John 8:31-59: The Great "I AM" before Abraham

(1) Bible Study Questions

Discuss: Have you experienced people coming to Jesus, and believe in him, but over time became offended by something he or one of his apostles said? What was it that they found offensive?

1. Who does Jesus discourse with in vv. 31-59?

2. According to Jesus, what is their problem? (vv. 31-32, 37, 40-41, 44-47, 55)

3. How is verse 31 consistent with verses 37, 40, 45, 48-49, 52-53?

4. What solution does Jesus offer them? (vv. 31-32, 36)

5. The issue of fatherhood is important for this passage. What marks the fatherhood of, and being the offspring of the following?

• Abraham
• The devil
• God

6. What are Jesus’ claims about himself in this passage? (vv. 38, 40, 42, 45-46, 49-53, 55-59)

Note: The phrase “I am” (Greek egō eimi) is used without a further description in John 4:26, 6:20, 8:24, 28, 58, 13:19, 18:45. The Old Testament background is found in the revelation that Yahweh made to Moses in the account of the burning bush where God revealed himself to Moses as “I am who I am” and “I am” (Exod 3:14). God thereafter used it of himself in key passages of self-revelation and identification as the only God (Deut 32:39; Isa 41:4; 43:10; 45:1)

7. What are you going to do if or when you become offended, disturbed, or unsettled by something Jesus says? Is there anything you can do now to prepare yourself for that eventuality?

(2) Sermon Script

Introduction: Are Your Friends Really Your Friends?

Are your friends really your friends? Or are they fairweather friends? Are they thick? Or are they going to dump you and run away? Are they loyal, do they really love you? Or will they drop you when the going gets tough?

You don’t yet know, do you? But if you have made it to high school, you probably have had a falling out with one or more friends somewhere along the way. You might have been really hurt by your friends, turned upon, betrayed, dumped, or rejected. School is a harsh place to discover the reality that not everyone who looks like a friend, really is.

Jesus doesn’t wait for the difficult time to come with his ‘so called’ friends. He brings it on. So you are following me, are you? Really? Let’s see whether you can accept my words. Let’s see whether you can accept who I am? Maybe, “You can’t handle the truth”. And so we read in John 8 verse 31:

8:31For this reason, Jesus said to the Jews who believed […]

In other words, this is spoken to some Jews who in some way have accepted Jesus’ message. Perhaps they have attached themselves to Jesus. They have accepted that the signs Jesus has done show he is from God.

But Jesus is not happy with their level of conviction, their level of trust, their level of attachment to him. Jesus tests whether their faith in him is real faith, true faith. Verse 31 and 32 again,

8:31For this reason, Jesus said to the Jews who believed, “If you remain in my word, you truly are my disciples. 8:32And you will know the truth, and the truth will free you.”

Are you really my disciples? You may have come to me because of my signs, my miracles. But are you in truth learning from me? To be my disciples, you must hold to my teaching, and my teaching, my word, will free you.

The challenge Jesus brings to these believers, is whether they are really learners from him. Are they real and fair dinkum? Can they handle the truth? Or are they like the seed in the shallow soil, that receives the good news with joy, but cannot handle persecution, or like the seed sown among thorns, chocked out by the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things.

Jesus implies that these believers who have attached themselves to him have something deficient about their faith, their belief. In verse 35, he seems to suggest that they do not have a permanent place in his house, because they are slaves. Jesus in fact knows what is in them. Look at verse 37:

8:37I know that you are the offspring of Abraham, but you are looking to kill me, because you do not make room for my word in you.

These so-called believers have a love-hate relationship with Jesus. They are attracted to Jesus, probably because of the signs he has done. Yet they cannot accept Jesus’ words. In fact, by verse 45, these so called believers don’t believe Jesus’ words at all. Verse 45:

8:45But because I am telling you the truth, you don’t believe.

What this crowd really thinks is found in verse 48:

8:48The Jews answered and said to him, “Well did we say, did we not, that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

These Jewish so-called believers, who have attached themselves to Jesus because of his signs, believe that Jesus is a Samaritan and demon possessed.

How to Lose Friends and Annoy People? Call them Slaves, Illegitimate children, Liars, Murderers, and Devil Spawn

Jesus is not one to allow such incongruity—that there are believers who don’t believe—to continue unchallenged. Jesus will bring the issue to a head.

Once there was a reasonably famous book, ‘How to win friends and influence people’. That is not what Jesus does here. This passage shows us how to lose friends and annoy people. For Jesus calls these so-called believers slaves, illegitimate children, liars, murderers, and devil spawn.

First of all, he calls them slaves. Verse 33:

8:33They answered him, “We are the seed of Abraham, and have never been enslaved by anyone. How can you say that ‘you will become free’?”

Then illegitimate children. Verse 41:

8:41You are doing the works of your father.” So they said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, God.”

He calls them liars, murderers, and devil spawn, the children of the devil: Verse 44:

8:44You are from your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he is speaking his own language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

Don’t you love verse 55? Look at what Jesus says:

8:55Yet you do not know him, but I know him. And if I say, ‘I don’t know him’, I would be a liar like you. But I know him, and keep his word.

Jesus innocently, in child-like truthfulness, the sort of truthfulness that says that ‘the emperor has no clothes on’, simply speaks the truth. He isn’t worried or concerned that his hearers might be offended. He only wishes to speak what is in accordance with reality.

Who is Jesus? The big question of this passage – like the big question in John’s gospel, is ‘Who is Jesus?’ You see this in verse 53:

8:53You aren’t greater than our father Abraham, are you, who died, and the prophets died? What are you making yourself?”

The issue is ‘Who is Jesus?’ It is the issue in John’s Gospel. It is the issue in your life. You cannot escape this issue. He makes such enormous claims that you must deal with him. Jesus places himself in a category apart from others.

We have a saying “nobody’s perfect”. That is why John Eales, former Wallaby captain was called “nobody”. Well, Jesus throws down a challenge to this saying. There is one person who is perfect, one who is spotless, undefiled, set apart from sinners. Verse 46:

8:46Who of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

This is not the claim of a defendant, “Prove it. You have the onus of proof. Off you go, prove the crime, and I will exercise my right to silence."

This is a claim to innocence, to holiness, to unshakable integrity. "I do not have sin, so you can believe me." At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus offered the accusers of the woman caught in adultery that if they were without sin, they could cast the first stone. They left, but Jesus remained. Why? Because Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. Jesus Christ never sinned, and always kept the law. He knew no sin. And from this guileless, spotless, innocence, Jesus makes his enormous claim in verse 51:

8:51Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never ever see death.”

Have you ever heard such a claim? Jesus is offering a way out of death. If you keep Jesus’ word, you will never see death. The death Jesus is talking about is the second death. It is eternal death. By faith in Jesus Christ, a person crosses over from death to life. As Jesus will say in John chapter 11:

11:25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though that person dies. 11:26And every one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

Friends, almost all of you have already lived the vast majority of your lives. Most of your life is gone. Your death is around the corner. You are not middle aged anymore. People don’t live to a 130! Almost all of you are grandparents. If we all walked into Warragamba public school on Monday morning, the class would say, “What are all these old people doing here?” I’m younger than most of you, but I’ve already lived most of my life, as far as averages are concerned. Death makes our lives here short and run to a deadline. And when I have a deadline, I can do one of two things: procrastinate, or panic. But what Jesus wants us to do is believe in him, trust him, depend on him. Verse 51:

8:51Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never ever see death.”

Again, John 11:25 to 26:

11:25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though that person dies. 11:26 And every one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

Stop panicking, don’t procrastinate, but listen to Jesus’ word, and believe in him. The one who believes in Jesus Christ has crossed over from death to life.

But that is not the most outrageous thing that Jesus said in our reading. Jesus drives them to murderous rage in verses 57 to 59:

8:57So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?” 8:58Jesus said to them, “Truly truly I say to you, before Abraham came into existence, I am.” 8:59At this they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid and went out of the temple.

Jesus is alluding to Exodus chapter 3. In Exodus 3, God speaks to Moses from the burning bush. And Moses asks God:

13[…] “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (NIV)

And the Jews who are listening know all this. Jesus’ claims pre-existence. He claims to have existed before he was born. This is a clear claim to divinity. Jesus is saying, “I am God”.

Jesus cannot be just a good teacher. He is either demon-possessed and raving mad, or Jesus is who he claimed to be: the sinless Son of God, who is from God, and is God, who existed before Abraham, and Moses, and indeed, before the creation of the world. Jesus is God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us. We worship Jesus Christ as Creator and God.

Conclusion

Are you a fairweather friend of Jesus Christ? When the going gets tough, will you get going, and leave Christ, and Christianity, and distance yourself from Jesus? It seems to me that in different ways, it gets harder and harder to be a Christian, to identify as a Christ, to follow Jesus. As you listen to our secular media, you will continue to feel marginalized, and a narrow minded idiotic red neck, simply for believing that Jesus Christ is God, that he has the truth, and that the Bible is true, all things that our society acknowledged a generation ago.

Friend, given that we are all so close to death anyway, now is not the time to give up on faith in Christ. We’re on the home stretch, the finish line is within sight. You're almost at the end now. Now is the time to sprint. We mustn’t let these tests that the Lord Jesus Christ is now putting us through drive us from him so that we say ‘He is demon possessed and raving mad’. These tests are sent us so that we affirm Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in him, we have life in his name.

(3) English Translation