John 8- Who on earth do you think you are?

John 8:31-38

                                                            John 8:48-59

                                                Who on earth do you think you are?

Back in my day, when I was a lad………

My mum, or sometimes teachers, would ask me this question, when I had just done something mischievous…………a bit cheeky…..

Philip Paul Smith…….who on earth do you think you are?

This question was sometimes asked to me, when I had just given a “smart- Alec” answer to something…..or I had just given a sarcastic answer- the lowest form of wit as my mother would say…….

Philip Paul Smith…..who on earth do you think you are?

My answer, of you have just told me….Philip Paul Smith, wasn’t a wise response in those moments….as I often found out.

I am not sure that teachers today, would have the courage to ask pupils this question anymore…..

Who on earth do you think you are?

Well, sir, miss, I am not sure…..my name when I was born was Dave, and I was a boy, but now I feel like a girl, so my name is Davina, but I don’t feel like a girl anymore and so my name is now Jupiter, something a bit neutral. Sir, I really don’t know who I am anymore.

How dare you ask me that question sir….you are just picking on me……

But all jokes aside….

Sadly, when our identity is not rooted from our creator- God the father, we become lost and confused, and such a simple question can cause us pain………

When God our creator, the one who made and formed us in the womb, the one who knew us before we were even born…when he is not our reference point for knowing who we are, we are lost and confused.

Who do you think you are?

And even for those people who can answer that question with some sort of self-confidence, by giving their family history and credentials, and a few facts about themselves, even those people are lost and confused, if they don’t take their identity from their creator – God the father who created them.

Friends, if you want the real answer to that question, who do you think you are?

You first must know who Jesus is.

If you know who Jesus is, you will know your true identity.

For a group of Jews who met Jesus that day, they rooted their identity in their forefather- Abraham. This made sense, Abraham was the man whom God made his promises to. It was to Abraham whom God said he would bless and make into a great nation, and so the Jews, as they do today root their identity in Abraham. 

This is where their identity, where their freedom and where their security lied- In Father Abraham.

Their trump card was and is the father Abraham card.

And yet Jesus made it clear to these Jews, that their sense of freedom, their sense of hope in Father Abraham was a false one. Sure, they had roots from father Abraham, but they placed way to much weight on their connection with Abraham. It wasn’t father Abraham that gave them life, but it was the God of Abraham who gave them life. The Jews had put too much focus on the promise receiver rather than the promise giver.

Look at John 8:31-33 with me:

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus told these Jews that even though they were the offspring of Abraham, and children of the man whom God gave His promises to, they were not in fact free, but they were actually slaves, and slaves of what?

Sin,

As Jesus tells us in verse 34.

These Jews had such a false hope in their father Abraham, that they falsely believed that they could keep on deliberately sinning and still be part of God’s chosen people.  

They believed that just because they came from the blood line of Abraham, and they had the mark of circumcision, than…..they could live how they wanted and suffer no consequences. They thought as long as they looked the part and told others how to live without living that way themselves, that they would be welcomed into God’s family.

How crazy was that?

It would be like believing that just because you were baptized as a baby in a presbyterian church 70 years ago, you could live a life walking away from God and instead live a life of sin and still make it to heaven.

Being slaves to sin for the Jews, was more dangerous from being slaves to the Egyptians.

Remember, God’s people, the Israelites, the Jews, where slaves to the Egyptians for 400 years.  And yet this was not as bad as being slaves to sin, why?

As the Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians, they cried out to God for help, they knew they needed saving, they knew they didn’t have control of their situation. They knew they couldn’t save themselves- Pharaoh was just too powerful.

Whereas being slaves to sin, they didn’t cry out to God, they didn’t think they needed saving, they believed that they were the masters of sin, whereas the reality was and is, sin was their master.

Look at verse 34 with me:

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

Friends, when we think, we can keep deliberately sinning and believe there will be no consequences, it would be like trying to play duck, duck goose, with a killer whale or killer polar bear and believe that one day they would never turn on you and kill you.

If you think you can tame a killer whale, you are playing a dangerous game.

We must heed the words of God that he first uttered at the beginning of time to Cain, as he had thoughts about killing his brother Abel…..

God said to Cain

Sin is crouching at the door. It’s desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.

Or we must heed the words in 1 Peter 5:8, which says….

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

And how does the devil try and devour and destroy us?

By feeding us lies.

Satan is the father of lies, this is his character.

He has been lying from the beginning of creation, when he told Eve that she would not die if she ate the fruit, even though God told her she would not just die, but surely die.

Satan has been lying throughout history, and many people have swallowed his lies, especially when it comes to the person of Jesus.

And just like in the garden when satan started by planting a small seed of doubt in the mind of Eve…did God really say that? He has been planting doubts in people’s minds about Jesus ever since.

Some people even believe the lie that Jesus never came to this earth in the first place, even though the evidence is overwhelming. And for those who believe that Jesus did come to this earth, they believe half truths about who Jesus is, which in the end is no truth at all.

For example, Muslims believe that Jesus existed, but he was just a prophet, like any other prophet. Sure, Jesus was a prophet, in the sense he spoke on God’s behalf, but he was much, much, more than that. If we believe that Jesus was just a prophet, we don’t really know who Jesus is.

Jehovah’s witnesses believe that Jesus was just one of the gods. A created being.

Jesus is not one of the gods, he is not a created being. If we think this is who Jesus is, we really don’t know who Jesus is at all.

Jews believe that Jesus was just a rabbi, a good teacher, yes he was, but he is much more than that. If we believe Jesus was just a good teacher, we really don’t know who Jesus is.

So, who did Jesus say he was?

Look at John 8:58 with me:

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Now, at first glance, it appears that Jesus spoke really poor grammar.

If Jesus wanted to make the point that he existed before Abraham, he would have just said Before Abraham was, I was………but he didn’t…..He deliberately said, before Abraham was, I AM.

Jesus was claiming to be God, and the Jews who listened to him that day, knew exactly who he was claiming to be as when they heard him say this, they picked up stones to kill him.

Just as God told Moses his name was I AM, Jesus told those people that day, that he too was called I AM- He was and is God.

The Jews, just like the Muslims, couldn’t quite believe that God would lower himself to our level and become a human, like us- God as a man, this was just blasphemy and blasphemy was punishable by death.

The Jews listening to Jesus that day, would have known the story of when God spoke to their forefather- Moses, through the burning bush. When God sent Moses to speak to his people who were still salves in Egypt, Moses wanted to know what to say when the people asked who sent him……which God…….and God’s answer………He said to Moses, tell them I AM has sent you.

Look at Exodus 3:14

God said to Moses, “I am who I am” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I Am has sent me to you.

With this statement, God declared that

He is self-existent,

He is eternal,

He is self-sufficient,

He is self-directed,

and unchanging.

God was above the other so called Egyptian gods, he didn’t have a particular domain that he ruled, but he was ruler over all.

God was saying essentially this to Moses that day.

You can’t label me, You don’t give me identity…….

This is why God told Moses in the 10 commandments, to not even try and bother carving an image of stone or wood for him- we can’t define God with our images, we don’t label him-

He labels us.

God was saying all things derive from me, all things have their meaning and identity rooted in me.

And so, when Jesus declared that day, that He was I AM, he was claiming to be God, and so we know that we don’t label Jesus, we don’t give Jesus his identity, but we know that our identity derives from Jesus- he is God, he is the same yesterday, today and forever.

So, knowing that Jesus is God, we can be clear about who we are.

And praise God, Jesus doesn’t give us an LBQTI alphabet to choose from and be confused by, but he gives us two options, and I am not talking about being male or female, but our identity which is derived from Jesus is this…..

We are either children of the devil or children of God.

Knowing that Jesus is the reference point for all people, these are the two types of people we are- children of God, or children of the devil.

That nice sentiment that we may hear at time, that we are all God’s children- simply isn’t true.

Paul, wow, you may say, this sounds a bit harsh….well look at what God in flesh Jesus told us….

Look at John 8:42-44

 42 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 of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 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 the 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. 

Friends, who on earth do you think you are?

More importantly who do you think Jesus is?

If you know that he is God, and believe that he came to this earth to live the perfect life in obedience to God His father, and died for your sins, and rose again, then you are a child of God.

Your identity is first and foremost in Jesus.

Your identity is so wrapped up in Jesus, that we become one with him, his father and his Holy Spirit.

Friends, this is who I am, and it all centres, derives from the great I AM- Jesus.

Let us pray.