Who Could Convict Jesus of Sin?

Tom:

We are continuing with the Gospel of John.We are in John:8:46Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
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Dave:

Tom, how many chapters are there in this book?I think there’s twenty-one.You know I have a mathematical mind—

Tom:

Twenty-one—I was going to say, “Tell us Dave.”

Dave:

How long has it taken—actually to be accurate we would have to count the verses, but how long have we been doing this?Do you remember?

Tom:

Well based on the fact that last week we covered one verse—

Dave:

Maybe we’ll do better today.

Tom:

Well, now let’s be—

Dave:

I don’t want to rush through this.

Tom:

Let’s be serious.This is a meal, this is—maybe some of our listeners would like to move a little quicker, but this is God’s Word and to me every phrase could be a terrific meal.We could hunker down on one verse for awhile.

Dave:

Amen, and let’s confess we aren’t even beginning to touch the fringe of it.Okay, sorry Tom, I interrupted you.

Tom:

Here we go with verse 46: “Which of you convinceth me of sin?”And actually that means convicts me of sin.That’s okay too.“And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?”

Dave:

In other words, “Look guys, you know I’m not a sinner.You know that I must be telling the truth, so why don’t you believe me?Well he’s already said because I tell you the truth you believe me not.So the problem is the truth is the last thing they want to hear.

Tom:

Yes, “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”Now Dave we mentioned this before, it is so hard to talk in today’s terms where self-esteem is the big thing and being tolerant of everything and so on.So sometimes when we hear truth presented in a straightforward manner it’s a little shocking.

Dave:

Yes, well he obviously is saying that he’s giving them God’s words.We could go back to verse 31, “If you continue in my word…”Now he is claiming that he is God.They haven’t quite got it yet, but they will before this chapter is out and they will take up stones to stone him.But he says, you are not of God.If you were of God, you would hear God’s words.Tom, that really speaks to my heart.Am I of God?Am I a man of God?What would that mean?That would mean that I really—I know him, I walk with him, I obey him, I seek to do his will.That my passion is to know him.These are the marks of the men of God down through history.Paul—“Oh that I might know him.”

Tom:

David, a man after God’s own heart and we look at David’s life and we say hey, there’s some major, major sins in his life.But he had a heart after God.He repented.

Dave:

When he was confronted he repented.Really sincerely repented.

Tom:

Right.So the criterion isn’t that—and this is how we think sometimes, oh, this man is a man of God therefore he has to be absolutely holy and without any kind of blemish character-wise and so on and so forth.

Dave:

Well we should be.That’s our aim.John, 1 John:2:1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
See All... says, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.”So that’s our aim, but then he says, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,…” but Jesus is the perfect standard.That’s what’s so amazing.Isaiah 53 says he came unto his own.These are his people—his own received him not.He’s in the world that his hands have made.I think it was Werner Von Braun, I wish I could quote exactly, the rocket scientist that came from Germany and helped us to such a great extent.He was a very devout Christian and I wish I could put it in the words he had, but he said how could you imagine that such a thing could happen that the God who created us, who created this world, when he came to visit us, we would hate him because we are selfish, we don’t want to take orders from anyone. We have our own plans; the United Nations is trying to come up with plans.The U.S. is trying to help Israel and the so-called Palestinians come up with a plan for peace and all the time in the Bible God tells us this is his land and he has his plans for it.Man doesn’t want it.So Jesus comes, he is God and he says “I come forth from God; I am from above, you are from beneath.” Well he that is of God hears God’s words.You don’t hear them.What I am telling you—the truth that you don’t want to hear and the reason is because you are not of God.Why do you hate the truth?Why do you want to follow some lie, some fraud?Because you are not of God.

Tom:

And certainly the Jews, this is verse 48, the Jews probably being the religious leaders, “Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?”Now that’s about as big a put down as they could come up with.This was not something light.

Dave:

Yes, remember—

Tom:

This was the Son of God; this was the Creator of the universe they are talking to.

Dave:

And remember it says, “They believed on him.”And he has challenged them, “Do you really believe?”A lot of people say oh, I believe, I’m a Christian, but they’ve got their own idea of Jesus; they’ve got a different Jesus from the one in the Bible.But anyway, go ahead Tom, this is a libelous charge and Jesus says in verse 49: “Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honor my Father, and ye do dishonor me.”So now he’s talking to them again about the Father.This was a new term Tom; you didn’t hear it in the Old Testament.This is something the Aquarian gospel in some books like this try to say that Jesus studied under the gurus in India, Tibet and so forth and if he had he would have had to honor his guru.But he used a term that the rabbis didn’t like and the gurus never heard of, “my Father in heaven; my Father heaven.”And he said, “I honor my Father, you dishonor me.And I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”Wow, that’s shocking.He says I am not seeking my own glory.And Tom, I guess that is one of the biggest temptations.To play to the audience; play to the gallery, you know.Say things that please people.That’s a temptation for pastors, temptation for preachers, it could be a temptation for us in our ministry.We don’t want to offend some donor.We want to gather as many people as we can because after all, that’s where our support comes from is from the people on our mailing list.And some comes in from people who listen to us.We never ask for anything.But we could be tempted, oh we don’t want to offend anybody.Be careful now.Let’s just kind of compromise just a little bit and we can build a kingdom for ourselves.

Tom:

Well we would probably delude ourselves into saying or thinking it’s really for the Lord, but we’re reaping the goodies as it were.

Dave:

Yes, I think there are a number of pastors, a number of evangelists, TV evangelists, and so forth who would do well to heed and Tom we want to heed it day after day.

Tom:

We better.

Dave:

Who would do well to heed what Jesus said, “Beware when all men speak well of thee, for so spake they of the false prophets that were before you.”Who was it?Billy Sunday who said you’ve either got to make them mad, sad, or glad.But don’t leave them the way they were before you started dealing with them.

Tom:

Yes Dave, on the other hand, we get letters from people who are (hey, you’ve got to use the word) paranoid.In other words, what they say, they’re under great persecution for and the more persecution the better because they know they’re doing the Lord’s work.People think we like controversy.Forget it; this is not what we are about, although it sort of comes with where God has us, the territory as it were.

Dave:

Right.We have to speak the truth and if people don’t like the truth, we cannot change.Sometimes people say to me, “I’m praying for you.Now just keep standing for the truth.”And I say, “I don’t have any alternative,” because one day—the older I get of course, the more I realize this.One day I’m standing before God.I often tell him, “Lord that frightens me.”It’s so awesome that I’m going to face—

Tom:

Dave, wait!

Dave:

—the Creator of the universe—

Tom:

Yes, but you’re just talked earlier in the program about how having a personal, intimate relationship and so on.

Dave:

That’s true.

Tom:

How do you reconcile those things Dave?

Dave:

That’s true, but I know it’s only by his grace, it’s only through the blood of Christ.I don’t have any claim upon him.But he didn’t seek his own.He sought his Father’s glory and we must seek his glory and not our own.

Tom:

Dave we have about a minute left and I hate to add this to this note, but I’m a little bit slow.Why do you think (in a minute), why do you think the term Father, isn’t used in the Old Testament as it is in the New?Or not referred to?

Dave:

Well—

Tom:

Come on Dave, we’ve only got a few seconds.

Dave:

Jesus was the one who came from the Father.It is mentioned in the Old Testament.“Kiss the Son—although yes, Isaiah 9, his name is the mighty God, the everlasting Father…,” so we do have it, but not to the extent that Jesus reveals it to us because he comes as a representative of the Father.No one had ever done that before.And he can say I and my Father are one.Tom it’s fantastic to know that God is your Father, but he is not the Father of everyone.We are the children of our earthly parents, we have to be born of the Spirit of God into the family of God to know God as our Father, and that comes only because Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins.We hope you all believe and trust him as your Savior.