“Before Abraham Was, I Am” | John 8:48-59

If you have your Bible with you, please turn in them to John chapter eight. John chapter eight.

This morning we’re going to be in verses 48 through 59 as we finish this chapter. God willing. This morning in the fifth verse of the song we just sung, we reference an old word called unction. What is unction? Unction is the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s the power that fills God’s people at all times. And it’s the power that is at work in Christian worship.

We need God’s Spirit more than anything, and we especially need the Spirit as we hope and expect to hear from Christ this morning from His Word in John eight. I’m going to pray for that in a moment. But before that, let me read to us John eight verses 48 through 59.

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

But you said to him, “Now we know 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?”

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

So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Let’s pray.

Father, we ask the same thing that we so often pray here at Trinity Church that saints have been praying for hundreds of years. That what we ask not, you would grant us; what we know not, you would teach us; and what we are not, you would make us. Lord, we pray that because we believe you are our only need. We need to sit at your feet and be given ears to hear. We need Your Holy Spirit to illumine our minds. And Lord, it is only you that can make us new. And as for the children of God here, can daily renew us. Renew us. Lord, help us, minister to us now through your word we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Everyone here has to do something with Jesus. You have to reckon with what you believe about Jesus and how you yourself relate to Jesus Christ. And I say this because the Gospel of John will not let you off the hook. Jesus in the Gospel of John will also not let you off the hook.

It was a famous author, C.S. Lewis. He said it decades ago. I think it’s the most helpful way of saying it. There’s only three things you can think about Jesus. There’s only three views people can have of Jesus. You either think he’s out of his mind or that he’s a liar, which means he’s evil. Or you receive him as your Lord. There are no other options. These are the only choices.

And that matters because Americans are friendly. And there are many of you here that don’t know Christ. And you’re fine with your parents being believers. You’re fine with your friends or your children going to church. It doesn’t matter to you. It seems like, oh, that’s a fine thing for them. And when they ask you, “Well, what do you think about Jesus?” “I think he’s swell.”

The Bible doesn’t let you do that. You see, if you don’t believe Jesus is what he says he is, you’re either going to think he’s completely out of his mind, or he’s one of the most divisive, wicked people imaginable. Those are the only choices. He’s either a liar, he’s either a lunatic, or he is the Lord and Savior of all creation.

I have four points this morning. These are going to be basically the movements that we see in our text. I just opened up verses 48 through 59. I’m not going to review all of John eight. You can read that. We’re coming to the end of a discourse between Jesus and the Jews towards the end of a festival outside the temple, and there are four movements.

The first we see is the accusation. If you take notes, maybe that’s helpful for you. Consider first the accusation. Look at verse 48. The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” I won’t read Jesus’ response to that now, but you can look at verse 52. The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon.”

It is very similar to a similar episode just in the last chapter. So what happens in John seven during the Feast of Booths is probably in the days prior to our text this morning. And look at John seven verse 19 through 20, Jesus says, “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” The crowds answered, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you?”

You see, friends, when the Jews say he’s a Samaritan or that he has a demon, that is an insult. This is their way of saying he’s wicked or he’s crazy, or he’s both of those things. You see, the Jews, they were experts at gaslighting Jesus.

In our text in John eight he says that they are of their father, the devil. He says in John seven that they’re trying to kill him. He says the same thing in John eight, to which they say earlier, “You’re crazy. You’re out of your mind. Why would you think that we would kill you? We would never do that. You’re out of your mind. You’re off your meds or something.” Far, far worse.

Ten verses later, they’re trying to kill him.

And then actually, this is the logical end of unbelief. You see, brethren, John is teaching us something here about the Jews, and he’s teaching us here something about unbelief. He’s teaching us at least two things. First, he shows us the spectacular irony of Jewish unbelief. The thing that incites their accusation that he’s out of his mind is him claiming that they’re trying to kill him, to which they’re going to respond by trying to kill him. You see the irony.

But the second point is far deeper. John and Jesus show us the logical end of all unbelief. You see, friends, according to Jesus, failure to love him, as we have seen, is akin to hatred of him. There’s no such thing as neutrality with the gospel. You’re either for the Lord Jesus Christ or you’re against him. You’re either his friend or you’re his enemy if you don’t believe in him. You’re just like these Jews who accuse him. Yours is the defiance that spurns him day and night. Yours is the depravity that drives the nails into his hands. Yours is the spear that pierces his side. You’re the man who murders the Son of God. That is all those who are outside of Christ.

You are the accuser. And yet you, awash in sin and guilt, have the audacity to accuse Jesus of wrong.

Now, I’m going to make many points in this sermon to unbelievers. I think I need to make a point to the believers in the room. We, even those of us who are in Christ, can so often accuse God of wrongdoing. We can often, so much of the time, sound like these Jews who were of their father, the devil. As we accuse the Lord Jesus Christ, our heavenly Father of wrongdoing. We’ll rarely say it outright, but we’ll often do it in our hearts, and we’ll often do it subtly in how we live our lives.

Brethren, we must resist the temptation to scrutinize the Lord. God is over us. He’s not in the witness box, and we’re judging him. God doesn’t seek our approval. No. We live under the scrutiny and gaze of the Almighty God. He is God and we are not. He is Potter. We are clay. He’s the creator. We’re the creatures. We don’t make the rules. He does.

The reason why the Jews were so ready with this accusation was because they were of their father, the devil. That adversary who’s often referred to in the scriptures as the accuser. Brethren, I fear so often we sound like the accuser to God, and we orient ourselves towards God as the accuser. I fear we subtly accuse God of wrong all the time.

When we’re in the process of bereavement or loss, we doubt the kindness of God. When his severity and judgment make us bristle, we question his justice. When Jesus says hard things, speaking in any other mode other than gentle and lowly, we recoil. We only pay attention to about a third of the things Jesus says, and we ignore the rest.

Christian, I exhort you, think twice before you accuse the Almighty God of wrong. Jesus is going to quote Isaiah 40 many times, or the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah. Many times in John eight and refers to it. Listen to what the prophet and God says through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 40. This is to anyone who has a score to settle with God. This is for anyone, believer or unbeliever, who says, “I can’t believe in the God of the Bible because he does X.”

God speaks from on high. He says, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” That’s what we call a rhetorical question. You know the answer is—newsflash—not you. Not me. Only God has measured the world in the hollow of his hand.

He goes on, “Who has measured the spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult? And who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are counted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.”

We must not accuse God of wrongdoing. He is God and we are not. And I could preach a whole other sermon as to how glorious and good that is. But from the start Christianity is revealed faith. And you either believe in this God and believe that Jesus Christ is this God, or you reject him.

So we see the accusation.

Second movement in the text we see an offer. Verse 49 Jesus answered that first accusation. He says, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.” Now here’s the offer: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Jesus knows these people are about to kill him. They’ll try at the end of John eight. They’ll try again at the end of John ten. They’ll be successful in John 19. Jesus knows these are the very people who are going to kill him. How does Jesus treat his enemies? We need to emphasize here the breathtaking mercy of Jesus Christ.

There’s a politician, a president, who famously said how he would get back at his enemies. He said, “My retribution will be my success.” How are you going to get back at all your political foes? He says, “My retribution will be my success.” I’m glad he’s not going to wage any bloody vengeance in that statement. It’s not going to be a physical vengeance nonetheless. It’s vengeance still.

Brethren, the world hates their enemies. People hate their neighbor. What does Jesus do with his enemies? He invites them. And John six. And John seven, John eight. And onward through the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. All we see is offer after offer after offer after offer. Welcome after welcome. Chance after chance. If people reject Christ, it’s not for lack of invitation. Jesus holds his arms wide open, and he welcomes sinners to come to him for mercy.

He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” Jesus not only endured the treacherous betrayal of his own kinsmen, he loved them all the more. So much so he pleads with them to repent. Jesus didn’t just offer himself as a sacrifice on the cross for sinners like you and me. He still preaches. He still pleads with us. He’s still wooing sinners to come to him. He did it then. He does it now.

Jesus reaches to sinners. Now you can come to him. Faith today. Do you hear his voice? Do you hear him? To Nicodemus in John three, “You must be born again. Look to me and live.” Do you hear him? To the hungry in the wilderness. “I am the bread of life. Come and eat.” All those who come to me I never cast away. Do you hear him? In the temple? “If anyone thirsts, anyone wonders. Let him come to me to eat and drink. I will satisfy his soul. I will forgive him of his sins.” Do you hear him now?

“If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” My friend, if you’re outside of Christ, there’s nothing more important in the world than what I’m saying to you right now. Come to Jesus. Repent of your sins. There’s nothing more important in your life than what you do with Jesus. And he can be your Lord and Savior today.

But I want to say to the Christians in the room. Far too many of you think I’m only talking to the unbelievers right now. You need to come to Jesus every single day. The same Jesus that welcomed me when I was ten years old and first came to faith is the same Jesus that welcomed me this morning. It’s the same Jesus that is holding onto me today.

This matters because some of you are wandering, and some of you deal with crippling doubts and anxiety. Some of you struggle with the veracity of God’s promises. Maybe some of you have been wandering for years and you would say you’re a Christian. You’d say, “I believe the gospel,” but you think you only come to him once. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus is constantly welcoming his people to come to him. Jesus is a shepherd.

And you know what the good Shepherd does? He has a voice and he calls out, and his sheep, who are his people, they hear his voice and they respond to it. Some of you endure the excruciating effects of remaining sin. You need to realize this is a message for believers as much as it is to unbelievers. 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That’s not a text for evangelism. Use it please. That’s a text for the people of God. I can always come to Jesus. He will always receive me. “All that the Father gives to me will come to me. And those who come to me and keep coming to me, I’m never going to cast out.”

There’s a text in Revelation 3. Jesus writes to the seven churches, and there’s a famous text in Revelation 3 that’s often used like an altar call text. It’s used in evangelism, and I don’t think that’s inappropriate, but it’s actually Jesus’ words to the people of God. This is what Jesus says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Jesus wants to find company with you. He seeks you. Would you receive him?

For any of you who have been wandering, you’ve been resisting. Love the Lord. You know there’s something in your life. Maybe some sin. Or there’s some good deed left undone. Jesus speaks to you now. He’s knocking on the door of your heart. Would you receive him today? Repent. Open to him with the warm embrace of faith.

This is the offer.

Consider, thirdly, the third movement we see in the text. I’m calling this the proclamation. You could call it the assertion. There’s really three things that Jesus says under this heading.

First, he speaks of how the Father glorifies the Son. Look at verse 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.’ 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. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

Jesus is making a point that he’s made several times in the Gospel of John, and that is his equality, his shared divinity with the Father. He and the Father are one. This is one of John’s great contributions to Christian theology. In John 5 verse 23, he says that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. That matters because the first commandment in the Ten Commandments is “You shall have no other gods before me.” And if you’re to honor the Son the way you honor the Father, well, then he must be that God. You should have none others before him. Jesus is the divine Son of God.

John 7 verse 18: “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.”

Jesus will say this one day when we get to John 17. He prays to his Father, and he expresses how they share a preexistent glory. That means that glory that exists before the foundations of the earth were laid. He says in John 17, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”

The point is this: the Almighty God, who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, who dwells in the high and holy place, he shares honor with no one. Unless, of course, it’s with the one with whom he is one. It’s only to Jesus, his anointed one. He says, “You are my Son. Today I have begotten you.” It is the Christ. He says, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” It is only the Son of whom it’s going to be said, “He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature, as he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” The Father is constantly making so much of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The second thing under this heading, second proclamation, is he says that Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Jesus says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

Scholars debate what exactly Jesus means when he refers to Father Abraham rejoicing to see his day. Abraham believed the promises God made him. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he believed according to the revelation that he had. He knew that God would provide him an offspring in whom all the nations would be blessed. That’s just basic Genesis. He knew that God was going to bless the world through your seed. Abraham believed those promises, it was counted to him as righteousness, and he looked in faith to the Lord providing that offspring and Messiah.

Abraham longed for me in my absence. Why do you despise me in my presence? But you know how profoundly you’re blowing it right now. Abraham longed to see this day. The prophets longed to see this day. The morning star has risen. Messiah is here. He’s making good on all of his promises. We long for the coming of the Christ, of the Messiah, of the King. And here these Jews are, in spectacular irony, rejecting Abraham’s joy, when the very thing that Abraham longed for was right there in front of them.

If you’re an American in Atlanta and you don’t know Christ, you are so much like the Jews in John eight. The world is just screaming the grace of God. Many of you weren’t here this morning. There was a young man that was, God willing, going to Columbia. He’s going to be bringing the gospel to indigenous people. And there are people there who literally have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.

Abraham, the prophets, the patriarchs. They longed for the coming of Christ. They longed for him in his absence. You reject him in his very presence.

The third assertion is where Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Look at verse 57. So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus has just said, “Look, Abraham saw my day. He rejoices.” And they say, “Look, you’re not even fifty years old. How did you see Abraham?”

You really just have to remember the audacity of Jesus in the original context. Multiply that by a thousand. And that’s what Jesus is doing with Father Abraham. Thousands of years was their patriarch. And he says, “Abraham and I were really tight.” To which they say, “You’re not yet fifty years old. How have you seen Abraham?” And then Jesus immediately ups the ante. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Brethren, for Jesus to apply such language to himself is nothing less than blasphemy unless it is true. He’s not saying “I was before Abraham,” or even “I existed before Abraham,” though that’s true. He’s saying before Abraham, “I am” God. I’m Yahweh. I am the Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in my being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. I’m the preexistent God. I’m the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, true living, Almighty God. I am the I AM.

I’m the same I AM who blazed in a bush to Moses. I’m the same I AM who delivered my people out of Egypt. I’m the same I AM who was a fire that led my people in the wilderness. I’m that same I AM that’s prophesied by the prophet Isaiah. And this is why Jesus, this notion of his identity, that he is this God, is essential to saving faith.

Do you remember he says earlier in John eight, “Unless you believe that I am he,” *ego eimi*, “unless you believe that I am, then you’re dead in your sins.” It’s essential that you grasp this about Jesus Christ. It’s essential to being a Christian. It’s essential to saving faith. It’s essential to your eternal destiny. “Before Abraham was, I am.”

According to Jesus, part of saving faith is the recognition that he is the incarnate divine Son of God. He and the Father are one. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus says, “I am he” in the words of Isaiah, who is before all time, no God before me, no God to follow. “I am the first and the last. I’m the one who comforts my people. I am the one who blots out transgressions and removes sins.” Anything less than blood-earnest belief that “I am he” will only leave you dead in your sins.

This is the proclamation.

Consider fourthly, and finally, and briefly, the response. How do people respond to Jesus? How do they respond to this offer? How do they respond to this grand proclamation? Well, friends, there are only two possible responses to Christ. It’s very simple. Either rejection or reception. You either rebuff him, deny him, or you receive him as your Lord and Savior. And if we think this and carry this out logically, you either truly kill him or you crown him.

We see the rejection in verse 59. So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. You just have to realize when they pick up stones to throw at him, it’s not just because they’re angry. It’s because the law basically required that that man had just blasphemed and the punishment for blasphemy was stoning. So they pick up stones to throw at him. That’s why they tried to kill him.

Those who should have been most poised to receive Jesus so vehemently despised him. So much so they would eventually nail him to the cross.

Now, what does receiving Jesus look like? We see this reception in our text. Where do we see the response to Jesus? We see it in Abraham in verse 56: “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” That’s faith-filled joy. And it’s the only true Christian response to the offer Christ makes of himself. The only right response to Jesus Christ is the warm embrace of faith. The type of faith which looks like Abraham rejoicing.

Which is why the Lord says in John 15, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” John writes these things that you may have life, abundant life. How do you get that life? By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, that he is the Christ, and by believing you would have life in his name.

That’s the type of life and that looks like a qualitative relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In him and the fellowship I find with him, my joy is complete.

What does this sort of faith-filled joy look like? I want to say three things in closing.

First, faith-filled joy in Christ counts the cost of following him. It’s the type of faith that readied Abraham to kill his son. Genesis 22. God asked Abraham to jump. Abraham says, “How high.” It was not without sorrow. It was not without great sadness, heartache, lament. But Abraham never wavered because his joy was full. He counted the cost of following Christ.

Secondly, faith-filled joy in Christ trusts God in unimaginable pain and confusion. When you got question marks in your head and you are bewildered by what God has put you through as a Christian, that is the time when faith flexes. Many of you are going through such times. You can think of enduring bereavement, death of loved ones, losing people prematurely, child loss, miscarriage, infertility, job loss. Some of you have endured such pain even from former churches, Christian people in your lives and you wonder what on earth is God doing?

When that type of faith is tested, that type of faith flexes and it trusts all the more. Deeper still then goes the anchor.

Thirdly, faith-filled joy in Christ keeps its eye on the prize. Hebrews 11 verse 9 says, “By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” That was the joy that motivated Abraham. That was the type of faith-filled joy. He’s bringing me to the new Jerusalem, new heavens, new earth. I’m going to inherit the world. There’s no need for the sun. It doesn’t shine because the Lord is the light. Jesus will dwell with me. God will be my friend. I will have access to him. And that led him to live his entire life filled and running on the fumes of that joy. It was fellowship with God.

So, Christian, the word to you is, let this be the North Star of your life. Communion with God. You seek a city whose builder and maker is God. That’s the type of faithful joy that rejoices at the appearance of Christ, because Christ is with you and he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Paul could say to his readers in Galatians 4 that his greatest goal was to see Christ formed in you. The Christian’s greatest gain is greater likeness to Christ and deeper communion with him.

So I’ll just close with asking those of you who don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you want this joy? If you don’t have Christ, you don’t have Abraham’s joy. It’s offered to you today. And I, as a minister of the gospel, I assure you there is no hope in this life without it. There is no hope in death without the hope that comes with knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you repent of your sins? Believe on him today.

Let’s pray.

Father, we pray that everyone in this room would keep your word. And Lord, as those who keep your word that we would have eternal life. Let this be the day of personal salvation for many. And Lord, may this lead to a greater rooted and grounded faith in all the members of this church and the believers that are gathered with us. Help us, we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.