WHAT UNBELIEF DOES

WHAT UNBELIEF DOES

John 8:12-20

Here in the first 11 verses of John 8 you find the story of the “Woman Caught In Adultery” and the familiar line, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

But there is a problem. This story in the first 11 verses is connected to the last verse of chapter 7 and for most of you, you have a footnote that tells you that this familiar story does not appear in the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament.
What that means is, vs. 53 of chapter 7 and the first 11 verses of chapter 8 were added later and it is uncertain who added them; or when they were added, and it very questionable whether John wrote it at all.

There is nothing in the story that is un-Christ like, and there nothing in the story that is unlike the behavior of the religious leaders; but apparently the story was added later.

And when it was added there was a question about where it belonged: some manuscripts have it in John 7 or at the end of John 21; others have it in the gospel of Luke.

Furthermore, it interrupts the story that began in chapter 7 and continues here in chapter 8:12.

So, even though it is a story that teaches forgiveness and mercy and grace; and speaks against self-righteousness and being judgmental, the fact that it was added later means that there is no guarantee that it is inspired or that it is accurate.
So, we will leave these first 11 verses of chapter 8 for your own individual study and we will pick up our study of John in vs. 12.

Now, as we look at this passage that was read I want to be careful about being too negative; and yet, this passage is a portrait of what Jesus faced and what we see in many people today. This passage of scripture contains a somewhat lengthy conversation between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders.

And most of us have probably had a conversation like this; a conversation where you try to explain or teach someone about Christ, and all the other person wants to do is argue.

Look at vs. 12. Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

The word “again” means that Jesus is continuing to try and convince these people, these Jews who He is.

What a tremendous message of hope and assurance! But the Jewish rulers don’t like it and they don’t want others to hear it. So look what they do in vs. 13:

The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You are bearing witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.”

They don’t dispute what He says. They don’t say, “You are not the light of the world.”
Instead they, “You can’t do that! You are making an invalid, illegal claim. The Law doesn’t allow you to do this!”

So, in vs. 14 Jesus tries to explain why His witness about Himself is legitimate. In vs. 14 He says, “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 come from, or where I am going. 15 “You people judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. 16 “But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and He who sent Me. 17 “Even in your law it has been written, that the testimony of two men is true. 18 “I am He who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”

What is the Pharisees response? Look at vs. 19:

“Where is Your Father?”

Their question wasn’t intended to learn or to discover the truth.
Their question was intended to resist the truth; it was asked just for the sake of argument.

Look at vs. 21: He said therefore again to them, “I go away, and you shall seek Me, and shall die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.”

This is not the first time these Pharisees had heard this. Jesus had told them this in chapter 7:33-34. Did they take Him serious?
If He told me that I was going to die in my sins I think I would want to know more; like what must I do in order to have life!
But look what the Pharisees do. Look at vs. 22:

22 Therefore the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

It’s like they are making fun of Him!

Look at vs. 23: And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 “I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins.”

Now look at vs. 25: And so they were saying to Him, “Who are You?”

This is the third question these religious leaders ask in this passage: “Where is your Father”; vs. 19; “Will He kill Himself”; vs. 22; and now in vs. 25, “Who are you!”
These questions weren’t asked to discover the truth; they are asked to resist the truth and to justify their rejection and refusal to believe.
And they are asked to cause others to reject Christ too.

And look at Jesus’ response. They ask, “Who are You?” and Jesus says, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning?

Jesus didn’t have a new answer for them. He had already told them many times and all He could do is repeat it for them again.
Look at vs. 26:

26 “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.”

And look at vs. 27 They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father.

How could they not know that He was speaking to them about the Father?
Could it be that they were so busy disputing what He said that they didn’t hear or understand?
This is what unbelief does.

When it comes to Christ, when it comes to God; when it comes to salvation and what Jesus commands for salvation; some people are so busy arguing and disputing that they can’t or won’t hear what they are told.

They can’t or won’t hear Jesus and they can’t or won’t hear you.

These Jews, these Pharisees already had their mind made up; they had already dug in and even the truth could not budge them.

They would rather lose their soul than to change.

And I suspect that many of you have encountered someone just like this: you have tried to teach them about Christ; you have tried to teach them what the Lord commands; you have tried to explain to them the plan of salvation and the more you try to tell them the more they counter with “how about this or how about that”; they counter with some hypothetical question; or they just simply refuse to believe.

For example: You may have tried to teach someone about their need to be baptized and one of the more common questions to dispute baptism is: “If a man is headed to be baptized and he is killed in a car wreck, is he lost?”

And I know you have heard this one: “Do you Church of Christers really believe that you are the only ones going to heaven?”

Often these kinds of questions are asked, not to learn, but to dispute and to reject Christ and what He teaches; and that is what these Jewish leaders do in this passage.

So, vs. 27 says, “They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father.”

Well, look at vs. 28. They may claim not to know that Jesus is speaking of the Father; but they will! Vs. 28:

Jesus therefore said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. 29 “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

How will they know that He is speaking of the Father?
All these Pharisees have done is deny Him; act like He is illegitimately claiming to be the Messiah; how will they know that He is the Son of God?

Notice, Jesus says, “When you lift up…”

It will only be in about 6 months when they crucify Jesus.
And when He gives up His spirit, someone in the temple will see the veil of the temple ripped from top to bottom;
People will feel the ground shake; rocks will be split; tombs will be opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep will be raised and those bodies will enter into Jerusalem; Matthew 27.
And there will be an unexplainable darkness that will come over the land at midday that will last for about 3 hours; Luke 23.
And if that isn’t enough to convince them; on the third day after He is crucified they are going to find His tomb is empty; and just like they are doing here in John 8, they will try to dispute it with a lie; Matthew 28.
But, we are not surprised because that is what unbelief does. Unbelief would rather argue, deny, and deceive rather than accept the truth.

Unbelief never has enough proof.

These people had enough hearing of His words to know that He spoke like no other person ever spoke; that is exactly what was reported to them in chapter 7: 46.
And they had seen His works of healing and His power over disease, demons, death and nature.
But unbelief never has enough proof.

So, it is easy to quit trying; just give up; they are not going to listen anyway.

Well, look at vs. 30: As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.

You never know!
In spite of the Pharisees efforts to reject the truth and keep others from hearing it; “many came to believe in Him.”
There will always be those who reject, refuse, and argue; but there will always be those who let the word penetrate within and that is why, just like Jesus, we keep trying; and teaching.
Teaching by our example; teaching in love; teaching with patience.

Now, I want to take you back to vs. 12: Jesus says: “I am the light of the world;

He doesn’t say that He is “a light of the world” which some other rabbi or teacher might say.
He doesn’t say that He is “a light to Jerusalem” or “I am a light to Judah” light some other teacher might say.
This is a direct claim to be the Messiah; Isaiah 42, 49, and 50.

And when He says, “I am the light of the world” that is a metaphor.

Light is the active power that dispels darkness so Jesus is the light that dispels darkness for the whole world.
And Jesus is the light that dispels the darkness of falsehood.
Jesus is the light that dispels the darkness of ignorance.
Jesus is the light of holiness that dispels the darkness of impurity.
Jesus is the light of joy that dispels the darkness of sorrow.
And Jesus is the light that dispels the darkness of death.
When Jesus says, “I am the light of the world” these Jews knew He was claiming to be God; the Messiah.

And look at the second part of the verse: “…he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness,

but shall have the light of life.”

If these people here in John 8; if the world; or if you and I want to be led out of darkness; if you want to be led out of falsehood; if you want to be led out of ignorance; or impurity; or sorrow; or out of death into life; there is only one thing to do: follow, follow Jesus!

Some will argue with that until the cows come home. But remember what Jesus says in vs. 24: Unless you believe in Him; and follow Him; you will die in your sins.