John 8:48-59,

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 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. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 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.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 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. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Jesus said in Chapter 8, verse 29:

“I always do the things that are pleasing to the [the Father.]” 

We saw that two weeks ago, but I can’t stop thinking about it, because it’s such an amazing claim. “I always do the things that please the Father.” Always!? 

This would mean that anytime Jesus does something, that thing he does delights the heart of God. 

God sees what Jesus does, whatever it is, and he says, “Yep! That’s it. ‘Atta boy! That’s what I’m talking about!” 

God is happy in what Jesus does — that’s what it means for God to be pleased.

And why would this matter for us? 

Well, it’s because we want to know how to please God. 

This goes for the most seasoned Christians and anyone who has the smallest measure of faith … if you just believe that God exists, you want to please him. 

It would be insanity if you don’t. 

I remember years ago I heard someone say that one of the silliest things in the world is people who believe that God is real but then only give him 2% of their lives. 

Think about this: You would believe that there is a sovereign Creator over the entire universe, a God who made you and everything else, and he wants you to know he exists but then he’s okay with you ignoring him 98% of the time!? … 

A god like that is a figment of the American imagination.

The true God made us for himself, and he made the chief goal of our existence to magnify his glory (which includes pleasing him). I think we all know this deep down, even if we’ve suppressed this reality or distracted ourselves from it. We all want to please God, and since Jesus always pleased God, we can learn from him. 

That’s how we’re going to approach our passage this morning. We’re gonna look closely at what Jesus says, but the aim is to pay attention to what he does, to how he pleases God. 

I want to show you three ways Jesus pleases the Father.

1. Jesus possesses radical security. 

It’s gonna take a minute for us to get here, because I need to set the scene, so hang with me. Verses 48–59 is the fourth and final dialogue in Chapter 8, and it’s another back-and-forth between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. 

And this one is like a tennis match. Very clean: they ask three questions, Jesus gives three answers. We see their first question in verse 48, which is really an accusation. Look what they said, verse 48: 

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

What’s That About? 

Now, for us, that’s probably an odd thing to say. So two questions:

1. What’s the connection between Samaritans and demon-possession?

2. Why would they say this?

The link between the Samaritans and demon-possession goes back to the Old Testament. It’s part of their Jewish history. There were twelve tribes of Israel, but the ten tribes to the north rebelled and broke off and became their own thing, and they committed apostasy. 

We know from the Old Testament, they even sacrificed their children to demons. And this idolatrous, apostatized people eventually intermarried with non-Israelites and became known as the Samaritans. 

Jewish people believed that the Samaritans were maybe in cahoots with demons, but they for sure knew that they were not the people of God.

So for them to say that Jesus is a Samaritan and has a demon is not only to accuse him of being outside the people of God, but they’re saying he’s an enemy of God. He’s a heretic. He’s an imposter. He belongs on the other side — on the other side of their people (with Samaritans), and on the other side of God (with Satan).

Now, why would the Jewish leaders say this?

Remember this is their response to what Jesus says in the previous verses, verses 42–47, and the main idea of what Jesus told them was that they are not really of Abraham, and that the devil was their father.

The candor of Jesus is incredible. 

He told them, basically: you are not truly of the people of God, and you are not of God.

So track with me here. Basically, after they hear Jesus say this, what they do in verse 48 amounts to them saying: Nah uh, you are!

That’s what they say!

They accuse Jesus of being essentially what he told them they were.

He can’t really be one of us! He can’t really be of God! 

A little side-note here: Their response is so common for fallen people in a fallen world. The easiest thing for a group to do when they get critiqued from within is to say that the critic is actually for the other side, that he’s not really one of them. This is so typical. Jesus isn’t shocked by it, but look what he does…

Jesus Holds Back

Jesus says in verse 49, my paraphrase: Yeah, no. I don’t have a demon. In fact, on the contrary, I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.

There’s contrast here between Jesus and the Jews, and it’s a big deal. Jesus says the opposite of honoring the Father is dishonoring the Son.

That means that when you dishonor the Son you dishonor the Father. 

That’s what this crowd is doing, and Jesus could keep going — He could explain in detail why that’s the case … He could tell this crowd what we already know about Jesus from Chapter 1 — that he is the Word from the beginning, the Word that was with God, the Word that was God — the Word that has been made flesh and is dwelling among us, standing in front of them. 

He could say, “Demon-possessed Samaritan, huh, I’ll show you! Boom!” — and he just shines in radiant glory, a million angels start singing, and they fall down before him.

But Jesus doesn’t do that. He holds back. It’s like he tells them the bare minimum. Like an understatement. 

No, I don’t have a demon. Yes, I know God. If I were to say I didn’t know God I’d be a liar. 

Not Seeking His Own Glory

He holds back and verse 50 is why. He says:

“I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it, and he is the Judge.”

Jesus doesn’t have to defend his glory because he knows the Father will. 

That is radical security.

And we see this most vividly in Jesus when he’s on the cross, but it’s true all throughout his ministry. He consistently subjected himself to people thinking the absolute worst about him.

Here they call him a demon-possessed Samaritan!

What’s the worst thing someone could call you? That’s what they’re doing to Jesus, but he doesn’t defend himself like he could, instead, he just defers to the Father. 

The Father will glorify Jesus. The Father seeks the Son’s glory. And it’s not just that the Father seeks the Son’s glory, but it’s also better this way.

Deferred glory compounds. 

Jesus will not be cheated. He will get all the glory he deserves, and he has perfect trust that the Father will do him right. That is radical security.

Jesus possess radical security and it pleases God. 

Here’s the second thing Jesus does …

2. Jesus exposes a false allegiance.

Look at verse 51. Jesus says,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

And the Jews say that’s just more confirmation for them. Look at their response in verse 52: 

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?”

And I don’t know if you caught their logic. It’s not super clear at first. Their issue is in the promise Jesus makes: “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see/taste death.” Jesus said that in verse 51, they repeat it in verse 52.

Notice, when Jesus makes this promise, there are two parties in view: there’s the One who speaks the word (Jesus), and the one who keeps the word (and thus doesn’t die).

So, there’s a word-speaker and a word-keeper. 

And it’s clear that Jesus is the word-speaker (it’s his word that we’re to keep; it’s his word that gives life). Which means, when Jesus says this in verse 51, he is making the parallel between himself and God. That make sense?

But notice their issue is that Jesus must be saying he’s better than Abraham and the prophets.

To paraphrase their logic, they’re saying: How can Jesus offer the promise of eternal life when Abraham and the prophets, who are superior to Jesus, died? 

If Abraham and the prophets kept God’s word and died, how can Jesus say that if we keep his word we won’t die — because he’s not better than Abraham and the prophets.

So they hear Jesus putting himself in the place of God, but they’re disturbed that he claims to be greater than Abraham and the prophets.

Then they say: Jesus, who do you think you are?

And again, Jesus holds back. He doesn’t glorify himself because the Father will glorify him. But notice what he says, second sentence of verse 54: 

“It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him.”

This is important. 

This crowd who dishonors Jesus claims the God who glorifies Jesus to be their God. Which means something’s not right. Both can’t be true!

Either Jesus is not who he claims to be, or God is not really their God. 

And Jesus doesn’t leave us to wonder. 

He says, verse 55:

“You have not known him. I know him.”

Jesus says: I’m the one who’s in. Y’all are the ones who are out. Y’all are not who you think you are. Y’all have a false allegiance. 

What a devastating discovery, if they’re paying attention!

Jesus is exposing their false allegiance to God on the basis of what they do with him. That’s still the case today. You’re allegiance to God is measured by your devotion to Jesus.

And I don’t just mean devotion to Jesus theologically, but personally, daily. So often, in our day, people will commandeer Jesus for their cause, but they don’t really know him. They don’t really walk with him. 

And this is a danger, I think, especially for us who rightly emphasize the importance of solid theology and Christian worldview.

I remember in college, as I was learning and being discipled in Christian worldview and ethics — basically all the life implications of the truth of God — it occurred to me that I could construct a pretty solid theology [head] and not really be moved by Jesus [heart]. 

I could have all my ducks in a row for how Jesus changes the world, but care very little for how Jesus changes me. 

It’s an allegiance question. Who am I really for? What am I really about?

And if it’s not Jesus, the best-case scenario for you is that Jesus expose that. That is his mercy to us. His kindness. And, Jesus exposing our false allegiances pleases God. 

That brings us to the third and final point. 

3. Jesus issues a wonderful invitation.

Everything in this dialogue has been building to verse 58. 

The Jewish leaders are disturbed that Jesus would claim that he is greater than Abraham and the prophets. So Jesus tells them, verse 56:

“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

This is another way that Jesus is highlighting the irony of this whole thing: You say you’re of Abraham, and you dishonor me, when actually Abraham was really happy about me.

Jesus knew that would get their attention. It’s a masterclass set up. They come back in verse 57:

“You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”

Y’all know the phrase “drop the mic”?

Yeah, that image was invented for this verse. They say, Jesus, you’re not even 50 years old and you act like you’ve seen Abraham.

Jesus said to them,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” 

That is I AM as in: Jesus is claiming to be the I AM. 

Not just greater than Abraham, but he made Abraham. 

Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham (which makes Abraham happy); and Jesus is the one who spoke the life of Abraham into existence.

Jesus is the word made flesh. He is God incarnate, which means he has the right and the power to give eternal life, which takes us back to his promise in verse 51.

The crowd in his dialogue is so distracted by what Jesus says that they miss what Jesus is actually doing. I don’t want us to miss it.

In verse 51, he issues a wonderful invitation:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Yes, for Jesus to say this, he is claiming to be who he says he is in verse 58. He is God. He is the Creator, the Giver, and Keeper of life — and not just life here, but life everlasting. Life that conquers death. 

Instructive for Us

What Jesus does here is instructive to us in two ways…

First, if you’re here and you’re not a Christian, this is an invitation from Jesus to you. Real, true, everlasting life can be yours if you just keep Jesus’s word, abide in his word — it’s another way to say trust him. Believe in him. You do that by saying to Jesus, simply from the heart: 

Jesus, I choose you and your way.

I’m done with my way. 

I put my faith in you.

And the second, for those of us who have put our faith in Jesus, he’s forgiven our sins and we’re following him, what Jesus is doing in this passage (what Jesus is always doing) is pleasing to God. That includes this wonderful invitation.

We should learn from Jesus. 

In our witness, as we’re engaging with neighbors and co-workers, let’s make the heart of our speech not getting our stance across, but issuing an invitation.

We’ve been in a culture war for years and it’s only getting worse. I do believe it’s a battle between good and evil, and I do believe we need moral clarity. 

So speak truth, stand firm — never lie — and at the same time, tell people what Jesus says, that if you just keep his word you will never die. If you believe in Jesus Christ you will have everlasting life.

And sometimes this will cause outrage (like it does here in verse 59), and sometimes it will cause intrigue.

God will take care of the outcomes, we just want to live how Jesus lived. 

We want to please God.

That’s what brings us to the Table.

The Table

As disciples of Jesus, we learn from him. We want to follow him and be like him, but we come to this Table each week not to learn, but to rest. 

We rest in his grace to us poured out on the cross where he died to save us. We take this bread and this cup to remember that. And so if you’re here and you trust in Jesus, if you’ve put your faith in him, we invite you to eat and drink with us and give him thanks.