John 8:48-59
Intro: There are a million books these days offering advice about “what makes for a good relationship”. Some have long lists. Some have short lists, but they all end up talking about the same things. There’s trust. There’s respect. There’s communication. You can’t have a relationship with someone if you can’t communicate. You can’t have a relationship with someone if you can’t respect who they are and what it is they say. You can’t have a relationship with someone if you can’t trust the things that they say.
It’s no small thing then, that when God wanted to reconcile Himself to humanity, He came as a man. He came as a man you could trust; as a man you could respect; as a man you could grow to understand and admire and have a relationship with, through daily and continuous communication.
AS IN ANY RELATIONSHIP, COMMUNICATION IS KEY TO YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT JESUS IS TALKING ABOUT TODAY WHEN HE TALKS ABOUT KEEPING HIS WORD.
I. Three times in these eleven verses, Jesus mentions the phrase, “Keep His Word”.
“If anyone keeps my Word, he will never seedeath”. “If anyone keeps my word, he will nevertastedeath”. “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”.
Jesus is talking about the perfect relationship that He has with the Father. It’s a relationship that is so perfect that we can say the things about it that we just confessed in the Athanasian Creed. “Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit”. “The whole three persons are coeternal with each other and coequal, so that in all things, as has been stated above, the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity is to be worshiped”.
And as the Creed says, “It is also necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Through the incarnation, God came into the world to reconcile Himself with the world. As Paul says, “In Christ, God was reconciling Himself to the world”.
In Christ, God came to a people that had turned from Him – a people (as the bible says) who “were far off”...even “cut off” from Him. He came that He might restore our relationship with each other that, His people might “keep His Word” and be drawn through His Word into that co-eternal relationship that Christ has with the Father and the Holy Spirit. That’s what Christ means when He says, “If anyone keeps my Word, he will never seedeath”. “If anyone keeps my word, he will nevertastedeath”.
II. The person that hears God’s Word keeps God's Word because this person is “of God”.
When it comes down to the question of “who is it that will be saved?”, there’s nothing more comforting or assuring than knowing that you have been born of God. Such a person rejoices in the grace that they have received in the waters of Baptism. They rejoice at the opportunity to receive the assurance of the Lord’s body and blood. They even rejoice at the Lord’s rebuke and correction as much as they rejoice at the thought of His love.
In contrast, there is no greater judgment than to say that someone is not “of God”. The person that does not hear or who will not or cannot hear, is not of God – and the Bible tells us that their inability really can be for all or any of those three reasons: they either can’t hear because they’ve not been brought to life by the Gospel. Or they do not hear because they’ve rejected or despised it…or they will not hear because they have so resisted the work of God that they’ve become at enmity with Him.
That’s why, in the verse just preceding this passage, Jesus says to the Jews, “The reason why you do not hear is that you are not of God”. People that are not of God, are resisting the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. They’re like a child who, when disciplined, simply turns and walks away while their parent is still talking...an action that can be summed up in the word: “Whatever...”. In the same way, this is what it means to be “Not of God” or even, “of the Devil”. To be “of the Devil” is to have no concern for the Word of God and to refuse to be held accountable to it. If they hear it, they think, “Whatever” and walk away thinking, “that means nothing to me”. If you press them about it, they become like the Jews were against Jesus. At first they despise what He says. Then, they start to rail against it. They start calling Him a “Samaritan” and accusing Him of having “a demon”.
People may not use these same words today against God’s Word, but they do the same thing. Those that make up their own rules (as the Samaritan’s did) accuse the faithful hearers of God’s Word of being the ones that are clinging to “outdated”, man-made rules. Instead of acknowledging God’s people who hear His Word as the ones that are abiding in the Spirit of Love from the Father, they accuse us of essentially having a “demon” and being full of “hate” and speaking words that should be characterized as “hate speech”. First, they get up and walk away when God’s Word is being taught and preached. Next, they try to belittle or invalidate it. If that doesn’t work, they’ll rail against it – even forbid it. (And we see all these things happening today). The reason why is that they are not “of God”. They have revealed who they are and their only hope is to hear the very gospel that they’ve inoculated themselves from hearing.
III. Christ’s Word comes with a promise: whoever keeps my word will not see or taste death.
“To keep God’s Word” means nothing more than to gladly hear His Word...to hold it sacred and gladly learn it. It means nothing else than to believe what He promises us in the gospel concerning the forgiveness of our sins for Christ’s sake. Through the gospel Christ continues to tear down those walls of hostility that you would naturally have against Him: Walls that would keep you from trusting Him; from respecting Him; and from being able to rightly communicate with Him. The gospel tears down the walls that prevent you from being reconciled and having a right relationship with God.
And the gospel promises that if anyone keeps God’s Word, even though they may fall asleep, in Christ, they will never taste or even see death. They will awake to the glory of His appearing and it will be to them as if they have had the most rejuvenating rest...to the end that all things are suddenly better than they ever knew them before.
The person that refuses to hear God’s Word – who hears it and thinks, “Yeah, whatever” or “What’s that got to do with anything?” and despises it accordingly...this person, along with the person who is really like a Samaritan, (making up their own rules, blaspheming God by saying He approves of things that, by His Word He clearly says that He does not), these people will find their railing and blaspheming against God turning into weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The one who hears God’s Word will only grow stronger in their relationship with Him. They will grow in their faith and in the knowledge of Him who called them by the gospel into an eternal relationship with Him. The one who hears God’s Word, keeps God’s Word...and in keeping God’s Word, they are saved.
Conclusion: So, rejoice in the grace you’ve been given. Once again, you hear the Gospel. Once again, the One who came seeking you, calls to you. Examine yourselves. Before you come forward to join with Him in this mysterious communion, have you been faithful in your relationship with Him? Has His Word been like the words of the lover to His beloved to you, or have you been wishing that He was more like the Samaritans? Have you despised some of the things that He’s said? Have you denied Him? Have you blasphemed Him by attributing false things to His name? Have you heard His Word with contempt and thought to yourself, “Yeah, whatever” and walked away with disdain?
For Jesus’ sake, all this has been forgiven you and Christ promises that, “If anyone keeps my Word, He will be saved”. Once again, He holds out His hands to you saying, “Take and Eat…Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins”. Believe these words. Hear them gladly. Christ’s blood has been spilt that you might rejoice in the grace you’ve received;...His flesh was pierced that you might be reconciled; ...He did all these things for you that you might have a relationship with Him. Let everyone who is born of God rejoice in the gifts of God and in the relationship that, through Christ, we have again...unto life everlasting. IJN+