Family Resemblance

so so the the the So, Thank you Sue. God’s people turn once again
to John chapter 8. John chapter 8 where we left
off several weeks ago. I have suggested to you and I stand
by that suggestion that In a sense, and I think that as you walk
through this passage you can see where I’m heading here. In
a sense, Jesus takes an offensive position initially. Presenting
a series of things, we called them points on his resume. Things, truths about him that
he believed people needed to know. And though there were several
interruptions, Jesus perseveres through that all the way down
to verse 32. And then something quite remarkable
happens. Jesus is then switched to defense
and his detractors begin to attack him quite aggressively. And yet Jesus stands firm and
articulates the gospel throughout. It is a remarkable passage and
it is one that I will admit is difficult to preach because it
is a running dialogue and you almost feel like you’re stepping
in and interrupting, gilding the lily so to speak at every
point and yet In order to do the text honor, that’s what we’ll
do as we go through. We’ll evaluate Christ’s words
and enhance our understanding as we go. If you would, we begin
in verse 12 and really just by way of review. Then Jesus again
spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows
me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.
So the Pharisees said to him, you are testifying about yourself.
Your testimony is not true. Jesus answered and said to them,
even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true. For I know
where I came from, I know where I am going, but you do not know
where I came from or where I am going. You judge according to
the flesh. I am not judging anyone. But
even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone in
it. But I and the Father who sent
me. Even in your law it has been
written that the testimony of two men is true. I am he who
testifies about myself and the Father who sent me testifies
about me. So they were saying to him, where
is your Father? Jesus answered, you neither know
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 and no one seized him. Then he said again to them, I
go away and you will seek me and will die in your sin. Where
I am going, you cannot come. So the Jews were saying, surely
he will not kill himself, will he? Since he says where I am
going, you cannot come. He was saying to them, you are
from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not
of this world. Therefore I said to you that
you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I
am he, you will die in your sins. So they were saying to him, who
are you? Jesus said to them, What have I been saying to you
from the beginning? I have many things to speak and
to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true, and the
things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world. They
did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father.
So Jesus said, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will
know that I am He, And I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak
these things 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 spoke
these things, many came to believe in Him. Jesus was saying to those
Jews who had believed Him, if you continue in My Word, then
you are truly disciples of Mine. And you will know the truth.
The truth will make you free. They answered him, where we are
Abraham’s descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered,
truly, truly I say to you, Everyone who commits sin is the slave
of sin. The slave does not remain in
the house forever. The son does remain forever. So if the son makes you free,
you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s
descendants, yet you seek to kill me because my word has no
place in you. I speak the things which I have
seen with my father. Therefore you also do the things
which you have heard from your father. They answered and said
to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you are
Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you
are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which
I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. You
were doing the deeds of your father. They said to him, we
are not born of fornication. We have one father, God. Jesus
said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For
I proceeded forth and have come from God. For I have not even
come on my own initiative, but he sent me. Why do you not understand
what I am saying? You cannot hear my word. You
are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires
of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning
and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in
him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature,
for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak
the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts
me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you
not believe me? He who is of God hears the words
of God. For this reason, you do not hear
them, because you are not of God.” Jesus had been laying out
to them many truths about himself, reference points if you will,
that he was the light of the world there in verses 12 and
following. That Jesus Christ was supported,
backed, sent even by the Father Himself. That Jesus Christ, His
home was in heaven and He would return there. And then in verse
28, Jesus Christ began to lay out to them that He was the fulfillment
of God’s great plan of redemption. but the one that really set them
off, the one that knocked them off the tracks, so to speak,
was in verse 31, when Jesus told them that he came to set men
free. And as glorious a point as that
is, as sweet a message as that is to our own ears, that we have
been liberated from sin, that is the point that really infuriated
Jesus detractors. That Jesus Christ came to set
them free. Jesus was saying to them, if
you continue in my word, if you are truly followers of mine,
then you are, then if you follow in my word, then you are truly
disciples of mine. You will know the truth and the
truth will make you free. As I said, this is where Jesus’
enemies just seem to come apart. Because from now on, they go
on the attack, not merely asking questions to clarify, but asking
questions to put Jesus on the spot, to provoke Him. From this point forward, they
are the aggressors. Jesus is on defense, repeatedly
responding to these challenges that are put to Him. In a sense,
you could almost say that they take over the conversation, but
Jesus is up to the task. Jesus holds his own. In this
short discourse that we’ve seen, where Jesus is laying out his
qualifications of a savior, they have rudely interrupted him on
four specific occasions. But now, becoming even more aggressive
six times in these verses from verse 33 all the way through
verse 59. Six times they interrupt Christ. They interrupt Him in verse 33.
They interrupt Him again in verse 39. Again in verse 41, 48, 52,
57. Over and over again they are
trying to drive the conversation. The question is teaching. They
contradict His statements. blasphemously question his character,
they verbally doubt his identity, and if they would, they would
kill him on the spot. But we know that God is in control. The conversation has been hijacked,
it would seem, and they begin what I would call the Inquisition
of the Savior. Now the talking points are initiated
by the detractors. First of all, look at the fact
that they question his teaching on freedom. What a glorious message
that is proclaimed, and yet, not only do they miss it, they
besmirch the very idea that they are in bondage. Look at verse
33. They answered him, we are Abraham’s
descendants, and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it
that you say you will become free? Here you have just another in
a long line of instances in this gospel where there was a really
disturbing inability to understand the spiritual truths that Jesus
was attempting to communicate. Go back in your mind’s eye to
Nicodemus. When Jesus said to him, you must be born again.
And Nicodemus almost toyed with that idea. Same thing with the
woman at the well. When Jesus offered her the water
of life, she wanted to fixate on literal water. The crowd of
hungry people. To whom Jesus offered the bread
of life himself. They toyed with that very idea. The Jewish people really believed,
and in a very real way, they were the offspring of Abraham,
Abraham’s descendants. They took the promise of Genesis
very literally, and well, they should have. Genesis 17.6, I
will bless her, Sarah. Indeed, I will give you a son
by her, your wife. Then I will bless her, and she
will become a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from
her. And the Jews held that promise
to Abraham. Genesis 22, I will greatly bless
you. I will greatly multiply your
seed as the stars of the heavens and the sand which is on the
seashore. Your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. The
Jews believed, and well they should, that they were the offspring
of Abraham. And what a joyous offspring that
was. What a joyous position before
God. maintained. It was something
that became an inducement to pride. They
became proud of the very fact that they were of the seed of
Abraham, that they were his offspring, that God had made this covenant,
that it was playing itself out, and that they stood in some kind
of a special relationship with God because of it. that led to pride and that pride
once more blinds them to the facts. We are Abraham’s descendants
and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. I think even beginning
Bible students would look at their scriptures and know that
that wasn’t the case. They’ve been in bondage to Egypt.
Remember God used a man named Moses to free them, liberate
them at no small undertaking from Pharaoh’s grasp. There were
numerous bondages to the Philistines where entire cities were pillaged
and then taken captive. There were oppressions throughout
the times of judges. There was a captivity where Almost
the entirety of the Jewish nation was taken into Babylon. And even
as they speak, even as they make this boast, they were under the
Roman yoke. They were under Roman rule. In
a sense, they were captives. It’s remarkable, isn’t it? How
dull people are to the facts of the matter. This past week
I was driving. saw a vehicle with a bumper sticker,
perhaps you’ve seen it before, it said, born okay. A mockery
of the bumper stickers that say, born again. We have a tendency, don’t we,
as humans to ignore the facts, and that’s exactly what the Jews
are doing. We’ve never been in bondage. And what Jesus was doing,
and even attempting to shed light, on the bondage that was legitimate
and significant, overwhelming. They were blind to that fact.
We have a tendency to that. Matthew Henry said it this way,
carnal hearts are sensible of no other grievances than those
that molest the body and injure their secular affairs. Do you
hear where Henry’s going with this? Matthew Henry says, what
we’re really worried about is the things that we can touch
and feel. Our physical frame, the things that we own. He goes on, and he says, talk
to them about encroachments on their civil liberty and property.
Tell of waste committed on their lands or damage done to their
houses, and they will understand you very well. The thing touches
and affects them. That’s what really bothers them,
is the things that you can see. But Matthew Henry goes on and
says, but discourse to them of the bondages of sin, or of captivity
to Satan, and a liberty by Christ, tell them of wrong done to their
souls, and you bring strange things to them. That was the case. with these
Jewish detractors, they couldn’t see it. They wouldn’t see it. They wouldn’t see, they wouldn’t
admit for a moment, they wouldn’t even entertain the idea that
they had ever been in any kind of bondage. And Jesus wants to
tell them they were in the worst kind. Their remark almost bears witness
to the fact that they were a little bit nervous about the very idea
of bondage, that they knew that they were in bondage to the Roman
government. Perhaps this was the Messiah
that was going to set them free. They maintained their position.
And Jesus’ reply, Jesus’ reply doesn’t move an inch. Look at
verse 34. even though they had this love
of liberty, even though they maintained that God was their
only ruler and master. Jesus tells them it’s otherwise.
Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits
sin is the slave of sin. That word had to hit them. so incredibly hard. Every heart
knows, every heart knows in their heart of hearts that they are
sinners. You, when you go out sharing,
when you witness to a friend, you don’t have to prove to them
that they’re sinners. Take that, presume upon it. Presuppose
that truth and move on with the gospel. They know they’re sinners.
So when Jesus said that everyone who commits sin is the slave
of sin, He wasn’t telling them anything that they didn’t already
know. It had to have resounded in their hearts. He tells them that there’s a
bondage far worse than any kind of earthly or political oppression. Anything that the Romans or the
Babylonians or even the Egyptians might bring. Carting off entire
peoples to enslave them. Far worse. Would the saints turn
to Ephesians? The book of Ephesians. It’s the
most graphic example I know. And even though Paul’s metaphor
here in Ephesians chapter two, if you’re turning, Ephesians
chapter two, the metaphor is different because Paul just says
that far worse than just bondage, it’s death. This is exactly what
Jesus has in mind. This is exactly the liberation
that Jesus is proclaiming from this kind of bondage. It’s the
bondage to sin and death. Look at verse one, you were dead.
How bad is that? What kind of a bondage is that?
An inescapable bondage. It is death itself from whom
no one can be released without God and His mercy. You were dead
in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons
of disobedience. What he tells the Ephesian believers
is, look, you used to be just like them. And if not for God’s
grace, you would still be wallowing in that pool of death. Among
them, among those sins, We all too formerly lived. That used
to be us. In the lust of our flesh, indulging
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as the rest. We deserved it. And if you know the text, the
good news comes in verse 4, but God. But God. That’s what Jesus is trying to
proclaim to them. And Jesus doesn’t say here that
a single act of sin is that which enslaves, but it is an indication
that we’re enslaved. If you slipped this week, if
you stumbled in some regard, that doesn’t necessarily mean
that you are enslaved, but you’re yielding yourselves up to the
cuffs, right? It’s a life of sin that indicates
that a man is enslaved, and what Jesus was proclaiming is that
look, All indications are that you are absolutely enslaved to
this sin. You don’t want to be free. Paul
wrote this same truth. Turn, if you’re still in Ephesians,
where did I leave you? If you’re still in Ephesians,
flip over to Paul’s epistle to the Romans, to chapter six. Neither is this a new thought,
this enslavery to sin. Jesus said in Matthew chapter
6, no one can serve two masters. presents to them the idea that
God is one master and money or sin is yet another. No one can serve two masters.
Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be
devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
wealth, sinful wealth. Second Peter has the same exact
idea. that He promises them freedom
while they themselves are slaves of corruption. You hear that
image? They’re enslaved to sin. And then Peter explains it just
by saying, by what a man is overcome. By this he is enslaved. And Jesus
is mercifully preaching His word to them. Paul addresses it, look
at verse 17. Thanks be to God that though
you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that
form of teaching to which you were committed. And having been
freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. It’s one or
the other. And what a beautiful concept. To be enslaved to that
which is right and just and proper and holy And God honoring? Isn’t that kind of slavery infinitely
better than being enslaved to sin, which leads to death, which
is death itself? Paul goes on, I’m speaking in
human terms, because the weakness of your flesh For just as you
presented yourselves, your members, as slaves to impurity and to
lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your
members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
Don’t continue to live like a slave. A slave to sin, a slave to the
world, a slave to sin and death. It was common. It was a common
thought even in the Greek culture that to be overcome by some vice
was to be enslaved by that vice. Even the heathens understood
this. Then look at verse 35. It’s a
cryptic comment and it’ll take just a moment to explain. Jesus
says the slave does not remain in the house forever. The son
does remain forever. What Jesus is doing here is pleading
with them to listen to Him. He’s telling them, look, you
are slaves, and a slave doesn’t have status, he doesn’t have
a signet ring, he doesn’t have a standing in the home, he’s
a slave. And if he offends the master,
if he does something wrong, he could be sold, he could be removed
from the house, forthwith, immediately. The slave doesn’t remain in the
house forever. He doesn’t have a divine right
to live in that home like a son. And Jesus is telling them, I
am the son. I am the son that lives in this
home. J.C. Ryle said it this way, the
Jews were in servile and slavish condition in which they were
so long as they rejected the son. the true Messiah, the free
and elevated position which they would occupy if they would believe
and become His disciples. See what Jesus was saying to
them. He was pleading with them to be freed from their sin. He
was telling them that they didn’t have a divine right to the home,
but by placing their faith in the Son, they become perpetual
guests. Look at verse 36. So if the Son
makes you free, you will be free indeed. There isn’t anybody to
come back to you and bring a charge later. Oh yeah, by the way, not
even the devil himself. This is a particular reference
to Christ. He frees us when we place our
faith in Him. That if we begin to abide in
Him and abide in His Word, Jesus liberates us from that bondage. It was a freedom from sin. It
was a freedom from the guilt of sin. It was a freedom from
sin’s power in their lives. It was a freedom from the consequences
of sin, death and hell. Jesus says, He pleads with them. And he says, truly, truly, I
say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. Don’t
be enslaved to sin. Place your faith in the Son. Verse 37. I told you that what
we were gonna do is just nibble our way through this. That’s
what we’re doing. It’s a conversation. Verse 37 says, I know that you
are Abraham’s descendants. yet you seek to kill me, because
my word has no place in you.” They had laid claim to being
descendants of Abraham, and Jesus doesn’t contend with that. We’ll
come back to that idea in a moment, but Jesus takes them at their
word. You say that you’re Abraham’s
sons, I’m not going to argue with you. In the very narrow sense that
they presented, He agrees, yes, you’re Abraham’s descendants,
that much I understand. And yet even now they were seeking
to kill Him, because Christ’s Word, His testimony, His witness,
His doctrine, if you will, everything that He’d been preaching to them,
It had no place in them. It’s a graphic word, that word
no place. It means it has no hold, no firm
hold. One of the older translations
says, my word has no free course in you. It has no fixed point
in you. See the real cause of the Jews
rejecting Christ and being at enmity with Christ, It was a
moral cause. The revelation that Christ was
giving them His Word as a seed didn’t find fertile soil. It
didn’t take hold in their heart. It bounced off. Verse 38, I speak the things
which I’ve seen with my Father, therefore you do the things which
you’ve heard from your Father. And here Jesus begins to present
a very uncomfortable dichotomy for them. That his father was
very different from their father. He’s made the point, but now
he’s going to begin to park on that particular point. That the
son has a father who has revealed his will and Jesus Christ has
been proclaiming that particular will. It is the eternal counsels
about God’s plan of redemption that Jesus has been unfolding
to them. What glorious news. Is there
any better news? Is there anything better for
the individual to listen to than God’s plan of redemption? Jesus says, I speak of what I
have seen. We planned this whole plan of
redemption. We laid it out, my father and
I. In our eternal counsels, we set
forth this great plan of redemption. I’m not making it up as I go. But your father, Your Father has instructed you
and needled you and provoked you and tricked you into doing
all kinds of things that are contrary to My Father’s will. You do the things which you heard
from your Father. He just tells and you do. And we know that He’s talking
about the devil and He’ll lay that out quite plainly in a moment
But first, it draws this reaction. Look at verse 39. They answered
and said to him, Abraham is our father. They’re fixed on it. They will not let it go. They
know that he is suggesting that they have some other father than
Abraham, but they hold fast. They will not let go of that
descent from Abraham. And even though it was true in
so far as their physical lineage and their conduct, it indicated
that they were not true descendants of Abraham. Jesus said to them,
if you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. It’s
a great reply. If you have A natural born child,
that child will take on physical characteristics. Sometimes the
smile, the eyes, the hair and what not. And Jesus says spiritually
speaking the same thing is true. If you were really Abraham’s
children, you would look like him in a spiritual sense. This is exactly what Paul was
speaking of in Romans chapter two. He is not a Jew who is one
outwardly. He’s not talking about some outward
physical manifestation, dark hair, brown eyes, what have you. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision is that which
is of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter. And his praise
is not from men, but from God. A true Jew, a true descendant
of Abraham is not one that you can pick out and perceive because
of some physical characteristic. It’s what he does with his life.
It’s exactly Paul’s point in Romans 9. Later on he says, it
is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but
the children of the promise. It’s those that live like it
and look like it. That relationship of the flesh,
it’s worthless without God’s grace at work actively in the
heart. Look at verse 40. But as it is, you are seeking
to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard
from God. This Abraham did not do. You
say that you’re Abraham’s descendants, but you’re not living like Abraham
would have lived. You’re seeking to commit murder.
Abraham never did that. And not just any kind of murder,
but look at the way he describes it. You would kill one, your
fellow man, that’s what murder is. Regardless of what Petah
tells you, the killing of an animal is not murder. He’s talking
about killing a man, a fellow man. And not only is it without
cause, But you’re seeking to kill him
because he’s telling you the truth. And it’s truth that he
has gotten directly from Almighty God Himself, the Father. It’s
the most stunning kind of murderous plot ever concocted. It’s the constant teaching of
John’s Gospel, that Christ and the father were on the same page.
Jesus was teaching exactly what the father wanted him to teach.
He told them the truth. Because of it, they sought to
kill him. Abraham wasn’t like that. Abraham
wasn’t anything like that. James 2.23 says of Abraham, that Abraham believed God and
it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Abraham was a man of faith, great
faith. If we’re ever going to do a character
study, Abraham’s one of the first that we go to, right? Great acts
of faith, Abraham and Isaac. Abraham believed God. He was
a man of faith and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, the
very argument by which Paul builds his argument of justification
by faith. Abraham was a man of faith. James
2.23 says that he was called the friend of God. Is this a
very friendly thing that you’re concocting as you seek to kill
me for articulating the Father’s plan of redemption? Remember, Abraham welcomed in
heavenly messengers. He didn’t seek to kill them. Jesus just makes the argument.
Regardless of your lineage, regardless of your family heritage, regardless
of your race, you’re not living like Abraham.
You don’t resemble him at all. Well, this draws, as you might
expect, a very dramatic reaction. Jesus Christ is coming face to
face with them and contending with them about their family
heritage. Look at their reply. They said
to him, we were not born of fornication. We have one father, God. Now they up the ante, so to speak. Not only is Abraham our father,
ultimately if you trace it back, God is our father. Who are you
to question our family lineage? Who are you to question our family
tree?” They understand that Jesus is
speaking in figurative language, but they indignantly argue with
Christ about any kind of potential parental difference. So they twist his words. Not
only do they misunderstand them, That if Jesus Christ is suggesting
that they’re not literal descendants of Abraham, not only is it not
true, but it has drawn their ire to an entire new level. Father, our Father is God Himself. This was a testimony of Scripture
as well. For the nation of Israel, Exodus
4.22, Israel, my son, my firstborn. This was a true testimony. It was not wrong for them to
claim that God was their father, but they, just as with Abraham,
neither were they living as God’s children either. We weren’t born of some kind
of spiritual adultery? Our sonship, our standing as
children of God, as descendants of Abraham, wasn’t tainted with
some kind of spiritual adultery? Or was it? You see, that too
is a direct image. They basically, in trying to
hide the fact, expose exactly what Jesus was pointing to. Jesus
didn’t bring up adultery, he just brought up the fact that
they weren’t living like Abraham lived. But throughout the pages of the
Old Testament, spiritual adultery is all over the place. That’s
exactly the image that God would use with the nation of Israel
over and over again to talk about their misdeeds, their missteps.
Just in your mind’s eye, jot down Exodus 34, 15. Otherwise
you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and
would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods. Spiritual adultery. Leviticus
17. They shall no longer sacrifice
their sacrifices and play the harlot. spiritual adultery. Judges 2.17, they played the
harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. In fact,
it got so bad, this spiritual adultery, where they were doing
exactly what they should not have done, that God says, I’m
going to make an illustration, a living illustration, Hosea. Here’s what I want you to do,
Hosea. Go take a woman. Not just any
woman. Go take a woman of adultery.
A woman of harlotry. And this image was going to be
presented to them as this standing illustration of the nation of
Israel. That every time they practiced
idolatry, they were essentially practicing a spiritual adultery. They were having another spouse. other than God. So Jesus says to them in verse
42, if God were your Father, you would love me. You don’t
love me, therefore God cannot be your Father. If God were your
Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and have come
from God, for I have not even come on my own initiative, but
He sent me. Those words just keep drumming through this entire
narrative. Jesus offers here the proof that
God is not their father. If God were their father, they
would have loved Christ. But just like their spiritual
forefathers, they didn’t love God either. They had other spouses. They had other lovers. They had
other interests. And now it becomes quite evident
that they don’t love Christ, and it’s evident because of that,
that they are not God’s children. One pastor said, they were evidently
not God’s children by grace and spiritual birth. If God was really
their father, they would show it by loving the son. Love to
Christ is the infallible mark of all true children of God. What a glorious encouragement
that is for us. If you’ve come here today and
you’ve placed your faith in Christ, you love Christ, you wake up
wanting to serve Him, wanting to honor Him in your life and
the way you live and what you do, that’s a mark of grace. That’s a mark that God has touched
your heart and drawn you near to Him. But if your desire is
to please your own heart and you want to do what you want
to do, If that is the ultimate appeal to you, then that is not
the love of Christ. 1 John 5, 2, same author, whoever
believes that Jesus Christ, Jesus is the Christ, is born of God,
and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we
love God and observe His commandments, it’s the same exact thing that
Jesus is articulating. If God were your Father, you
would love me. You don’t love me, you’re not of the Heavenly
Father. Why do you not understand what
I am saying, verse 43? It is because you cannot hear
my word. And he uses two different words here for the understanding
and the word. And he basically says that at
the word level, at the communication level, at the most basic level,
it was bouncing off like pebbles off of a wall. And that’s what
prohibited them from coming to an understanding of the things
that Jesus was teaching. The concepts, the ideas. They
wouldn’t even listen to a word that He had to say. They wouldn’t
take it in. Because of that, they had an
incapacity. There’s an old saying that, will
not becomes cannot. You will not long enough becomes
you cannot. And they are very close. Perhaps
some have already reached that point where they cannot any longer,
they don’t have the capacity any longer to even understand
in any way, shape, or form. They won’t let it in. And now
the ideas themselves as well as the words are bouncing off. And Jesus tells them why you
are of your father, the devil, verse 44. He’s hinted at it a
number of different times, hasn’t he? He’s pointed out your father. He has implied something was
there, your father, your father. But now he tells them quite plainly. Not only is God not their father,
not only is Abraham not even their father, Their father is
none other than the devil himself. You are of your father, the devil,
and you want to do the desires of your father. That word desire,
often in scripture is translated lust. You want to do what you
want to do. It is a settled intentionality. It is a purpose of the will. Jesus says what he has implied
a number of different times. You are doing exactly what you
want to do. You’re doing exactly what the
devil wants you to do. And in their desire to kill Christ,
in their desire with their murderous intent, he tells them exactly
what the orientation point of those ideas. It wasn’t even their
own idea. They’re just doing the devil’s will. They’re just
doing what he would encourage them to do. What he would approve
of. Look at the passage, look at
verse 44. He was a murderer from the beginning. And does not stand in the truth
because there is no truth in him. The devil is a murderer
and a liar. He is false at the core of his
being. You say, well when? When did the
devil ever murder anybody? He murdered the entire human
race. The devil caused the fall, remember? You know it. My eighth graders know it. At
the point of the fall, we walked out of the garden inherently
sinful. From that point forward, we were sinners. And everything about us was cursed,
temporarily vexed. But that wasn’t even the worst.
That’s where death came in. Physically dying. That’s when
the devil murdered the entire human race, and he brought in
not only physical death, but spiritual death. Inherently sinful,
temporally vexed, physically dying, spiritually dead, the
devil is a murderer. He was a murderer from the beginning.
He doesn’t stand in the truth. The devil doesn’t traffic in
the truth. From the very beginning of creation,
from the earliest and most precious scene, Adam and Eve in the garden
at peace with God, the devil came in to bring death and murder. No wonder Jesus goes on and says
whenever he speaks a lie, you can almost say it this way, whenever
he speaks it’s a lie. Whenever he speaks a lie, he
speaks from his own nature. He cannot bring forth truth.
For he’s a liar and the father of lies. You know, it has been
one of the remarkable discoveries in my course of Christianity.
I have actually come across other Christians that believe in some
way, shape, or form, the devil is redeemable. That somehow,
if we were just nice enough to the devil, then maybe listen,
hurt him out, right? That maybe somehow the devil
would get himself right with God. It’s impossible, at the
core of his being, He is utterly corrupt and rotten. He is the
father of lies. He is utterly false. He can’t
do anything true and right. And so not only should we not
listen to him, I say don’t even converse with him. He can’t possibly
impart any information that is in any way, shape, or form helpful
or good or right or true. Whenever he speaks a lie, he
speaks from his own nature. For he is a liar and the father
of lies. As one said it, falsehood as
a whole is opposed to the truth as a whole. The lie is natural
to him. Whenever he speaks, he lies out
of his own resources or nature. The outcome is of what may be
expected of him. That’s where he started with
Eve, right? At the very beginning. You shall surely not die. But Jesus, in contrast, stands
and he says, but I speak the truth. Because I speak the truth, you
do not believe me. What a remarkable statement.
He basically begins to tell them that look, your whole demeanor,
the way that you’re behaving and acting is, Plainly evident
that you are listening to lies. You are parroting back lies. And that you don’t even recognize
the truth when it stands and stares you right in the face. Paul said essentially the same
thing. Comes a point when the will not
becomes cannot. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians,
said this. These are just, these are horrific
words, because they’re true. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 11. For
this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence, so
that they will believe what is false, in order that they may
all be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure
in wickedness. It’s the same exact scene. Those
that were now rejecting the truth were rejecting the truth because
they had imbibed falsehood, and that falsehood is all they wanted,
it’s all that they loved. They were trusting a liar. They
were taking a liar who was the father of lies And they were
rejecting Christ who only came to tell them the truth. Then Jesus says this in verse
46. These are words that only Jesus
Christ could have said. Which one of you convicts me
of sin? And I get the sense here that
there was dead silence. They had accused Christ of many
things, and they will continue to accuse him. They will accuse
him even till the day that they put him on the cross. But I take it here, when he asked
that question, there was dead silence. Which one of you convicts
me of sin? Cue the crickets, right? There’s no answer that was ever
recorded because I don’t believe there was ever an answer given.
They sat in stunned silence. They knew they didn’t have a
case. They knew they didn’t have anything
of which they could convict Christ. Hebrews tells us that He has
been tempted in all things just as we are and yet without sin.
He is the sinless Savior. And there were many things laid
to Christ’s charge. Many things were said about Him,
but not one of them was ever proven. Not one sin was ever
identified in Christ’s life. Christ closes this portion of
the dialogue, verse 47. He who is of God hears the words
of God, for this reason you do not hear them, because you are
not of God. Now for any, for any who continue to sit with
their ears stopped up, refusing to heed Christ’s merciful call
to repentance, to come out of that bondage to sin, for any
in this room who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and have
not turned from their sin and placed their faith, however feeble
that may be, you do not yield to Christ. Jesus says it, you’re not of
God. Whatever pretend, whatever charade that you can put on in
front of other humans and you can trick humans all day long.
You can’t trick God. But what an encouragement for
the saints as well. What an incredible encouragement.
that if we’ve heard the word of God, if we’ve heard God’s
plan of redemption, if we’ve heard of the articulation of
the gospel that Jesus Christ has come, and that he has paid
the penalty for sinners on the cross, if you have yielded to
that, if you take that in with delight, if you place your faith
in that truth, in that hope, and by God’s grace begin to abide
in Him. What a great truth, we are of
God. It’s a simple dividing line.
We are either of God or we are not. Would you humble yourself
before Him? Our merciful King, We see those
who were so hateful to this message. And perhaps there’s even part
of us that wants to hear and understand, why were they so
contrary to Christ? And Lord, in our humanness, we
can’t figure it out. We cannot figure out why they
were so against Christ. Why they hated him so badly,
simply for coming and telling them the gospel. But Lord, now we see they had believed the lie. They
had taken it in and they had actually become the lie. They
had aligned themselves with the devil himself. Lord God, we thank
you that it’s only by grace that we are not caught up in that
same falsehood. And we pray that you would release
any captor in this room who has not yielded their hearts to the
Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, and we praise you
in Jesus’ name. Amen. As we close, we’ll sing
verses 1, 2, and 3 of Unbounded Grace. The words are in your
bulletin. Let’s stand as we close.