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liberty bible church 10~/5~/08 a.M.
By Tom Zobrist
“christianity: what’s in it for me?”
John 8:48-59
introduction
Illus. of “The Miser and His Gold” Aesop's Fables- Once upon a time there was a Miser who used to hide his gold at the foot of a tree in his garden; but every week he used to go and dig it up and gloat over his gains.
A robber, who had noticed this, went and dug up the gold and decamped with it.
When the Miser next came to gloat over his treasures, he found nothing but the empty hole.
He tore his hair, and raised such an outcry that all the neighbours came around him, and he told them how he used to come and visit his gold.
"Did you ever take any of it out?" asked one of them.
"Nay," said he, "I only came to look at it."
"Then come again and look at the hole," said a neighbour; "it will do you just as much good."
Wealth unused might as well not exist.
That’s not only true about worldly wealth, that’s true about Spiritual wealth as well.
We’ve heard a great deal lately about greed in the wake of all the Wall problems.
We live in a “Get all you can, can all you get, and poison the rest” culture.
Many come into the church questioning Christianity.
What does it offer me?
As believers, we know the blessings of following Christ.
Our task is to communicate that with the world.
So, what does Christianity offer the common man?
OPEN to the passage.
*Prop.
*In this passage, Jesus shows a few blessings that are offered those that trust in Him.
Open in PRAYER.
PREVIEW the passage.
For several weeks, we have been following this confrontation that Jesus has had with some of the religious leaders in the Temple during the Feast of Tabernacles.
We are coming to the conclusion of that section here.
Once again, He has claimed to be God and Messiah.
He has shown that those that genuinely receive Him will live like Him.
Last week, the tension was heightened when Jesus said that their father was the devil.
Cf. v 37-47 The religious leaders counterpunch and in that process we see some of the blessings we reap if we follow Jesus.
The first benefit of believing in Jesus is that…
i.
christianity brings eternal life vs.
48-53
Illus. of The patient awakened after the operation to find herself in a room with all the blinds drawn.
"Why are all the blinds closed?" she asked her doctor.
"Well," the surgeon responded, "They're fighting a huge fire across the street, and we didn't want you to wake up and think the operation had failed."
Everyone wants to live forever.
No one in their right mind would say that they want to die.
Jesus brings eternal life.
However…
a.
Not everyone will believe in Jesus, even if they are religious
V 48 1.
This is a low blow.
Samaritans were half-breeds.
Their religion was considered apostate by the Jews.
They were taking a shot at his birth, as they had last week, Cf. v 41, they were saying that His religious teachings were heretical and His worship was unacceptable.
To say that He was demon-possessed was to say that He was crazy, unclean, and evil.
Jesus had just said that their father was the devil, they respond accusing Him of being demon-possessed.
V 49 2.
Jesus again responds to their accusations with the truth.
He didn’t have a demon.
As they dishonored Him, He sought to honor God.
He was not seeking His own glory, but the glory of His heavenly Father.
V 50a 3.
A demon possessed person would seek to draw attention to Himself.
Jesus sought to draw attention to the Father.
V 50b 4.
Jesus could not justify Himself at this time.
People can judge Jesus wrongly, but one day, God will vindicate Him.
One day, every knee will bow before Him, but in this life, we have a choice.
V 51 5.
Here is one of those sure truths.
If anyone is obedient to Jesus, they will live forever.
Cf.
John 3:16; 5:24 But, not everyone will believe and follow Jesus.
Here’s the result.
b.
They are confused about the gospel
V 52 1.
Obviously, those that opposed Jesus thought that He meant physical death.
Following Jesus does not mean that life will be easy and pain free.
We may have trials, we may have financial struggles, we may suffer physically and certainly we will die.
Just like Abraham and the prophets.
The greatest men of God had died, physically.
But what they failed to realize was that they were still alive spiritually.
V 53 2.
In the Greek, the first question expects a negative answer.
But, Jesus was greater than Abraham, they just didn’t believe who He told them He was.
He had stated very clearly who He was yet they are accusing Him of being demon-possessed.
They are confused because they refuse to repent and believe in Jesus.
*Trans.*
CHRISTIANITY BRINGS ETERNAL LIFE, but not everyone who says they are religious will believe in Jesus and the Gospel will cause them a great deal of confusion.
True Christians will seem a little wacky, maybe even demon-possessed to the unbelieving world.
A second benefit of Christianity is…
ii.
christianity brings joy vs. 54-56
Illus. of A Baptist preacher and his wife decided they needed a dog.
Ever mindful of the congregation, they knew the dog must also be Baptist.
They visited an expensive kennel and explained their needs to the manager, who assured them he had just the dog for them.
The dog was produced and the manager said, "Fetch the Bible."
The dog bounded to the bookshelf, scrutinized the books, located the Bible, and brought it to the manager.
The manager then said "Find Psalms 23".
The dog, showing marvelous dexterity with his paws, leafed thru the Bible, found the correct passage, and pointed to it with his paw.
Duly impressed, the couple purchased the dog.
That evening a group of parishioners came to visit.
The preacher and his wife began to show off the dog, having him locate several Bible verses.
The visitors were amazed.
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