Family matters - John 8:12-59
This is a sermon by Peter Birnie from the Riverside Church service on 2nd November 2025.
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John 8 v12-59 “Family Matters”
Intro: (Slide 1) One of the books I enjoyed reading when I was younger was “Tom Sawyer”, and in that book was the story of Tom and his friend Becky getting lost for a long time in a system of caves. For some reason that story really fascinated me – I think it was imagining the sheer dread of being utterly lost in the dark with not much hope of being found and the danger of getting more and more deeply lost in trying to find a way out. With Tom Sawyer’s almost fatal mistake on my mind I knew as a boy that if I ever went for a tour around a cave system, I would make sure to stay close to the guide, I would follow very closely the one who held the light and knew where to go.
(Slide 2) If the stakes are high when it comes to blundering about in a cave, then think how seriously we should take Jesus’ words in John 8 considering that there will be eternal consequences for those who don’t. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” If I, as a young boy, would do everything in my power to be right on the heels of the guide with the light in a cave, then surely as Christians, struggling in the darkness of this broken world, we should be even more urgent about closely following Jesus with our entire lives. Last week in John 7 our apathy about Jesus was challenged – followers of Jesus are filled with the Holy Spirit and so living water is to flow out from us to others. This week our urgency about Jesus must be sharpened – Jesus is the light of the world, only following him leads to eternal life!
(Slide 3) Following Jesus is how we know the Father (v12-20). At the Feast of Tabernacles both water and light were central as God’s people rejoiced in his past deliverance, his abundant present provision, and his great promises of a deliverer in the future. In John 7 Jesus had invited people to come to him for living water and now in John 8 Jesus boldly declares that he is the light of the world. Jesus is explicitly showing the Jewish people that the festival is about him, the festival is pointing to the deliverer himself, the light-bringer, Jesus. And that it is through this Jesus that we can really know the Father in heaven. What is the link between light and knowing God?
(Slide 4) I think every person that you and I know will ask themselves at some point “What is wrong with this world?” Amidst lots of good things and enjoyable blessings, there is just so much that is bad, so much that is painful, so much that is just … dark. We are experiencing this as a church family at the moment aren’t we? Many of us know all too well what it is like to wrestle with the darkness in this world. But here is the truth – although we do not like suffering, we are not surprised by it. And that is because the Bible gives a full and accurate explanation for why the world is the way it is. God made a wonderful world, a world that was very good. And in that world he walked with the people he had made, humanity enjoyed close fellowship with God – everything was good, there was no spiritual darkness, only light, because we knew God. But our sin, our rebellion, our turning away from God’s good rule to ruling ourselves catastrophically changed all that.
Sin brought darkness into this world, sin cut us off from knowing God. That is the accurate explanation for why the world is the way it is. We need light to chase away the darkness, we need to be brought back into close relationship with God. Jesus is the one who can do this – he is the light of the world. It is plain from Jesus’ words and actions that he has the Father’s blessing. In verses 13-18, despite all the Jewish leader’s cynicism, criticism and questions, they have all the witnesses they need. Jesus himself speaks with authority and the works he is doing show clearly that God the Father is stamping his seal of approval on Jesus. So there is Jesus at the Temple (centre of the Jewish religion), and here are his glorious invitations (Slide 5);
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
“If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
Christ Church Riverside, knowing God is what we have been built for. Knowing God is everything. Make sure that unlike the Jewish leaders, you are following Jesus – that is how we go from darkness and separation to light and knowing God.
(Slide 6) Have you ever got to the point in a relationship with someone that you decide, “that’s it, no more, I have had enough – no more chasing, I am done”?
If so, then praise God that he is not like you. Because despite the constant, grinding opposition of the Jewish leaders, Jesus keeps going back for more; he gives more invitations, he gives more warnings than any of us could ever deserve. (Slide 7) V21 “Once more Jesus said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”
3 times in verses 21-30 Jesus repeats this grave warning that his opponents will “die in their sins” if they do not believe Jesus. When people say things like that there are only 2 real possible motivations that provoke it. Either the person is filled with hate and so what is pouring out is cruelty – “you will die in your sins.” Or the person is filled with loving concern and so what is pouring out is urgent care – “you will die in your sins.” What we know about Jesus shows us the level of love, grace and utterly undeserved mercy that is on show here. Jesus knows he comes from the Father, Jesus recognises that the people in front of him are rejecting him and indeed planning to kill him, and yet he still holds out to them the offer of life. The life that is only available in Jesus.
(Slide 8) There is a famous scene in the Lord of the Rings where one of the key heroes stands on a bridge and shouts “You shall not pass” at a terrible enemy. In John 8 it is as if Jesus is standing on the bridge to God shouting the opposite to his enemies. Imploring his enemies to listen to him, to believe in him, to understand that he has been sent from God so that sinful people can get to God through Jesus. If they don’t pass through Jesus they will die in their sins. Judgement, hell.
(Slide 9) Christ Church Riverside, there are so many things that we find ourselves longing for in this world. But know this for certain, the real longing of the human heart is get to God. That is how we have been made, there is no escaping from that, whether you are a staunch believer or a staunch atheist it doesn’t change that fact. Yes, we often fill our lives with all sorts of other stuff but that won’t work, it is like petrol in a diesel engine, it cannot work. We long to get to God, we long to be in his presence, we long to have communion with him.
Jesus warns that apart from him there is no way of doing that, no way of getting to God - every single one of us will die in our sins if we do not believe in Jesus. And Jesus’ loving warning had a massive impact right there and then, v30; “Even as he spoke, many believed in him.” Many believed. Right then, many crossed over from death to life. Many left the horrible prospect of dying in their sins and instead received the awesome gift of eternal life.
(Slide 10) I hope that so far you are freshly amazed by John chapter 8. The light of the world offering to take people out of darkness, offering to bring people back into relationship with God. The one who has come from the father pleading with people to believe in him so they can move from dying in sin to living close to God. Amazing - but perhaps verses 31-47 describe Jesus’ offer in the most striking way of all.
(Slide 11) Because in these verses following Jesus is how we become children of God. Jesus tells the new believers to hold to his teaching, for that way they have the truth that sets them free. We are back to that picture of the toddler in a car seat who cannot get themselves free. That is what sin does to each one of us. But Jesus frees people from their sin and when Jesus sets you free, you really are free. Free because Jesus makes you into a child of God. Free because Jesus makes you part of the family of God. This causes some pushback from many who thought that their position as Jews, children of Abraham, already made them God’s children. Jesus’ language in these verses very quickly shines a light on that false belief.
They are not to worry too much about whether or not they are physically descended from Abraham, instead they are to be highly concerned about whether they are children of the Devil or children of God. Through verses 40-47 Jesus makes it really, starkly clear for some of those in front of him;
(Slide 12); “You are looking for a way to kill me … Abraham did not do such things… You are doing the works of your own father … You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires…you do not belong to God.”
There are few places where Jesus, who came to seek and to save the lost, speaks with such clarity and in such terrifying terms. Here is the simple summary that should change our lives this morning; the difference between being a child of God or being a child of the devil is the difference between following Jesus and not following Jesus.
(Slide 13) If a horrible hate-filled person said those things then maybe you could ignore them and put them down to prejudice. But the one who went to the cross to save his enemies from sin is the one who tells us that following him is freedom instead of slavery, is being part of the family of God rather than being ruled over by Satan.
What does following Jesus look like?
(Slide 14)So as we finish this morning, I would like to think that every single one of us wants to make sure that we are following Jesus with our lives, living as part of the family of God, rather than living in darkness and slavery and dying in our sins. There is no barrier to you this morning other than any barrier you put up yourself. Jesus offers, invites, warns and pleads so that we will believe in him and follow him in light. But here are some key evidences throughout this passage that give you confidence that you are doing just that;
- V48-59: Do you recognise who Jesus is? Enemies of Jesus don’t recognise him as God in flesh. Instead they say some terrible things about him. Jesus says in verse 58 “Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I AM”. Jesus is God in flesh. You cannot follow Jesus if you won’t acknowledge who he is. He isn’t just a good man, a prophet, a created being of any sort. Jesus is divine. Following Jesus means acknowledging him as one of the 3 persons of the Trinity, the one true God.
- V12 “Whoever follows me”: The word follow itself means a close association, the same ambitions as Jesus, the same attitudes as Jesus, the same sacrifices as Jesus, the same service as Jesus. Following Jesus will mean evidence of Spirit-filled discipleship in your life.
- V31 “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” What is happening both inside and outside of churches in our nation at the moment is awful – Jesus’ teaching is being altered, diluted, changed, deleted, so that we can do what we want to do. Start of life, end of life, finances, sexuality, gender – you name it and Jesus’ teaching is being abandoned. Following Jesus will mean a life of holding on to Jesus’ teaching even when others say we don’t need to anymore, even when others persecute us for it.
- V47 “Whoever belongs to God, hears what God says.” In some ways this is a very simple one – who are you listening to in life? Following Jesus will mean a life of listening to his word, rather than your own thoughts or the world around’s wisdom. It is such a wonderful sign that a person is child of God when they are really hungry for his word.
- V51 “Whoever obeys my word will never see death”. Every week we say the confession because we do fail, we do sin. But followers of Jesus don’t put up with their sin, they don’t make peace with their sin. Following Jesus means a life of repentance and change, a life where we know we go wrong but then we run back to Jesus again and again and again, a life where we want every little bit of it to go Jesus’ way.
There is so much evidence of these things in our church family. I am so grateful to God for the light that he has shined into our lives. But let nobody here continue to live in darkness. Come to Jesus freshly today, do not die in your sins, instead live for Jesus and for the glory of God.
Today’s sermon: John 8v12-59 “Family Matters”
Intro: Lost in the caves
What is the link between light and knowing God?
- Sin leaves us in darkness
- Sin cuts us off from God
Jesus is the light, Jesus is how we know God
Praise God he is not like us!
“You will die in your sin”
- We can only get to God through Jesus
- Our deepest longing is to be with God
“Even as he spoke, many believed in him.”
Amazing so far but maybe most amazing – children of God!!!
- Children of the devil, what a frightening warning
- Children of God, what an amazing invitation
What does it mean to be a child of God?
- V48-59 Recognise Jesus’ identity
- V12 “Whoever follows me.”
- V31 “If you hold to my teaching.”
- V47 “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says.”
- V51 “Whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
| Memory verse: John 7 v 27-38 “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
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| My own questions for later:
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| Questions to think more about: |
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