“Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” John 8:46.

The question, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” is a challenge which no hater of the Lord could possibly resist. And if anything could be said of the life of Christ it was that He was hated relentlessly, vehemently, and without pity.

The important facts in this case are that the three or three and a half years of Jesus’ ministry were mostly over; He had about six more months until His crucifixion.

He had also been rejected by the leadership of the nation, civil and religious, and by the people, about a year earlier, for this rejection, see, Matthew 12:22-45.

While studying these verses keep in mind that Christ is speaking to the Jews specifically and through His teaching on demon possession Matthew 12:43-45 He is comparing their dead religious condition to someone possessed.

Also make note of the fact that after Matthew chapter 12 He only spoke to the Jews in parables.

The importance of these facts is this, having been rejected by the majority, and hated by them, there would be no lack of people who would come forward and shout it from the rooftops if they had found any sin in His life.

Compound this with the knowledge that He lived His entire ministry outdoors or as the guest of some householder; He would never be alone, He was that transparent! You or I would probably go absolutely insane if we had that little privacy.

In my opinion character is defined by two factors, when who you say you are meshes with who you really are. Jesus’ character, who He said He was, fit hand in glove with who He really was.

The rest of us, you and I, have an ill-fitting glove and have to wear masks around others a great deal of the time. But do not worry my friends, we are all in the same boat and God is in the process of fitting us up with a proper glove.

Now a bit more on the question, who convicts Me of sin. The magnificent part about this question is that, it is the enemies of the Christ who would be His most faithful witnesses. If He had sinned they would have made sure that the whole world knew.

It is one thing when your friends tell everyone how wonderful you are; “Well, yes I guess I am biased!” but something quite else when your enemies corroborate that with, “Well, I have not been able to find anything against you, so far.”

“Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward and said, ‘This fellow said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.”’” Matthew 26:59-61.

Three of the gospels were written within 25 years of the death and resurrection of Christ; Mark, 50 A. D., Luke, 60 A. D., and Matthew, 60 A. D.

There were still enough of the enemies of Jesus Christ alive to give irrefutable proof that the gospels were lies; yet, no one credible came forward.

“And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” John 8:46b.

Here is a simple test that we use almost daily; is this guy lying to me or is he telling the truth? If you have two children having an argument and each accuses the other of instigating it, how do you tell who is telling the truth?

Would it be the child who is constantly quarreling, stealing, and making up stories, or the quiet one who never gets into trouble? True, it could be either one, but the tendency would be to believe the one with the better character.

If a person never sins, why would he suddenly start up now? Even some of the seediest people are believed under oath in court.

Yet Jesus stands here in the courtroom of opinion and the evidence supports His reliability. But the jury is crooked.

“He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” John 8:47.

This verse needs to be considered carefully because its meaning tells us a lot about mankind and the sin nature. The verse means exactly what it says in plain English, but other factors enter into the formula; the first being that God speaks to everyone, man or woman.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” Romans 1:18-19.

The term, “…who suppress the truth”, means, to hold down the truth, this is a willful thing, done knowing that they are denying what they know to be true.

This is why so many scholars teach the theory of evolution in spite of the fact that it goes against the laws of science. Not only teach it, it is religion for those who suppress the knowledge of God.

“Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it because the only alternative is special creation, and that is unthinkable.” Sir Arthur Keith, evolutionist.

“[Creation] will present a parallel to the theory of evolution itself, a theory universally accepted not because it can be proved by logically coherent evidence to be true, but because the only alternative, special creation, is clearly incredible.” – Professor D. M. S. Watson.

This “unbiased” scientific attitude is why Intelligent Design is not allowed to be taught in the schools; children just might form their own opinions.

God has told us in the verses above that He speaks to all men without exception; He spoke to Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Bundy, Gacy, Ayatollah Khomeini, all dead, all current residents of hell; but why, if God speaks to all of mankind?

“He who is of God hears God’s words…” God spoke to these men just as He spoke to the folks in our chapter, but they were not of God, not because He made them that way, but because, having a free choice, they rejected His truth and believed the devil’s lie.

“It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” John 6:45.

Simple, is it not? This is a principle, all mankind has the ability to choose God or not, and is expected to do so with the light that is given to him.

What is meant by this is that even in the middle of Africa where no white man has ever been, God reveals Himself in some manner and that person is expected to choose a Creator God, instead of a man made idol, even though they may see Him only dimly.

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8a.

For the heathen who sincerely wish to learn more of God, God will reveal Himself to them.

Is this possible? Not to my mind (though I have heard stories of visions of Jesus and dreams coming to the heathen). So, what do we do? The answer is that we simply trust the word of God, “…what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”

The omniscient God tells us that He reveals Himself to all men, if we believe in Him, we have to believe that.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6.

The final thought on John 8:47, even though Jesus is omniscient and knows all things, and knowing that these men will reject Him, He still tries to persuade them, though He could say, “…you are not of God.” The thought is this, even though the Christian may think that the gospel may not be received by the person they are talking to, it never hurts to try.

We do not know everything; we can only follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in our hearts.

“Then the Jews answered and said to Him, ‘Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?’” John 8:48.

This kind of talk comes straight from the mouth of the devil. This is a double insult, a Samaritan and a demon; doubtless you have encountered this kind of thing in arguments with relatives or people who disliked you, or seen them in the movies.

As things heat up a person may call someone a hick, a foreigner, or an inbred hillbilly. Perhaps that may not bother them, so they throw in some vile comment about their mother, sister, or wife.

I apologize for writing such foolishness, but the intent here is to show that these compound insults are meant to cut deeply, not just anger someone.

It is important that in these moments of heated anger we put a guard upon our lips, because once stuff like this is spoken, it is nearly impossible to get the toothpaste back in the tube.

This is a good reason for some folks to stay away from drink, because the guard on their lips is most vulnerable while under the influence.

For those who do drink, it is a good idea to do so around people they know are safe, not drive, and to drink in moderation.

If someone tends to get angry or vulgar when drunk, likes to argue, or cannot control their drinking, they need to stop, period!

Christians, who represent Christ before others, should take all of these things into consideration.

It is sad to note this but discipline and moderation are two of the most important things that Satan has been able to brainwash out of the last two or three generations; everyone, not just Christians, and I include myself here.

Getting back to this double insult hurled at the Lord; it is one thing to insult Him as a man, “a Samaritan”, but quite another to insult Him as God, “You have a demon”.

The next verse seems to indicate that He took no notice of the Samaritan comment, but the rest He did address. We shall cover this in the next post.

And if I Tell the Truth, John 8:46-48 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 12-26-12, updated on 11-9-17.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.