Faith In Action

Tonight we are looking at John 8:31-59 My title is Faith in Action. It can sometimes be hard to understand the actions that follow faith. I worked for three years as a curate in Corby in Northamptonshire. Just down the road from us was a Baptist church. The pastor of that church reported once on their Easter Sunday baptisms in these words: The whole atmosphere of the day was a blessing to all. All, that is, except one. The little granddaughter of one of our baptismal candidates said to her mother afterwards, 'I don't like that man!' 'Why ever not?' asked the mother. 'Well', replied the little girl, 'he tried to drown my Grandma in that pond ... and she had her new dress on.' It's not always so very easy to tell who is a friend and who is not. The one who says he is a friend is not necessarily so, and that is true just as much of friends of Christ. That somebody says they have faith does not necessarily mean that they do. Indeed, that uncertainty may sometimes affect our own hearts. How do we know that our own faith is real? How can we be sure that we really do have a place in the family of God? These are the issues that underlay the explosive encounter in this passage between Jesus on the one hand, and some Jews who at first appear to be believers. What is the context of this debate (if that is not too polite a word for it - perhaps row would be better)? The context is turmoil amongst the people over the issue of the identity of Jesus in the face of the claims that he is making for himself. The questions everyone is asking are these: "Who is this man? Do I believe in him?" And there is a sense of faith or apparent faith in Jesus ebbing and flowing and swirling around amongst all those following him about. Some hate him, some love him. Some grumble, some trust. Some join him, others desert him. In 6:66 we are told that

many of his disciples [so-called disciples, presumably] turned back and no longer followed him.

Then we get to 8:30 which say that

even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

And our passage begins with this:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said...

So Jesus is speaking to Jews who say that they believe in him. But Jesus proceeds to tear their profession of faith to shreds. He exposes their faith as a sham. Now as we hear Jesus challenging these false disciples the question we need to ask ourselves is this: Do we show that our faith is real? If you call yourself a Christian, does your life show that you mean what you say about believing in Jesus and following him? Because we have to remember that though our lives are not the basis of our salvation, true faith inevitably shows itself in the way we live, and the kind of people that we are. These are disconcerting questions. We can almost feel the eyes of Jesus on us, just as He must have looked those Jews in the eye. But we cannot avoid them. Now this passage falls into five sections, each of which teaches us a different characteristic of true faith. First, then: TRUE FAITH BRINGS FREEDOM FROM SIN (v31-36). All the way through this hostile debate everything that Jesus says is matched by a counter assertion by the Jews. They make counter-claims about themselves and about Jesus which are in absolute contradiction of everything Jesus says. So here Jesus says "You are slaves" and the Jews reply "We have never been slaves". Jesus says "Freedom is to be found through me" and they say, "We are already free". Verse 31:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
They answered him,
We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?

That is a fine example of the blindness of unbelief that cannot see the truth even when it is stuck under their noses. "We have never been slaves!" But Abraham's family - the Israelites - spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt before God rescued them. And that time they were under the mighty thumb of the Roman Empire. Unbelief makes us slaves to sin and blind with it. But faith in Christ sets us free from sin - and opens our eyes to the truth. That doesn't mean that we cease to sin. Genesis makes a point of emphasising that sin of Abraham himself even just after he has received the promise from God. But nonetheless sin no longer dominates and controls. The overriding theme of Abraham's life is obedience to his God. He is not for instance like Lot his nephew, whose worldly desires lead him deeper and deeper into trouble. True faith brings freedom from sin. But we do have to be careful in assessing our own lives because it is also true that faith opens our eyes to the reality of sin in our lives that before we were blind to. It can be a painful and depressing sight. But a sensitive conscience is not the sign of slavery to sin. It is the beginning of the end of sin in our lives. The chains of condemnation fall away the moment we are saved. The stones of sin are picked out of our lives one by one - gradually but surely. And even then our besetting sins can seem to return ad nauseam. We maybe see more easily in other peoples lives than in our own the transforming power of faith in Christ and the freedom from sin that it brings. We can simply look around us. And yes, we can see it in our own hearts too when we remember that the Spirit of God shows us our sin as the first stage of his work of purging it out of us. True faith brings freedom from sin. Secondly: TRUE FAITH DELIVERS US FROM EVIL (v 37-41) Now the Jews insist again that Abraham is their father. Then they are stung by Jesus' accusations that their attitudes and actions betray a quite different paternity - and they make the claim (with some inconsistency) that they only father they have is God himself. So they reckon they are children of Abraham and children of God. But Jesus sees into their hearts and recognises a different influence. V 39:

"If you Abraham's children", said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does.

Who is their own father? It is spelt out in v44:

"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The stark reality is that we are caught up in unseen spiritual warfare between two unequal kingdoms. Ultimately there is no neutral territory - no nomansland. The alternative to faith in Christ is to be so under Satan's influence that Jesus describes us as the devil's children. As Paul puts it in Colossians 1:13:

[God the Father] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves...

Abraham was on the side of Christ. Those who have true faith "do the things Abraham did". Abraham left behind his old life totally in obedience to God's call. He gave up the worldly sophistication of a great city for an uncertain life wandering the Middle East. He was ready to give up his beloved son in obedience to God's call. In other words his whole life was shaped by his faith. God delivered him from the evil that Lot got sucked into. The spiritual battle was as real then as it is now. So where do we stand? Do we open the door of our minds to the evil influence of the devil's lies, which simmer away and then boil up in hostility to Christ and the life of faith? Or are we ready to do as Abraham did, and shut our minds to Satan's lies, and turn away from sin and evil, and leave behind everything that Christ asks us to leave, for his sake? Who do we belong to? Is it Christ? Or is it Satan? In the end, our lives will clearly show. So: true faith brings freedom from sin; true faith delivers us from evil. Then, thirdly: TRUE FAITH BRINGS LOVE FOR JESUS (v 42-47) Jesus is clear that love for him is the test of true faith. Verse 42:

"If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here".

When Jesus looks into our hearts he is seeking a single-minded devotion to himself. Listen for a moment to what the British Lions rugby player Gary Armstrong said about the transformation in rugby as a result of the game going professional:

Prior to signing for Newcastle, the only time I was able to take off work to concentrate on getting fit was when I was making a comeback from injury and the Scottish Rugby Union arranged with my employer for time off two weeks before we played England. Even then I still had to get up at 5.30am, and had to drive my lorry between six and noon before being able to take the afternoon off to train. So being able to concentrate fully on training and focus all my attention on rugby is brilliant as far as I am concerned…

There is the single-minded devotion of the athlete. And that's just for running around a muddy field with some inflated leather. Just a game. Is our single-minded devotion to Christ a match even for that? I am fascinated and inspired by the life of John Newton, the 18th Century slave trader who was converted to Christ, and who wrote the hymn 'Amazing Grace'. In the early years of his Christian life he tended to think of God as a distant potentate who he must obey. But partly through the witness and friendship of a fellow sea captain, a Scot called Alexander Chinie, Newton discovered that God's love could be warmer than he had dreamed possible. He began to find, as he later wrote, …

that the union of a believer with Christ is so intimate, so unalterable, so rich in privilege, so powerful in influence that it cannot be fully represented by any earthly simile. The Lord, by his Spirit, showed and confirmed His love and made Himself known as He met me at the throne of grace. He opened and applied His precious promises, and enrolled me to cry in prayer to the Father… Wonderful are the effects when a crucified, glorious Saviour is presented by the power of the Spirit, in the light of His Word, to the eye of faith. This sight destroys the love of sin, heals the wounds of guilt, softens the hard heart and fills the soul with peace, love and joy, and makes obedience practical, desirable and pleasant. The knowledge of His love to me produced a return of love to Him. I now adored Him and admired Him.

Isn't that great? Isn't that the result of true faith? Shouldn't it be the prayer of each one of us that that will increasingly be our experience too? True faith brings love for Jesus. Fourthly: TRUE FAITH BRINGS VICTORY OVER DEATH (v 48-52) The Jews accuse Jesus of being possessed by a demon – which is no more than typical of the way that unbelief calls what is good evil and what is evil good. I remember talking to someone who had taken a friend who wasn't a Christian along to a mission event that was dealing with the subject of the occult from a Christian perspective. This friend had an unhealthy interest in the occult. Afterwards the Christian asked his friend what he had made of it. He was taken aback by the reaction he got. His friend said he thought the speaker was a liar and a hypocrite. Unbelief calls what is good, evil. Well, Jesus rebuts the charge that he is demon possessed, then he says (v51):

"I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death". At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death".

Now you can see their point about Abraham and the prophets dying. Abraham was immune neither from bereavement nor from death. Genesis 23:2:

[Sarah] died at Kiriah Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.

Genesis 25:8:

Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people … Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.

Abraham did indeed die. The Jews were profoundly wrong to accuse Jesus of demon-possession but was Jesus wrong about death? There is a story of an occasion when Queen Victoria was out one Sunday with her faithful servant John Brown. She noticed someone fishing from a boat on the loch. "Fancy people doing that on the Sabbath" she remarked, to which John Brown replied "But Ma'am, the Lord Jesus was in a boat on the Sabbath." The Queen turned to him and said: "Two wrongs don't make a right." Well, hesitate as we may to disagree with Queen Victoria, Jesus does not get things wrong. So what does he mean here? In answer to that, let me quote a comment from Bishop J.C. Ryle written around the time of the Queen's remark:

Of course these words do not mean that true Christians shall never die. On the contrary, we all know that they must go down to the grave, and cross the river just like others. But the words do mean that they shall not be hurt by the second death – that final ruin of the whole man in hell, of which the first death is only a faint type or figure… And they do mean that the sting of the first death shall be removed from the true Christian. His flesh may fail, and his bones may be racked with strong pain. But the bitter sense of unpardoned sins shall not crush him down. This is the worst part of death, - and in this he shall have the "victory through our Lord Jesus Christ".

Then he goes on to say that this is a promise applicable "not to the mere outward professing Christian" (like the so-called disciples in John 8) but "to those who are Christians, not in name and form only, but in deed and in truth". It is wonderful thing to see the impact of this promise in the heart of a dying Christian. I won't forget the privilege of seeing the peace and joy of one dying woman, a faithful Christian for over 60 years, in the last days of her earthly life. She was so confident that she was going home to Christ. And the New Testament is quite clear that Abraham's hope, too, was not just for a patch of land in the Middle East as a home for his descendants. He too looked beyond death to a resurrection life with Christ. So here, in v56, to the consternation of his hearers, Jesus says:

"Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.

And Hebrews 11 says that…

Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead.

True faith brings victory over death. Then fifthly and finally: TRUE FAITH BRINGS GLORY TO CHRIST (v 53-59) Right the way through this fierce debate, everything that these false disciples say dishonours Christ. Their words and their behaviour are like a negative photographic image of the true disciple. Where they bring dishonour to Jesus, the true disciple brings glory to his name. So Abraham rejoices when he sees Christ. But when nominal Christians hear Jesus claiming to be far greater than Abraham, they can stomach him no longer. Verse 58:

"I tell you truth", Jesus answered, "before Abraham was, I am!" At this they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

So because they will not glorify Jesus, they lose him. They no longer hear his word. They no longer see him. They are no longer with him. He withdraws from them. The light goes out of their lives. How different it is when we acknowledge him as our Saviour and our King. We give our lives to him for his glory and we find that he gives to us all the riches of heaven. We find that rivers of living water do flow from within us. The more deeply we surrender our lives to him, as Abraham surrendered everything, the more profoundly we experience the wideness of his mercy, and the depth of his love. In finishing, then, let me bring you back to the question we began with: Do you show that your faith is real? Do you see in your life the marks of the true disciple, who shares the faith of Abraham? Are these things increasingly evident in your life? : - Freedom from sin; deliverance from evil; love for Jesus; victory over death; and a desire to bring glory to Christ? If you doubt it, then now is the time to make sure. Decide today to become an Abraham. Surrender your life to God. Believe in Jesus. And trust his promise:

… if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

If you do see yourself in the portrait of true faith, then rejoice. Rejoice that you are a child of God. Rejoice that with Abraham your father in the faith you have seen Jesus - and he has made your heart glad.

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