given Him, but He is our human representative, not only to bear the sins of us on the cross, but also how we ought to live for God. You see, Jesus is the better Adam. Jesus is true Israel. And the way He lived is an example for us.

His desires ought to be ours. His life ought to be ours. Beloved, when we pray, and we do pray like this in this church, I've heard us pray like this also, when we pray, Lord, make me like Christ, we need to understand what that means. In essence, We would also know that to be like Christ means we ought to desire the things of Christ, but also we ought to do what Christ did. And the primary goal of the Lord Jesus Christ in the incarnation was to bring glory to the Father.

That was the primary goal of the incarnated Son of God. So when we pray, Lord, make me like Christ, which is the Spirit of God in us working to produce in us a Christ-likeness and to conform us into his image, then what we're saying in essence is, Lord, make me a vessel for the glory of God. The Apostle Paul, he says something similar. He says, so whether you eat a drink or whatever you do, in the context of eating drink, of course, but he then says, whatever you do, in everything we do, do all to the glory of God. God, make me like Christ.

Make me a vessel for your glory is what we're saying, is it not? Create in me a heart that seeks not my own glory, but yours. A heart like Christ. You see, Christ knew the Father would bring glory upon him. He knew that the day would come, he said, that he'll enjoy the glory with the Father as he enjoyed in John 17, before the creation of the world.

Jesus knew, and he had complete trust that the Father would bestow upon him glory. He wasn't concerned with his own glory, remember? I don't glorify myself. If I do, it means nothing. He knew the Father would bring him glory.

His concern and primary concern was to bring glory, bring glory to the Father. And so beloved, the example we ought to follow is we ought to always seek to be vessels for the glory of God. Because one day we too will be glorified. we ought to pray Lord give me a heart to desire your glory and not mine because I know your word and your word says those you predestined you call and those you call you justified and those you justified you glorified past tense already done in the eyes of God we wait in real time but it's done do we believe it Do we believe it? Because if we believe God has already in His heart and in His mind glorified His own, then we can be like Christ, the example for us, and now be concerned not with our glory, not with our reputation, not with how people see us, but for one thing and one thing only, to bring glory and honor and exaltation to the God of the universe.

Make me like Christ. Make me a vessel for the glory of God. give me a heart to see that that is the most important thing, the only thing that matters, because it was the only thing that mattered to my Lord and I ought to be like Him. So the question that begs to be answered is this, how do I bring glory to God? We know how our Lord glorified God.

We've already looked at that. Actually, the Bible is very clear. And that summary is really nicely packaged in the High Priestly Prayer in John 17. John 17 verse 4, the Lord says to the Father in His praise, He says, I glorify you, meaning the Father on earth. having accomplished the work that you gave me to do."

That's how Christ in the Incarnation glorified the Father on earth. And it goes on, "...and now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world began." So the Bible is clear on how Christ glorified the Father. But is the Bible clear on how we are to glorify the Father?

Is the Bible clear on how we ought to be the vessels of the glory of God? Yes, it is. Now, we won't exhaust the topic this evening. We only have a few moments left, so I'll be brief. We need to start somewhere, and the Bible speaks to this in so many places.

As I was preparing, it was just flooding through my mind, but I think one of the best places to start would be John 15. Let's open our Bible to John 15. Let's read from John 15, chapter 1, chapter 15, verse 1. Remember, the question we're asking is, how do I bring glory to God? How can we, us Christians, be vessels of the glory of God?

John 15, 1 through 11. Let's read it. It's only short. We'll get through it. I am the true vine, Jesus speaking, and my father is the vinedresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that he may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. And the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he is He it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If any one does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in Me, and My Word abides in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this My Father is glorified that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you.

Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." I absolutely love John chapter 15. We'll get there.

It may take us a couple of years, but we'll get there. But did you get how the Father is glorified? Verse 8. By this my father is glorified that you what? That you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

How is the father glorified? The father is glorified through spiritual fruit production. Right? We know this is not physical. We're not trees.

And Jesus is not actually a vine. It's metaphorical. So the Father is glorified through the production of spiritual fruit. The Father is glorified through the fruit of the Spirit. Does your minds take you somewhere?

Where does your mind take you? I'm hoping it takes you to Galatians chapter 5. Great. Put your finger in John 15, flick over to Galatians chapter 5 because we'll be coming back. Start in verse 22.

Actually, why don't you read one verse? Verse 22 and 23. 32 verses. Galatians 5, from verse 22. Remember, the Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

So we know the Father is glorified through true spiritual fruit production, the fruit of the Spirit. Here we go. Galatians 5, 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is No law.

We know how the Father is glorified. He's glorified when we produce fruit. And Galatians chapter 5 is not exhaustive. The rest of the Bible can put together more evidences of fruit, spiritual fruit. But Galatians 5 is a good place to start because the fruit of the Spirit, remember it is fruit, singular, it's not plural.

It's not fruits of the Spirit. It is fruit of the Spirit, which means brothers and sisters, we don't go through the nine and pick out, I'm okay with these ones, I don't see any of these. No, no, we should have evidence of every one of those things that we have before us to some degree or another in order to cause us to pray that the Lord will work in us. But it is the fruit of the Spirit. So now before us, we know that the Father is glorified through fruit production.

And here in Galatians chapter 5, we know that the spiritual fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, we've got at least nine listed for us. But beloved, I wasn't asking how is the Father glorified, but rather how do we glorify the Father? How do we become vessels for the glory of God? How is he glorified through us? Now let's return to John chapter 15.

John chapter 15, your fingers were there, I hope, so if you open back to John chapter 15, and I want you to run your eyes over verses four and verses five. Jesus speaking, abide in me. and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine.

You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do Nothing. How do we, how do we glorify the Father? How can we become instruments, vessels for the glory of God?

Beloved, Jesus has told us we must be in union with Him. We must be united with Him. to abide in Him and He in us. Only then is the Father or can the Father be glorified through our lives. Jesus Christ is the vine.

He's the vine and He says we are the branches. Beloved, unless the life of Christ flows through the branches, they cannot produce fruit. And the Father is glorified through producing much fruit, much spiritual fruit. And you cannot produce fruit unless you are in union with Christ. Unless you've come to trust Him, place your hope in Him.

Unless you've come to know Him as Lord, as Savior, as Redeemer. Unless He's cleansed you from your sin and His atonement has covered you and His righteousness has been imputed to you. Unless you've been brought into the family of God. Unless we abide and remain at the feet of Christ and abide in Him and abide in His Word, we cannot produce fruit. It's impossible.

Beloved, fruit pleasing to God must, must, it must have the DNA of the Son of God. Because unless the life of Christ by His Spirit is flowing through us, producing spiritual fruit, then God is not pleased. And He's not glorified. Because there's nothing that mankind can do that will please Him or bring Him glory unless the fingerprint of Jesus, the blood-stained fingerprint of Jesus Christ is upon it. Unless the life of Christ is flowing through you, you cannot and will not produce fruit.

You see, the one who is eternally pleasing to the Father The one who is the one who brings glory to the Father. The fullness of the radiance of the glory of God. The perfect or the exact nature of God is Jesus Christ. The Father receives glory from the Son. And apart from the Son, you cannot, I cannot glorify God.

cannot produce fruit. You can try all you want. God will be unimpressed. Abiding in Christ and having his word abiding in us. Because to abide in Christ, I said this a few weeks ago, is the same as abiding in his word.

And Jesus says, if you do abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know what truth. and the truth will set you free. And only then is one able to bring glory to God and produce true spiritual fruit. And beloved, it all begins somewhere. Now let me tell you where it begins.

For these Jews that are before our Lord, these Jews who thought they were religious, who thought they were okay with guiding God, and Jesus looks them in the eye and says, no, actually, you don't know God. You're not sons of Abraham. You're not children of God. You're in fact children of the devil. You're deluded.

You don't know anything. Your mind is still in darkness. To these people who thought they had it all together, now they begin to hurl insults at the Savior, because they don't recognize Him, because He's offended their sensibilities. For these, it begins in one place. You know where it begins?

That God will invade their soul. with His light and reveal the contents of their soul. and reveal where they are and bring them on their knees before the Son of God. Beloved, it requires that self is put to death and the life of Christ is the one who flows in us. You can't, you can't produce fruit and you can't bring glory to God if you're working at it in and of yourself.

There is nothing in you, nothing in me that is pleasing to God unless we are abiding in Christ, unless we're in union with Christ. The Apostle Paul says it this way, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I'm convinced by the testimony of scripture that God the Father cannot and will not smile at a single work on the hands of a human being unless that human being is in union with his son.

Jesus is the object of the eternal love of God. Jesus is the fullness of the glory of God. And unless he is united or abides in you and you abide in him, then you will never please God. Lord, help us. Help us to be instruments of the glory of God.

Help us to be like Christ, not to worry about the world and the way the world views us, but to be concerned with one thing and one thing only, to live our lives in the audience of one and to please Him. And that means that we are, you know, abiding in Christ, that we are near to Him, that we that we read His Word, that we meditate upon His Word, that we seek to live according to His Word, that we look to the author and the perfecter of our faith and we remain in the light and as He reveals sins, we confess our sin before Him, that we treasure His Word in our hearts and we live according to His statutes and His precepts. If you love me, you will obey my commands. So brothers and sisters in closing, A few weeks ago I said the outward deeds or the outward actions of a person are directly correlated or are a manifestation of what is on the inside. So what you have, the state of your soul, will produce some form of fruit.

The Bible teaches us in the parable of the trees, right? A diseased tree produces bad fruit and a good tree produces good fruit. Beloved, everyone produces fruit. These men before our Lord are producing diseased fruit. They're lying.

They had murder in their heart. They're slanderous. You can look at these men and you can say, even though they profess with the mouth that they believe, you can say, no, no, according to your fruit, you will know them by their fruit. According to your fruit, we can see you're a bad tree. You don't know God.

So the question we have to ask ourselves this evening is this. We ask it all the time, we say, do you desire within your heart to bring glory to God? Do you desire to walk in his ways? Do you desire to obey his commands? Do you desire to be obedient to his laws and to his precepts?

Do you desire Christ? Do you love him? And that's a good question to ask. But there needs to be a follow-up question as well. And that is, does your fruit evidence that desire?

Because you know, it's quite easy for us to answer in the affirmative to that question. Because even some, like these people in the beginning, were asked, if they were asked, do you believe in this Jesus? They'd say, we believe. We're loyal. We're his disciples.

but the profession of the mouth is cheap. The truth of the matter is, does the profession of the mouth, is it consistent and does it correspond with the internal truth? Because if it does, there will be good fruit. Beloved, will be good fruit. If we stand back and think that someone can be a Christian and not produce good fruit, then we are diminishing the work of the Holy Spirit.

And God forbid we blaspheme in that way. Every one of the children of God, everyone who has been united in the Son and abides in the Son, will produce good fruit. Some more than others. But there needs to be evidence in our lives. There needs to be evidence.

Beloved, we may desire Him, but we need to see that evidence come out that we are in love, fixing our eyes upon Christ, seeing the work of the Spirit of God working in and through us, creating hearts that are more loving. more peaceful, more gentle, more patient. We ought to see that fruit working in and through us because that is the fundamental work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Is it not? Is He not performing us into the image of the beloved Savior?

Beloved mate, I submit to you, if you do see fruit and you want to see more, the only way you will see more is to abide in Him more. to enjoy Him more, to love Him more, to commune with Him more. No, not just number of hours and time. No, I'm talking about the heart's desire ought to be embracing Him. In other words, we ought to meditate upon who this Jesus is.

Who is this Jesus? What has He done for me? What has He done for a sinner who is so unworthy? And as we meditate on His goodness and who He is and what He has done for filthy sinners like us, as our brother said early on, He has died to death. He has died to sin.

So now consider yourself dead to sin. As you abide in Him, you will produce good fruit. May the Lord produce in us a people who continue to abide in the Son of God, so that He would be pleased, so that He would be glorified. Because beloved, one day, one day, those He predestined, He called, and those He called, He justified, and those He justified, He glorified. Let's pray.