John 8:39-47 (2)
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We are going to be looking at John 8:39-47 this morning but lets read the section above for some context. Lets start with verse 31.
John 8:31–47 (ESV)
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 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. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 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. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 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.”
Prayer:
So here is what we see in these verses:
If you abide in Christs Word you are truly His disciple
By abiding in His Word you will know the truth and the truth will set you free
THEY, the religious Jews, claim to already be fee, slaves to no one
Christ says that everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin
The Son must set you free, because you’re not free
He says, I know you think you are offspring of Abraham but listen to me…I know what Im talking about...
And that gets us to verse 39...
Look at the response the Jews had for Jesus…lets look at the first part of verse 39:
John 8:39 “They answered him, “Abraham is our father.”
You know what they were really saying by saying this? They were saying the same thing so many people say in churches today.
They were saying, “what are you talking about? We aren’t slaves? We are descendants of Abraham! We worship God! We come and do all the things that God tells us to do!”
It is the same today when you tell someone who simply claims to be a Christian.
You tell them that
a true disciple of Christ abides, continues, in His Word!
It is in His Word that you find the truth…not in your feelings and emotions, not in your logic and reasoning.
You can not reject His Word!
People are slaves to sin and it takes Christ to set them free
When Christ told these religious people that they cried, “We belong to Abraham! Who do you think you are?”
When you tell a professing Christian the things of God they say, “We belong to the church! Who do you think you are?”
These religious Jews thought they were better than others because they had a part of Abraham.
People today think that because they go to church and call themselves Christian that they are better than others...
Listen to me: Just because you’re IN HERE does not make you better than those OUT THERE.
Lets look at Jesus’ response…LOOK AT VERSES 39-40
John 8:39–40 (ESV)
They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
What are the “works” Abraham did?
What is Christ talking about? What was it that Abraham did that they are not doing?
You know what Abraham did…he received Christ with love!
some of you might be wondering, “HOW did Abraham receive Christ?”
Let’s see what The Word says…turn to Genesis 18, lets start with the first verse:
Genesis 18:1–5 (ESV)
And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.”
Do you see now how Abraham received the preincarnate Jesus Christ?
He was so excited to see Him
He showed his love for Him
This is what descendants of Abraham still do to this day...
the receive Him with gladly
they love Him
they love His Word (John 8:31)
These people aren’t children of Abraham! Abraham is not their father!
Romans 9 6-7 “... For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring...””
You know who Abraham is the father of?
Romans 4:11–12 (ESV)
He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
See, Abraham believed God’s Word
His descendants believe God’s Word…and they abide, continue, in God’s Word
Abraham recieved the preincarnate Christ with love
His descendants still do to this day...
These religious Jews did not believe the Word of God and they did not receive Christ with love..
The question is DO YOU?
Do you believe Christ’s Word over your own emotions and feelings?
Do you receive Christ with love in your heart?
If NOT…then verse 41 applies to you as well...
Look at verse 41:
John 8:41 (ESV)
You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
If you do not love Christ and His Word…if you do not receive Him with such gladness as Abraham did…then God is not your father and you are doing the works your father did.
Look how they responded in this verse:
John 8 41 They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.””
They don’t want to understand do they.
They turn to slander… and name calling.
Remember John 6 42
“They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven?””
They “think” they know what they are talking about…they believe lies that Jesus was born out of wedlock but they have NO IDEA how wrong they are… and they mock Him and claim God as their Father.
John 8 42
John 8:42 (ESV)
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.
They do not love Him.
And because they do not love Him…guess what…God is not their Father. They are not born of God.
You want to know who is born of God?
Let’s see what John says about that…turn to 1 John 5 1
1 John 5:1 (ESV)
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
The ones who are born of God BELIEVES that Jesus is the Christ.
The ones born of God loves whoever is born of Him.
Look at John 8 43
John 8:43 (ESV)
Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
Imagine Christ saying this...
and don’t forget who he is talking to…religious Jews who claim to be descendants of Abraham…they claim to be children of God the Father.
Jesus tells them that they have another father and its not God. If God was their Father then they would love Him.
Don’t just read it…listen, imagine the scene…Christ tells them tis and then He asks them, “Why do you no understand what I say?”
How long do you think he waited before He answered that question for them?
What were they thinking when He asked it?
Jesus makes it clear that He isn’t the problem. It is not his fault that they cannot understand...
the problem is that they “cannot bear to hear His word”.
the problem is with them
the problem is that they are in bondage to sin and they refuse to acknowledge it.
John 8:44–45 (ESV)
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. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
Man! There is a lot said here!
There are TWO Dads.
God
The Devil
You are a child of one of these. There is no neutral area. This is it!
Look what Jesus about those whose father is the devil
Christ says, “your will…IS…to do your father’s desires.”
this is what it means to be a SLAVE TO SIN.
Earlier Christ says that “everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin”…
You’re not a child of Abraham or of God because you do not receive me with the love and gladness that Abraham received me
God is not your father but the devil is your father.
AND YOUR WILL IS TO DO YOUR FATHER’S DESIRES!
Not your desires but your fathers desires!
An unregenerate person can’t stop sinning because he is a slave to sin. He or She may want to stop but He/she will, or desire, is to do their father’s desire.
The non-believers will is not absolutely free. It is free to do what it wants but it is held captive and it is a slave to obey their own sinful desires…and the unregenerate persons will is to do their father’s will…the will of the devil!
What is the devils desires? Look at the rest of verse 44
John 8 44 “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.”
It goes all the way back to the Garden!
Satan has ALWAYS tried to DISTORT the Truth of God’s Word!
Satan has ALWAYS told people, made in God’s image, that “God might have said that but that is not what He meant”...
“The Truth is not in Him”...
Richard Phillips says, “This is why it is literally satanic that so many people today — including Christians — consider matters of truth and doctrine to be of little importance.”
But by abiding in His Word you are truly His disciple and in His Word you will find the truth and the truth will set you free!!
So for the unregenerate person…you can tell them the truth all day long and they still do not believe. You can show them God’s Word and they still will not believe...
You know why that is? You know why people will not believe when you tell someone the TRUTH about Christ and His Word?
Look at verse 45:
John 8:45 (ESV)
But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
Because you simply tell them the truth…thats why they don’t believe.
Jesus says, “BECAUSE I TELL THE TRUTH....you do not believe”…thats why…
Because the Devil is their father and he hates the truth
Because the Devil is their father and he loves lies
Because their will is to do their fathers desires they hate the truth and truth is not in them.
Look what Jesus says next in verse 46
Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
He says, again…why don’t you believe me?
Have I ever sinned, have you ever known me to lie about anything?
Can anyone of you convict me of any sin?
And since you can’t you would think you would believe me but STILL YOU DO NOT BELIEVE ME…you know why that is?
Look at verse 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.”
You can’t understand what I am saying because you are not of God!
You are held captive by the Evil One to do his will (2 Tim. 2:26).
You can’t understand me because you are like your father and you hate the Truth.
What you need this morning…if this is not making sense to you…if you do not understand…you need a miracle.
You need to be rescued from your slavery, from your bondage...
You need the Son to come and set you free.
CLOSING:
Because I want all of us Christians in here to understand something.
The Devil use to be our father as well...
There was a time when we hated the truth...
There was a time when we didn’t understand....
But GOD...
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
If you do not know Christ…beg Him to save you.
Beg Him for grace and mercy!
We, who believe in Him, who love Him… we believe and Love Him because He graciously opened our heart and mind. He opened our ears to hear...
It is not because we are better than anyone else…its because He is a good, gracious, loving God.
If you hear the Word of God this morning…please come and find me and lets talk more about this, or if you feel more comfortable talking to Bryan or Jason or maybe your community group leader, talk to Bobby…talk to someone.
Come to Christ...
You have sinned against God. But God, He sent His Son to live a sinless life (vs. 46) for those who would believe in Him.
He was put to death on a cross and rose from the grave 3 days later.
He ascended into Heaven and one day He is coming back to judge the living and the dead.
King Jesus will come when all of His enemies are a footstool for His feet and the last enemy to be defeated is death.
He Is a CONQUERING King. It is time to surrender your life and all that you have to Him right now…Come to Christ and Live!