In this sermon, the speaker unpacks John 8, emphasizing that Jesus declares Himself and the Father as the only true judges, rendering human judgment irrelevant. He argues that the gospel’s message is strikingly simple: belief in Christ’s identity, death, and resurrection is the sole requirement for salvation. The speaker stresses that Christians need not defend, rationalize, or explain their faith to the world; Jesus himself offers a blunt, sufficient truth. Applying this, believers are urged to share the gospel plainly, focusing on Christ’s authority rather than engaging in endless debates or seeking worldly approval. The talk concludes with an exhortation to trust only in divine judgment and to live out the Great Commission with confidence and simplicity.
Chapters
You got to stop letting the world judge you. We are going to tackle this as we go into John today. It's very, very clear. This passage could not make it more clear for us that it is about who is the judge, how does that work, where are we going. So, uh, if you don't have your Bible yet, go grab your Bible. I'm going to read from the ESV, so if you don't have one handy, don't worry about it. I'll read through the passage. We're going to break this down. Let's see what we've got. We're going to start in John 8, verse So picking up after the story of the woman who could have been stoned to death and wasn't, and this is a nice little segue from that story into this one. So again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So the Pharisees said to him, you're bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. Essentially saying, you know, Jesus, you're talking about yourself. You can't— you have no authority. You can't just say you are what you are. You're bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. And Jesus answered them, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I'm going. But you don't know where I come from or where I'm going. Came from God. I'm going to God. I know where I'm going. I don't need to prove anything to you. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of 2 people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him therefore, where is your Father? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also. These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come. So he said to them again, I am going away, and you will seek me. You will die in your sin. Where I'm going, you can't come. So the Jews said, will he kill himself since he says, where I'm going, you can't come? He said to them, you are from below and I am from above. You are of this world. I'm not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. So they said to him, who are you? Jesus responded, just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him. They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 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. As he was saying these things, Many believed in him. Okay, I love this passage. I love this passage for a couple of different reasons. One, this is not Jesus being that light, soft. He's a teacher. He's a social justice advocate. He's this really gentle rabbi from— no, no, no, no. He's coming right out here and he's just flatly saying, This is how this works. I came from God. I'm going back to God. I'm going to die. I'm going to go up on a cross. That's how it's going to work. If you believe that, you're with me. If you don't believe that, you're not. It's that simple. What is it that defines whether or not you are with me or not? If you believe that. Do you believe that? If you don't, that's a you problem. It is. He's not qualifying it here. He's saying, this is who I am. This is what I'm here for. And if you don't believe it, I don't need to give you more than that. I've given you everything that you need. I've taught about it. I've shown it to you. I've given you everything you could possibly need. If you don't have it, if you don't get it, don't worry about it. Now, that is crucial. That's an absolute crucial, obvious takeaway from this passage of this idea of, of in Christ alone, through Christ. That's where salvation comes from. Faith alone in Christ alone. That's it. That's it. That's the only requirement. That's it. But the other amazing thing that comes with this is this idea that Jesus sees no reason to defend himself. These people make claims of, prove it, prove it to us, argue it with us, debate it with us, show us, give us miracles, give us this, give us that. Nada. It's not required. Here it is. Here's the truth. You want the truth? Here it is. Jesus died, was rose again. He's the Savior. Paid the death. That needed to be paid to cover sin. If you believe that, great. If you don't believe that, that's on you. That's it. It's just that simple. Is there another defense that's needed? Do you need to defend who you are, what your belief is, what your faith is? No. Does the world want it? Yes. They— Jesus himself faces this from the world of, oh, teach us, show us, prove it, do this. It's not necessary. It's just not necessary. So if you're out there walking your walk, if you are a Christian that's out in the world and you're trying to live a life that shows Christ, you're trying to share Christ, no matter where you are, no matter what your job might be, what your social circles might be, wherever you may be, if you're trying to share the gospel and, and as you're sharing it out, there's pushback. There's people saying, well, we don't believe that. We don't want to believe that. We've got questions about that. We've got doubts about that. You can get into that conversation if you want to, but not even Jesus here entertains He keeps it simple. Here's who I came from. Here's why I came. Believe it or don't. That's it. That's it. It doesn't take more than that. And you, you as a Christian that's out there walking, there's going to be a lot, especially in this day and age, a lot of people to go, well, what about this? What about that? What about this? What about that? Yeah, those are all other things than what I just said. We— he, he literally makes the Great Commission so simple here. He makes it so simple and so just blunt and in your face. It doesn't need more added to it. It doesn't need to be more complex than that. When Jesus says, oh, to have faith like a little child is sufficient, it's because the concept is that simple. Yeah, there's a lot of depth into understanding Jesus and what that looks like to live it out. Yeah, you can always mature in your faith and grow for sure. Those are things that are there, but at its core, the simplicity of it is Came from God, died, rose again. Debt was paid. Believe it or don't. That's it. This passage is a perfect example of how the Great Commission is supposed to work. It's a great example of how simple it can be. And at the same time, when you feel that that world is judging you, criticizing you about what your beliefs are, what you what you feel is true, what you feel is right. As though it needs some additional defense. You don't need to. You don't need to defend it. You don't need to explain it. You don't need to excuse it. You don't need to rationalize it. You just need to give it. You just, you just got to give it. So if you're trying this, if you're trying to do the walk of Christ, if you're trying to share the gospel, and there's people that have things that they want to throw up for you, well, you should stop doing that, or you shouldn't do that this way, or you should do it another way, or maybe you should address this, or maybe you should address that stuff. You don't need to do any of that. There's one judge. He says it right here. And it's not those people. It's not the world. It's not your social feeds. It's not, it's not your, your social circles off of the internet. It's none of those people. There's only one, only one judge. That's it. Worry about what he has to say. Hopefully that helps you guys out. John 8, just Jesus laying it down. Here it is, point blank, blunt, beautiful.
