John 8:42-59
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
If you want to play a game you are sure to win, play hide and seek with a small child. When it comes to hiding, kids are silly. “Why is that door half closed?” “There can’t be anything attached to that leg sticking out from behind the couch.” “I wonder what could be under that bulging, wriggling blanket?” 
Or my favorite, the boy standing in the middle of the room with his eyes closed tight. (To my great shame, I learned closing your eyes doesn’t make you invisible when I was in fourth grade.) Silly kids.
But adults are even more silly when it comes to hiding. The first game of hide and seek was when Adam hid from God because he was afraid. His hiding spot? A few leaves and a couple of trees. Did he really think he could hide from the Creator? I guess he did. Silly Adam. And then there was Israel’s first king (1 Sam. 10:20-24). Saul was a whole head taller than anyone else in Israel. But when God chose him as king, Saul went and hid behind some luggage. Silly Saul.
And, let’s consider the hiding you do. Do you really think you can keep hiding your crummy work and half-hearted efforts from your boss? For how long? Silly thief. Do you think you can keep making up stories? Silly liar. When you say, “Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but you should be aware that so-and-so is…,” we know you’re a loudmouth. Silly gossiper. Do your eyes keep wandering for more glances at that woman? Silly adulterer. Your anger is plain as the nose on your face. Silly murderer (Mt. 5:22). And even if you can hide your transgression from others, you can’t hide it from God. Silly sinner.
Repent. You’re guilty. You’re guilty, and you can’t hide it. Or do you really think you can stand before God’s wrath against your sin and say, “Well, nobody’s perfect”? Silly, silly sinner.
Repent. You don’t have to hide. Jesus has freed you to speak the truth and confess your sins. Christ has provided all the cover you will ever need – no luggage, no fig leaves, no closed eyes. He has provided His holy Body and Blood. Don’t hide your sins. Hand them over to Jesus. Let Him have them and receive what He wants to hand over to you – His righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. You can hand your sins over to Jesus because, today, Jesus hid for you.
Jesus stood in the middle of people who have been looking for a reason to kill Him for almost His entire ministry (Mk. 3:6). Today, Christ declares Himself to be no less than Almighty God. When He declares Himself to be the great I Am, Jesus announces that He is the One who is Lord over all things, and the One who always was, always is, and always will be, the One who spoke to Moses from the burning bush, the One who led their ancestors through the Red Sea on dry ground, the One whom Isaiah saw in the Temple.
They didn’t like that, so they picked up stones to throw at Him and kill Him. Silly sinners, thinking they could kill God. But Jesus hid. Jesus didn’t hide because He was scared of death. He didn’t hide because didn’t trust His heavenly Father’s protection. Jesus hides because He is fully in control. Jesus hides so that He could die at the right time and in the right way. Judged and condemned twice, once by the religious leaders and a second time by Pilate. Jesus sentenced and condemned to death bearing all your sins in His body (1 Pet. 2:24).
Jesus hides here because His hour had not yet come. Christ had more to accomplish for you. He still had to raise Lazarus from the dead. He still had to institute His holy Supper. He still had to be betrayed by a kiss, arrested, and denied by Peter. Jesus had to hide here because His death won’t be by stones. It can’t be by stones; it must be on a tree for all to see. Today, Jesus hides Himself in the thicket so that He will be there at the right time to die in the place of another (Gen. 22:13) – to die in your place.
There on the cross, He must die for you. And then, He must be hidden again. Hidden at dusk on Friday night and all of Holy Saturday in that tomb sealed with a stone. Hidden with Him is the wrath of God, the Law, and Hell. 
All of that is hidden so that you do not have to face it. It is hidden so that you do not need to hide.
And now, Jesus hides Himself again but this time in Bread and Wine. Soon, He will come in glory when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is the crucified Lord who is risen and reigns. And know that you are joined to Him. You have died with Him and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, you also will appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). Amen.[1]
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1]This sermon was adapted from a sermon by Rev. Ralph Tausz on the same text (http://www.apostlesmelrosepark.org/index.php?page=Sermons&sid=235).
But Satan comes along and puts a question into the mind of the woman. “Did God actually say?” This is the one attack of the devil. He always is trying to get us to doubt the Word and promise of God. “Did God actually say, you should not eat of any tree in the garden?” And notice that the woman adds to God’s promise. She says, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, neither shall you touch it, less you die.’” God had never said anything about not touching the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (at least, it isn’t recorded for us). Satan is attacking God’s Word, but Adam and the woman have not fallen yet. The serpent sees his opening and tells an outright lie, “You will not surely die! For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
But even as God does this, we will see the horrific consequences that sin and evil has brought into God’s good creation. God calls to Adam, “Where are you?” God still wants to have fellowship with Adam and the woman even though they have sinned, broken His commandment, and lost their faith. But rather than confessing and repenting of his sin, Adam dodges the opportunity saying, “I hid from You because I was naked and afraid.” So, God gives Adam a second chance to repent, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
gives her the name Eve. She wasn’t called this at any point before in Scripture. Adam gives her the name ‘Eve’ which means ‘life-giver.’ Here’s how we know faith is restored. Eve was already going to be the mother of everyone who would be born. But Adam, the father of faith, changes her name to Eve because she is the mother of all who would believe in the promised Seed who would crush the serpent’s head.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
You see, it’s not just the world and things outside of you that are a dark place. Your heart also has a darkness that needs the light of God’s Word. Peter doesn’t use the normal word for ‘dark’ here. In fact, the word that gets translated here as ‘dark’ is the only time in all the Scriptures where this word gets used. When I looked Greek the word up, the first definition is ‘squalid’ which is a word I don’t think I’ve ever used in normal conversation. So, I looked up ‘squalid’ and it means this, ‘foul and repulsive from a lack of care; neglected and filthy.’
nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” 17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
The funeral procession began at the sentencing as crowds shouted out, “Crucify, crucify Him.” In that funeral procession, Jesus carried His own bier, His own cross, until He could carry it no more. A great crowd of people followed Jesus mourning and lamenting for Him. But even in the midst of that funeral procession, Jesus’ words are the same, “Weep not”(Lk. 23:26-28).
Instead, Jesus defeats death, each and every time He meets it.
This miracle, on the other hand, is odd. It’s dirty. Maybe, you even find it disgusting. Jesus takes a deaf man who has a speech impediment off to the side. He sticks His fingers into wax-filled ears. God in the flesh spits (apparently, Jesus wasn’t taught how to give a proper wet-Willy). Christ literally seizes, not just ‘touches,’ the man’s tongue. And then, Jesus looks up to heaven. Sighs. And says, “Ephphatha,” which means,“Be opened.”
Jesus had come to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, not to be the audiologist who takes away the deafness of the world. Jesus had come to give eternal life through His death and resurrection, not to give a voice to the voiceless.
Yes, Jesus sighs and acts. He gets involved with us even though it hurts Him. He cannot help Himself. In His love and mercy, He gets bound up in the mess we make and that others have made for us. He gets entangled in our sin. In fact, He becomes sin so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21).
1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
Getting a catch like that would be the dream any fisherman. But it is too much of a good thing. This catch is threatening their livelihood, nearly breaking the nets and causing the boats to sink; it is killing them. And these fish – which had been their life and livelihood – could not save them. This fishing expedition is a massive success. Surrounded by what would provide for his life for months if not years, Peter can only see his sin.
Jesus’ will is that you be caught by the net of the Gospel, that you be brought into the boat of the church, and that you have fellowship with Him now and forever. It is Jesus’ will that He not depart from you but that He draw you to Himself.
Jesus says, “Judge not,”and our fallen, twisted, evil, amoral society latches on to these words like stink on poo. If an unbeliever loves any words of Jesus, it is probably, “Judge not.”
Know this: No one will thank you from hell for remaining silent about their sin on earth. And God forbid that they curse you from hell for remaining silent about their earthly sin.
God loves you from His very heart. God gives you real mercy. He loves the good and bad, the greatest and the least. He loves the sinner who strives to be merciful but fails, the hardened drug lord who doesn’t care about his sin, and He even loves you. In His mercy, God doesn’t simply get frustrated with your hypocrisy and ignore it.
2Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to another and said:
Hebrews 12[:22–23]tells us that there are many more here today than our eyes can see, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.”
Pastorsamwise 
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