John Chapter 8, Verse 13, The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.”  Jesus had just made the statement in verse 12 that He is the light of the world.  This statement alone demanded a response from the Jews, why?  Because that statement by Jesus is a full claim to deity. 

In the Old Testament, light is a repeated characterization of God the Father, Jehovah Elohim.  In Exodus 3, God appeared to Moses via the burning bush…in the form of fire, the very element of light.  In Exodus 13 we read that God led them by night in a pillar of fire to give them light.  We read in Psalm 104:2 that God is clothed in light.  Isaiah 60:19 says that the Lord God is our everlasting light.

So Jesus stood in the temple and proclaimed to be that Light, the Light of the world and the Jews objected.  Understand, the force of their objection is this…they fully accept that God is the light of the world, but when Jesus ascribes this to Himself, they cannot allow it, so the response, believe or accuse…they accuse…they call Him a liar.

Verse 14, Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I came from and where I am going.”  And so it is exactly as we have already read… exactly how John stated it in Chapter 1 verse 5, “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

So Jesus continues there in verse 15, You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  What does Jesus mean when He says here to the Jews, “guys, you’re missing it, you’re missing the truth…the truth is even standing right in front of you but you’re blind to it because you judge according to the flesh?” 

The word there for flesh in the Greek is sarx.  It literally means the physical, or what is seen with the natural, carnal, animalistic senses.  But Jesus was and is Other.  These men, they are carnally minded…they can only perceive that which is physically right in front of them and in that they actually miss what is right in front of them…the Light of the world!  Romans 8:6 says that the carnal mind is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Well what do you mean, Matt?  To walk in the flesh, to live after the flesh, is to not live at all.  To live just to feed your physical pangs is to live no more of a life than a raccoon searching for a trashcan to jump into.  And to assess a situation based on the physical circumstances, to react based on your natural senses, including emotion, is, as Jesus said, to judge according to the flesh…and completely miss what’s really happening!  I’m still confused, Matt… 

Hebrews 11:3 says that the things seen, their very composition, what they are made of, where they come from, their origin, are things not seen.  And 2 Cor 4:18 says for this reason we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things with are not seen are eternal.  So we assess, we consider, we judge, we walk by faith and in that you find life and peace.  In that you help…in that you heal…in that you have victory…life and peace! 

So what does that mean practically?  You don’t know the whole story!  Your husband is a pill face to you and you immediately decide he doesn’t love you, he’s a jerk and he doesn’t deserve you!  That is to be carnally minded and what happens…Romans 8…death.  You fight and you fight and you fight and you miss out.  When the Bible says that a kind word turns away wrath! 

Your wife doesn’t respect you and even maybe disrespects you in front of someone and you fly off the handle!  You immediately conclude that she’s clueless and hopeless and so you withhold your love, you withhold your affection…you stop serving her…and what happens…Romans 8…death!  When the Bible says that love never fails and love covers a multitude of sin!

You see the word that so often rips us off, so often leaves us in a place of pain and death, really for no reason, the word is “presumption.”  But God has shown us a more excellent way…a way that leads to life and peace…but these Jews…they are caught and hardened by presumption.  What they see is a man and so they judge Him based on their ocular perception and therefore judge unrighteously…they judge God according to the flesh and they totally miss out on His life, His peace, His glory, His love…they miss His freedom.

And so Jesus pleads with them, Have you not yet believed?  I’ve told you where I am from.  I’ve told you where I am going.  All lines up with your scriptures, the works testify of My truth…yet your presumption is strangling you.  I don’t have to judge you, you judge yourselves.

Verse 16, And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.  It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.  I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.

Verse 19, Then they said to Him, “Where is Your Father?”  They are so limited.  They are so blind.  They look but do not see, They hear and do not perceive…why?  Because they are carnally minded.  They are short sided…they place themselves in the very position of enemy of God because they refuse to go any deeper than what they can see, smell, taste and touch, and in that they completely miss truth.  And so here, they insult.

Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father.”  It’s not one or the other by the way.  1 John 2:23 says that if you deny the Son, you do not have the Father.  You cannot say that you know God and yet you are estranged from His Son, Jesus Christ.  All desire heaven, but many utterly deny the Savior and Jesus makes things plain here as He does throughout Scripture in saying, You don’t accept Me, then truly you reject the Father.  He continues…

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.”  Verse 20, These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.  Why would John say that?  “No one laid hands on Him.”  Because they wanted to…it was obvious.  Jesus’ statements were radical, they were bold, and they were righteously aggressive.  They were sure.  And they were clear.  He stands in the sight of the Jews, in the midst of the temple and He says, “I am not alone, but I am with the Father.”   He says, “I am not monos”, in the Greek…in your eyes, maybe all you can see is Me, but in truth I am far beyond what your eyes are able to perceive, far beyond what your minds are able to understand, but truly far within the realm of what your heart is able to discern if you would but allow revelation.  I am with My Father…even now.  The fellowship remains.

They were infuriated.  Trapped in their presumption.  Limited by their flesh and lifeless by their unbelief…and they wanted to beat Him down…animals.  Raccoons with no trash can.  But they could not touch Him, because it was not yet time for that.  Ultimately, man cannot thwart the plan and purpose of God.

Verse 21, Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, (or a better translation is “I go My way”) and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin.  Where I go you cannot come.”   Again, just as we saw in Chapter 7, Jesus says you will seek Me, you will crave righteousness but you will crave it in the spirit of demand, not in the spirit of truth, and God will not be found in that type of selfish, self righteous circumstance.  His requirement is humility…they said to Philip, “we wish to see Jesus,” and Jesus responded, “if a man desires to save his life, he shall lose it…”  God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 

Verse 22, So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says ‘Where I go you cannot come?”  And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above.  You are of this world; I am not of this world.  Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

Remember Jesus is in the last 6 months of His earthly ministry and so He is just laying it out there plainly…He’s being very clear.  The issue is not this or that, the issue is sin…and if they do not realize that Jesus is Other, He is the Savior, He and the Father are One…no they can’t perceive that with their earthly senses…that truth is beyond the earth, it is from above…if they choose to not believe…well turn over to Romans Chapter 1…pick it up at verse 18 and read to verse 23.  And so Jesus says…do not be unbelieving, but believe and be healed.

Verse 25, Then they said to Him, “Who are You?”  And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.  I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.  It’s such a circular argument sometimes…with  folks that raise carnal objections to spiritual truth, but Jesus gives a great example here in that He bears with them…love bears all things…and we’ll see to what end in a moment. 

Verse 27, They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.  Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  And recall as they did lift Him up, nailing Him to the cross and then hoisting Him up into the air, what is it that He said, “Father forgive them because they don’t understand.”  His heart was filled with compassion and Godly sorrow for those folks that day and these folks this day because in their unbelief, they were like sheep without a shepherd, lost, wandering, hungry, afraid and His desire was and is to gather them to Himself…to bring them into His fold. 

Even today, as God bears with many through their circumstances and situations and issues, they do not turn to Him…they willfully choose to not believe because they’ve been lied to…they’ve been told that they’re not acceptable and that God is not good…and His heart breaks.  I wonder does yours?  I wonder do you look upon your neighbor or your coworkers or maybe the lady in the grocery line that is yelling at her kids with awful obscenity…do you pray for them, God give me opportunity to share with her…give me audience to share with him…or do you condemn…go and tweet what you just saw or when you get to the car you say to your husband, can you believe that woman…well yeah actually, we can…the problem is sin and if he dies in that sin and if she dies in that sin, without believing in God’s Christ, then the eternal population of eternal death increases by one.  Oh to God that we would have hearts for the lost, hearts that see the hurting and resolve…faith that won’t allow for us to rest in our salvation.

Verse 29, And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father (remember John just said that they did not understand that He spoke of the Father, and so again, Jesus here being very clear) The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.  Does this mean that the Father will leave His children alone when they do not please Him.  No it doesn’t.  Jesus said, to the uttermost, I am with you.  Jesus said, I will never leave you or forsake you.  So that is not what this means…this is a plea to the Jews there.  Why do I say that?  Where are they?  They are in the temple.

Jesus is surrounded by Jews that are craving God and He is again reaching out to them…striving to reach them…as they accept God but reject the Son and He says look…the things that I do, the things that I say, they are always pleasing to God…you believe in Him, believe also in Me.  And what happens?  Verse 30, As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

And next week we’ll open with Jesus addressing these new believers…immediately setting them free!