Many considered Jesus a crazy man in His time. And Jesus said...
John {4:44} For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.
It's safe to say that many felt about Jesus the way many feel about anyone today claiming to be Jesus. Totally different you say? How so?
They're not Jesus. Right, I agree, and yet many thought the same of the real thing, of the real Jesus. You see, God doesn't use magic to sway people. God did give Jesus this mystical ability to wave his hands and everyone believe in him. As it was then it is now, God never forces anyone to believe, He doesn't use trickery.
While the Jewish people back then longed for the Messiah, the majority longed for Him in their perceived way. They wanted Him to come and raise himself up a king and set them all free from their earthy tyranny. They didn't perceive Jesus as one coming and being lowly, seemingly without much power. Sure he could do a few things but the messiah they had in mind could do things amazing and showy, that messiah could draw crowds of people and with great power over throw the enemy.
Did any Jewish people believe in Jesus? Of course they did. Jesus was a Jewish person and so were His disciples.
Were there others? Yes...
John
{8:31} Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
{8:32} And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
**
There it is again- knowing the truth and being free by knowing the truth. If the truth is that Salvation is found in Jesus, then it does set you free from sin.
John
{8:33} They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
**
Heh, today a lot of people feel the same don't they? They are their OWN person. They control their OWN destiny. They don't need freedom, they're not captive. We hear it all the time, 'I'm my own person. Not one tells me what to do. I'm in charge of my own life.' We have seminars and retreats all geared towards empowering oneself, teaching self-reliance, self-awareness...self, self, self. Not the reality of how we are all captives, even if our captors lets us keep the illusion we are not. It's a sweet illusion of Satan's deceiving so many. All are in bondage because all are sinners and there is only one way to be free and that's through Jesus Christ.
John
{8:34} Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
{8:35} And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
{8:36} If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
{8:37} I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
{8:38} I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
**
Jesus wasn't mincing words here. Jesus sent by God His Father was speaking only truth. Those who speak lies, those who won't embrace the truth, those who shun the truth in Him have a Father too, but it's not God.
John
{8:39} They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. {8:40} But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
{8:41} Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
{8:42} Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. {8:43} Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
{8:44} Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
{8:45} And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
{8:46} Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
{8:47} He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
**
Wow!
He's telling it like it is.
The Jewish people there claiming their proven genealogically line through Abraham were being told what? That their father was the devil! They weren't of Abraham! And yet physically they were and it mattered not to Jesus why? Because they didn't want the truth.
Have we exhausted the importance of truth? I don't think that's ever going to be possible.
Jesus said- 'because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.'
He was speaking the truth!
Have you ever tried to tell the truth to someone who refused to believe what you said was true? I know I have and it's so frustrating! You can't convince people to believe you, they have to choose to believe you. You want to think that the truth stands on its own merit, but sometimes it doesn't. Imagine the wrongfully convicted criminal who tells the truth and is put in prison or worse, put to death for crimes he never committed. We want the truth to come out to be believed, you can imagine how badly those people want it to be believed and yet people don't always believe the truth, sometimes the truth sounds to fantastical to be believed and yet it's the truth.
Jesus was telling it plainly but He also knew that there were people who would never see or believe in the truth because they weren't of God at all, they were under another's rule and that other had them totally blinded to the truth.
Just like in a courtroom where a broken, battered victim takes the stand and points a finger at the falsely accused swearing they're the one that hurt them. The witness is believed, the witness even unwittingly is blinding the jurors to the truth. Understandable you say? Anyone would be fooled? It's possible in that scenario but with Jesus the truth is there for all to see if they would just desire to be with God, really desire to be Gods.
John
{8:48} Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
The people he was talking to were quick to turn it around on him, calling him a Samaritan, telling him he had a devil. Oh if only they really knew what they were doing. If only we really understood that even today we fuss over rules and regulations, we fuss over so much, rituals, ordinances, church statement of beliefs, sacraments, we get so caught up in so much that has very little to do with the truth. Not that those things are good in their place but they should never be the end all, Jesus is the beginning and the end of it all, He is the truth.
What did Jesus say to those accusing him of having a devil?
John
{8:49} Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.
{8:50} And I seek not mine own glory there is one that seeketh and judgeth.
{8:51} Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
**
Never see death and what death is He talking of? The death that there is no returning from. Even Jesus died. All men die. Never seeing death means that Jesus defeated death at the cross. Death will not be a permanent sleep for those that die in Him, for those who keep His sayings. Death as the ultimate punishment is non-existence, and that death Jesus won the battle over. There is a death that all men face which is a sleep until judgment and then there is a permanent death which isn't something any will ever be woken from, it's being destroyed forever. Realizing these truths are so important. Jesus knew what he was saying then... read on...
John
{8:52} Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
{8:53} Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?
**
They were amazed and you know the scriptures pointed to a Messiah, to one greater than Abraham and the prophets but there they were not believing any could be greater, and yet those they spoke of as great pointed to one greater. Amazing how blind they were. How blind we can become when we refuse to believe in the truth, to believe in God.
John
{8:54} Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:
{8:55} Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.
{8:56} Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
**
All glory to God! Jesus wasn't tooting his own horn trying to gain attention for himself in honor, not at all. He wasn't shouting and screaming and demanding glory from others, not at all. God honored Jesus, God honored His Son.
John
{8:57} Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
**
More confusion. You'd think they'd realize the Messiah would be of such that every word spoken was truth. That the Messiah they longed to come and save them would have to be from God, would have to have such oneness with God.
{8:58} Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
**
They couldn't understand. He was a lunatic to them, his words blasphemous, he was crazy to spout such things. They couldn't understand, it was as Jesus said, they didn't want God, not really. They wanted a form of religion that was more selfish than Godly. They followed their true father- the father of lies because the lies suited them so much better than the truth. They could understand lies, but they couldn't understand the truth.
John
{8:59} Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
**
How many people today would rather believe lies that Jesus? How many think they follow God but really serve Satan? Too many, way too many.
May God protect us from the lies of Satan, may we seek the truth, find the truth, follow the truth as it is in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, by His Grace and Mercy forever!
Amen.
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