Judica Sunday (Lent 5) – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. John 8:46-59 “To Hear the Words of God”
March 22, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Almighty God, heavenly Father, who, through Your Son our Lord and our Redeemer, promised: If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death, we humbly ask You, grant us Your Holy Spirit, that, duly knowing Your Son, we may keep His Word, trust in it, comfort ourselves with it in the hour of departure, and enter into everlasting life; for the sake of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever. Amen. (The Lutheran Liturgy, companion altar book for The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 92)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 8th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
[Jesus said:] “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
The Jews answered Him, “Are we not right in saying that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. Yet I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks it, and He is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who comes to us in His Holy Word, proclaiming to us law and Gospel, the Words of God, so we may never see death, dear fellow redeemed:
Welcome to the top of a mountain. As you wonder what mountain top it is you are on, I can tell you that it was most likely a very hard climb to get here. You had to climb through the week of life’s hardships and then the additional climbing of the beginning of our worship service of admitting that you have sinned in the eyes of God. Upon hearing your forgiveness, you have now made it to the summit of the service of the Word, where God’s Word to you is expounded in the sermon. This gracious Word has many uses, for all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). And we are here to hear all of these uses applied to us, whether we want to hear it or not. Our text for today reveals why the air on this summit will have some sting to it. [Jesus said:] “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God.” As this is the climax of our service today, in hearing the Words of God, Jesus’ enemies have hit a climax of their own when Jesus utters to them this truth. It is a truth that stings with correction, and it is a truth that gives righteousness.
And both of these are good things to hear. This sounds crazy to our ears, and it is definitely crazy to the ears of the world, but to say they are not both good is to say they are not both from God. Jesus knows this is and is teaching His enemies this same point. They must hear it all, but sadly they aren’t. Jesus continues, “The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” The Jews answered Him, “Are we not right in saying that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus’ enemies are revealing actions of children caught in a battle with one another with their chief weapon being name calling. Sometimes if you don’t have an answer, it is easy to throw out an accusation whether it is true or false. Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. Yet I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks it, and He is the judge.” In those names, there is no conviction of sin. Jesus refutes and points to His actions and His Word, which is all done with only one person in mind. He seeks His Father’s judgment, and His judgment of Jesus’ Word is that, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.” In an outrage, His opponents misinterpret Him, thinking He is referring to earthly life instead of heavenly life.
With all of this jumping to conclusions, maybe Jesus’ enemies are just confused? Has Jesus tricked them in some way? Unlike the world’s thinking at the moment, the burden of proof of all that Jesus is accused of, lay on Jesus’ opponents to prove these charges against Him. The problem is, they know they have only been throwing these accusations at Him without any merit to them. In fact, it is only making them angrier the more good they see Him do and the more people He pulls away from them. They have one thought on their mind for this Man who has done nothing wrong. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall beat his sin. Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death (Leviticus 24:13-16).
As they accuse Jesus of doing evil, you can hear their murderous thoughts bleed through the text. We also hear the voice of God, who warns that we need to continue to be on our guard for Satan’s lies today about Jesus. He lies, saying Jesus doesn’t bring any judgment to anyone. He lies, saying Jesus is going to give us all that we ask. He lies, saying we are always going to feel His presence and that we can pull Him into our hearts. When these lies end up failing in our lives, then with the devil’s encouragement it seems easy to want to attack Jesus. If we believe in
the truth Jesus preaches, then to attack Him as He says is to attack God. If we go as far as to doubt and then not believe in what He can do, the refusal to believe in Jesus and His Word is traced to the spiritual father of the world, the devil. If we end up firmly in this camp, a sign of this camp is the utter disdain and anger toward the Savior. Just as when Jesus was taken to King Herod on Good Friday and the chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him (Luke 23:10).
How did it get to that point? They continued to defend themselves with lies. They knew Jesus was telling the truth as Jesus did not make it too hard to understand. In fact, the reason they were so upset is because in His simple truth they can only see how wrong they are. In our sinfulness, we can see how we are inherently not from God. At times, especially when it appears as though we are in the midst of a complete disaster, Jesus still points to His life. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). It is hard to entrust when we can easily end up in the crowd that cries out, “Crucify, Crucify him.” When we fight the Word, there is only one road this will lead us down. First, we despise it, then we might blaspheme and curse it, and finally we commit murder over it. Any thought we have like this comes from one person and it is the person they were accusing Jesus of being. Jesus said, “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” (John 8:44a). He will always lie, therefore we cling to Jesus who only reveals to us the truth.
And this truth is powerful as the Jews put Abraham’s faith on the table for Jesus to use against them. In the Word of God through faith, Abraham saw Jesus’ day with the eyes. With faith, he looked forward to the Savior whom God promised and to his eternal home in heaven. Fleshed out in Hebrews, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. (Hebrews 11:8-13). Died physically, but because of faith, they never saw death.
As Jesus then points out that Abraham saw the truth that came to Him by God, it was God who would also use His enemies’ murderous thoughts. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:49-50). Through the prophecy of one who sought death, the high priest reveals Jesus as the true high priest. The true high priest who perfectly speaks on behalf of and carries out the will of His Father. He was sinless, yet convicted of the sins of the world.
With this conviction on the cross, these Words of God ring true in your ears, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.” At the top of the mountain, where you deserve to hear the harshest judgment, you instead live because you believe the promises of the Gospel which brings you forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation and in faith hold fast to such hope. You bear it with patience, for the truthful Words of God which teach, train, guide, and present you with this hope of the cross have been ever patience with you since the beginning. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). And with this great confession, your Savior reveals the greatest climax for this meeting and the climax of the service of the word with the declaration, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” By saying “I AM,” Jesus applied the Old Testament name for God to himself as God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you'” (Exodus 3:14). The world will say this can’t be true. And you will point them to these Scriptures to back up your claims. And these claims, though there will be points they are hard to hear because of the law. The sting of the law which points out murderous thoughts is then drowned by the glorious news of the Gospel. You are hearing the very Words of God, and in Jesus’ holy name, the name of God declared to you in His holy Word, you will never see death. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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