Who is Your Father?

Ever since I began preaching I always begin working on my sermon Monday morning. That's just been my practice and oftentimes somewhere in Tuesday I'll have at least a title of what I'm going to talk about.

Well this week I must admit I thought nothing of the fact that Sunday was going to be Mother's Day and so the title of today's sermon is who is your father. I really wasn't thinking about it. So this is not in any way to be somehow contrarian to the spirit of Mother's Day.

It really wasn't even a thought when I was writing the message. We as many of you know preach verse by verse through books of the Bible and we have been continually going through the Gospel of John and today we're going to be looking at Jesus talking to the Jewish people and they're going to say Abraham is our father and God is our father and Jesus is going to say no actually your father is the devil and so that's where the spirit of the title of today comes from is the question who is your father.

We live in a supernatural world. Several years ago a book came out and it was entitled The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser. Now I would say this I have many things with which I would disagree with Dr. Heiser but one thing he said in the book that I agree with and I thought would be good to use in our introduction today is this.

Many Christians claim to believe in the supernatural but think and live like skeptics. Many Christians claim to believe in the supernatural but they think and live like skeptics and I would even go further than Dr. Heiser.

I would say they think and live like atheists because I think there is a practical atheism that has made its way into Christianity where we consider everything to be natural everything to be able to be measured by the senses to be measured and quantified by the scientific method and we forget that there is a spiritual realm there is an unseen realm that actually does exist and is influencing and is affecting the world around us.

The very Bible that we read is written by people who were steeped in that worldview. You understand that the people who wrote the Bible truly believed in angels. They truly believed in demons. They truly believed in the devil.

They truly believed in God. The worldview of the writers of Scripture is a supernatural worldview and when we approach the Bible with anything less than a supernatural worldview we will by nature come to a wrong understanding because we're coming with a different worldview than the worldview of those who actually wrote the Scriptures.

Scripture presents a cosmos filled with spiritual realities like angels, demons, and the active providence of God. To deny this is to not only deny the clear teaching of Scripture but the worldview of those who wrote it.

In our text today we're going to see Jesus appeal to the reality of the devil himself. He's going to make references not only to the existence of the devil but also to his influence and to his history which goes all the way back to the very opening of the Bible.

So as I said as we look today at this text I want us to remember that we live in a supernatural world which is affected and influenced by supernatural causes. We are not just in this as natural beings but we live in a supernatural world.

With that let's stand together and let's read. We're going to begin in verse 37 and the words will be on the screen but if you have your Bible I encourage you to begin reading with me at verse 37 and it says, 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 that 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'm 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 you the truth you do not believe me.

Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell you 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. Father in heaven I thank you for your word.

I pray that now as I seek to give an understanding of the word that you would first and foremost Lord as I pray every week and have all these years Lord pray please keep me from error. Please tie me to the post of your word and do not let me stray.

Please use this moment which will seem very small and insignificant in account to a whole lifetime of moments but Lord use this moment as a moment of genuine revelation from your word that we would read and hear from your word that we would hear from God today.

Lord may I diminish and may I shrink behind the word and may the word take center stage and God may your son be put on display. May your spirit do the work of convicting and convincing and Lord God may the believers here be reminded of what it means to truly have God as our father to truly trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to truly love his word and Lord for those who have not yet believed whether they be young children whether they be old no matter what Lord if they have not believed on the Lord Jesus today may they bow the knee to him and I pray this in Jesus name amen.

For those of you who haven't been with us we have been in this extended study of John now John's gospel and we are in chapter 8 and in John chapter 8 we have a discourse between the Lord Jesus Christ or a dialogue rather of the Lord Jesus Christ with him and some of the Jewish people now as I mentioned last week we have sort of a complicated portion of text here when it comes to who is the audience of Jesus we know that this happens near the time of the feast of the tabernacles because that's what has brought Jesus to Jerusalem at first he didn't even he said he wasn't even going to go up with the normal crowds that go they normally go in entourage they normally go as a group a caravan from Galilee down into Judea so that they can have this feast of tabernacles and Jesus told his brothers that he wasn't going to go in the normal way.

He went in private and when he went in private he finally exposed himself showed himself to the people and began teaching and immediately was rebuffed by the leaders. Immediately they began to try to find a way to saddle him with some sort of conviction so that they could punish him take him away and even have him killed.

Jesus announces twice during the feast of tabernacles that he in fact is the Messiah that they have been waiting on. He first says that he is the water of life. He says he is the water to drink. He says he says if you're thirsty come to me and drink.

Which was very similar to what he said to the woman at the well when he said that there was a living water that comes from God that wells up inside of us and give spring to eternal life. And then he said that he was the light of the world.

This was a direct reference I believe to Isaiah 9 where it says that a light would be given to the Gentiles Galilee of the Gentiles a light would come and that light would come and would actually be the Messiah himself.

Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He announces himself as the Messiah. And it says in verse 30 that many people believed in him. And yet in verse 31 as we saw last week in our study between verses 31 and 36 what we found is that even though there were those who believed in him it said that they began to immediately question what he was saying and some of them it even says began to argue with what he was saying.

And and so some question is this the same audience. Is it the believers who now quickly become unbelievers. I think that's very possible. Or is it entirely different audience. And we're looking at the audience of believers in the audience of unbelievers.

And as I said last time I said I think it's a little bit difficult. I think the text is a little hard to come to a hard conclusion about that or a strong conclusion about that. But the point that I'm making is that when Jesus is preaching Jesus is preaching and there is not a reception of what he is saying even I would say even by those who say they believe in him by the end of chapter 8.

And if you want to go ahead and look down at the very end the very last verse of chapter 8 we'll see this next week. At the very end it says they pick up stones to stone him for what he has said. It says they pick up stones to stone him for what he has said.

So Jesus is proclaiming he's talking to them he's offending them with his words which he did in chapter 6 he did it in chapter 7 he's again doing it here in chapter 8 and we see this over and over and over again as Jesus is interacting with the people.

Well I would say verses 37 to 47 is an escalation of this offense because Jesus begins in 37 going down to 47 and he begins to question one of the things that they would have held to be the most dear and that was their relationship to Abraham.

The Jewish people even today will claim a particular special relationship with God because of their relationship to Abraham. And one would understand at least in a sense why that is because it was Abraham who was called by God out of his family of idolatry called into a promised land and given certain promises from God and was even given a covenant by God.

A covenant promise that included Abraham and his children. And so that covenant promises what is being held on to by the Jewish people in this story. And that covenant promise is also held to many today who would say that the Jewish people have a particularly special relationship with God because of their physical parentage.

But I want to give you one thought that I think is very clear in the New Testament and I don't ever want you to think that in saying this that I am saying anything that is necessarily opposed to Jewish people as people.

But I will say this there is no blessing for the Jewish people apart from Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all of the promises of God to Israel. Therefore if an Israelite rejects Jesus they have rejected the promises that God has made to those people.

And many of them today have and some believe that there is a second blessing a second that God has two people that he has a heavenly people and earthly people in the earthly people receive a particular blessing from God a blessing of seed and land that is a physical seed and land which is regardless of whether or not they trust in Jesus Christ they're still going to get that blessing.

And let me say this about that I understand that is very very tempting to believe. But the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham of seed and land is the seed of those who have the faith of Abraham. And the land is the new heaven and the new earth.

It is not a small strip of a small parcel of land over in the Middle East it is the whole of the new earth. That is the promise that is given to Abraham and his descendants and it is fulfilled through Jesus Christ.

Now that what I just said you may not realize it because you've been here maybe but in a lot of churches that get me run out with a stake in a pitchfork. But I'm telling you what the Bible says because Jesus is going to say that these people are going to say we have Abraham as our father.

And Jesus says no your father is the devil. Because to claim to have the blood of Abraham without claiming to have faith in Jesus Christ is worthless when it comes to the economy of God and the blessings of God as they come today.

And if that's offensive you just got to be offended because I'm not going to preach Romans 4 today. But if you want to stay after church will do a Bible study. Romans chapter 4 says it is those who of faith who are the sons of Abraham all right.

Let's let's move to John 837. Let's walk through the text. Let's see that what I've said actually is bared out in this text. So Jesus says I know you are offspring of Abraham. So right away. Jesus does not deny that there is a physical a genealogical connection between the people he's talking to and Abraham.

I know that you are offspring of Abraham physical offspring of Abraham. I know that I got it. I understand that you're the offspring of Abraham. I get up. I know that you're the offspring of Abraham. Yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

You seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. One thing about this phrase that I think is important to remember is that a person not only can have a feeling of connection to God through their parentage like a Jewish person might say well I'm connected to God because of my my physical relationship to my parents.

My Jewish culture connects me to God. But there are also those in the church that I think this this same verse could apply to maybe in just a little bit if we could expand out the application just a little bit and consider it this way.

Some people think because they come to church and their parents are Christians that they are automatically somehow right with God can I say. And again I'm not trying to twist scripture but I am trying to just make an application beyond what Jesus is saying to them.

This same thing applies to anyone who says well my parents brought me to church. I grew up in church. So therefore I'm a Christian. No. If God's Word finds no place in you then you are not his. No matter how much your parents brought you to church.

No matter how much you can quote the catechism no matter how many Bible verses you learned in Awana. No matter all of that. If God's Word finds no place in you you are not his. You are not his. And this is what God this is what the God man Jesus is saying to the Jewish people.

Yeah. I know that you're the offspring of Abram. I know who you came from. I know that the blood of Abraham flows through you. Yet you seek to kill me. Why do you seek to kill me. Why would they seek to kill him.

Because God's Word was not in them. Because they had not been changed by the Word of God. He goes on to say. I speak of what I have seen with my father. And you do what you have heard from your father.

Now we know in a few verses who their father is according to Jesus. Who is their father the devil. Now he hasn't said that yet that party hasn't said to them. But we know what's coming because we can read ahead.

He says. I speak of what I have seen with my father. By the way I think that's a very important use of the term with their notice what Jesus says. I speak of what I have seen with my father. That little small word with their should remind us that Jesus Christ did not come into existence when he was born in Bethlehem.

Neither did he not come into existence at his his conception nine months earlier. Neither did he come into existence when the world was created. Jesus Christ is not part of creation. He is the Word of the Living God made flesh.

He is the second person of the Trinity who has always existed. Therefore he can say I can speak of what I have seen along with my father. Not just from my father. He is going to say in a moment that he speaks what he heard from his father.

But he also speaks of what he's seen with his father. Because the son is the very agent of creation. You realize that Jesus Christ created you as the second person of the Trinity not as the incarnate son of God.

Because that did take place in time. The incarnation took place two thousand years ago in a little village called Bethlehem that actually has a space in time where that took place. But from eternity. God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have always existed as the three persons one God.

And therefore the Son can say I have seen along with my father all of these things. I saw the world created. Jesus saw Adam eat the fruit. Jesus was present when when when the Word of God said that he is going to crush the head of the serpent.

Jesus knew it was his foot that would do the crushing. You understand. Jesus Christ is with the father. And he says. And you do what you've heard from your father. And we know we're gonna see in a moment it's talking about the devil will get to more this later.

But he says I have seen along with my father and you are doing what you heard from your father. They answered him. Abraham is our father. Abraham is our father. Here's a kicker. Jesus says if Abraham were your father 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 again. What they say Abraham is our father. Jesus says well if you were his children you would act like him.

See there's here's a thing there's kind of a double use of the idea of father going on here. And this is an important idea that I think we need to make sure that we understand. When we read this text is when we talk about being the son of someone.

We talk about the physical lineage of someone's son. Right. Like my two children. My oldest two were not of my physical line. Right. But my son is my son. And you know how you can know he's my son. He acts like me.

He behaves like me because he was raised by me even though he doesn't have my blood in his veins. And if you want to know because I know he's in Korea so you can't prove my point. Talk to Ashley because she acts like her daddy sometimes to her peril.

But this is Jesus's point. It's one thing to have Abraham's blood in your veins. But it is another thing to have Abraham's faith in your heart. They had the blood of Abraham in their veins but they didn't have the attitude of Abraham in their mind.

They didn't have the faith of Abraham in their heart. Therefore they were behaving like a different father. The father who actually rose them up. The father who was actually influencing them. The father who actually had more of an influence on their life.

Then did Abraham. And it was their father the devil. And Jesus is saying that he said this. You're not doing what Abraham did. You want to know how someone is someone's son. They do what the father does.

Most of us know that because you see a child and what do you say like father. Like son. There's a certain attitude that comes out. There's a certain expression because he's the one who raised him. He's the one who taught him.

And so it becomes very natural that a father will act rather excuse me. A son will act like his father. Now I will say this. And I because I don't want to be I don't want to be misunderstood. I know some people have parents that are not good to emulate.

And so some of you might say well I don't act like my dad because my dad taught me bad things and I tried to do better praise the Lord for that. I'm not saying that everybody who's a son acts just like their father.

Don't press the analogy too far. What I am saying is Jesus says you're not acting like who your father is your father. You're you are the offspring of Abraham. But you're acting like the one who actually is your father.

And that's the devil. That's who you're behaving like. That's who you're behaving like. You are doing the works your father did. Verse 41. You are doing the works your father did. By the way I want to say one last time let me go back real quick.

He said this is not what Abraham did. This is not what Abraham did. And this is going to tie really strongly into next week. And that's why I want to mention it next week. Jesus is going to say in our text.

He's going to say Abraham long to see my day. He looked forward to my day. He saw it and was glad. And everybody's gonna mock him. They're gonna say how can how can Abraham seen. You have seen your day.

You're not even 50 years old. Abraham's been dead now for 2 ,000 years. You're gonna say you saw Abraham. And Jesus is gonna say before Abraham was I am. So this is what you what Jesus means. He says this is not what Abraham did.

You want to kill me just because I told you the truth. You want to have me stoned. You want to have me crucified just because I told you the truth. That's not what Abraham would be doing if he were here.

If Abraham were here he would be bowing down and calling me Messiah. You're not doing what Abraham did. You're doing the works your father did. This rolls right into verse 41. You're doing the works your father did.

Now the response they give him is somewhat enigmatic because it says they said to him we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father even God. First of all they've upped the ante because first they said their father was Abraham.

Now they are claiming a fatherly relationship with God. And why would they claim such a relationship with God. Because of their relationship with Abraham. They would say because of our relationship with Abraham we are in covenant with God.

And because we are in covenant with God we can identify God as our father. But they also say we were not born of sexual immorality. Now why is that even mentioned. Well different commentators have different ideas and I'll share with you some thoughts on this.

I think it's as I said a little enigmatic that they would mention sexual immorality because that hasn't been the topic so far. But it is possible that there are those who know of Jesus' birth story. And it is possible that there are those who know that Jesus has a mother who got pregnant before she was married.

And even if they believe Joseph was the father that still would have been considered sexual immorality because it would have been fornication sexual action prior to marriage. So it could be that this crowd some of them may be knowing Jesus' story are saying we're not like you.

We're not born of sexual immorality. We have our father and our father is God. Now that may be or it may not be. This may also simply be their way of simply saying we are not from mixed bloodlines. We are not from a mixed parentage.

We are not from a lineage of people who don't have a knowledge of who their parents were. We know who our parents are. Our parents are the Jewish Hebrew people going all the way back to Abraham and Abraham is our father and our father is God.

So could be one of those again. I'm not going to be dogmatic on that. I just know that then bringing up sexual immorality. What they're trying to say overall this I will hold to. They are saying ultimately we don't have a question about our lineage.

We know where we came from and we came from Abraham which means we have one God and our father. Or excuse me one father and our father is God. They're claiming their lineage. They're claiming the fidelity of their parentage because Jesus just called it into question.

He says you're not like your father Abraham. And they said we know who our father is. We weren't born of sexual immorality. We know who our father is. So Jesus said to them because they just claimed that God was their father.

So 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 just for a moment. This one phrase should stand out to us.

If God were your father you would love Jesus. Because that's what this is. The one speaking Jesus is speaking. And he's saying to the Jewish people if God were your father you would love Jesus. You would love me.

Why. Because I came from God and I am here and I came because the father sent me. If you love God you will love Jesus. And the adverse of that is true. If you don't love Jesus you don't love God. There are many people in this world who claim fidelity to God but they reject Jesus Christ.

They'll say I love God but I don't follow Jesus Christ. There is a absolute disconnect between those two things. You cannot love God and reject Jesus Christ. There was a video just this last week. I made a little clip about it on my YouTube channel.

Woman preacher stood up in front of her congregation and she quoted John 14 6. John 14 6 says I am the way the truth and the life. And no one comes to the father except by me. And then she immediately said this verse has been used by Christians to do so much harm and so much damage in the world.

It's been used to tear so many people down and to destroy so many beautiful religions. And I want to tell you that Jesus Christ is in no way here saying that his way is the exclusive way to God. And Jesus is not saying here.

It's my way or the highway. And there's a Greek word for that. It's baloney. Because everything she said was absolutely wrong. Particularly this. She said Jesus didn't say it was my way or the highway.

He really did because he said there's a narrow way that leads to life. And there is a highway or a broad way that leads to destruction. He says everyone who takes the narrow way will find life and everyone who takes the broad way will go to what will go to destruction where there is weeping and there is gnashing of teeth.

It is my way or the highway. Yes Jesus said it and you ought not be ashamed to repeat it. Now you don't have to beat people in the head with it but you ought not hide it under a bushel either. You love people but you point them to the truth.

Because if you satisfy someone with a lie all that you have done it's made their way on the broad road that much easier as they head to hell. Jesus says if you love God you would love me. He's speaking to his audience but he's also speaking to us because if we love God we would love his son.

And then he says this. Why do you not understand what I say. Why do you not understand what I say to you. Well it's because you cannot bear to hear my word. You know the Bible says it says the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God.

You ever wonder why you're evangelizing to someone. And it feels like when you speak the Word of God it bounces off of them like Teflon. It slips and falls off of them and it won't stick. Well it says right here they cannot bear to hear the Word of God.

They don't want to hear the Word of God. And that is the natural state of man. This is why I try to remind all of us many many times when you are going out to evangelize. If someone does not believe the Word of God when you preach it to them you cannot convince them to believe.

Because if you could convince someone to believe someone else can come along and convince them not to. It is a work of the Spirit of God that changes the heart and causes someone to come to faith. This and by the way this satisfies all of the fear and anxiety that we have in evangelism.

Because what is the fear that we have in evangelism. What are they going to say. What if I don't know the answer. What if they ask me a question and I don't know. What if they say something and I don't know how to answer them.

Well guess what. I am not responsible to convince them. I am responsible to preach the gospel and the Holy Spirit of God brings conviction and conversion. Only he can do that. I am called to be a witness to tell them what I have seen and heard from the Word of God to proclaim to them the Word of God and what Jesus has done.

And then it is God who does the work. Paul said this. He said I planted and Apollos watered but God gave the increase. I have never baptized a person in this church that I saved. Neither is Mike neither is Annie.

None of us have ever baptized anyone that we did the saving. It's God who opened their heart to hear the Word. And they were baptized in accord with that profession because God changed their heart. Now can we say God uses the vessels to preach the Word and to hear the Word and to minister and disciple.

Yes we're not unimportant but we're not the most important. The only one who can cause you to hear and believe the Word of God is the Spirit of God. And Jesus said you don't understand what I'm saying.

Because you can't bear to hear my word. You don't even want to hear it. And here's where we get to the reason. This is a long verse first 44. Here he says 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. Couple things about this one verse I wanted to point out for you today.

Number one Jesus again affirms to us the existence of a literal devil. Few years ago Barna research did a survey to find out how many people in the world actually believe in the devil. Actually I'm sorry the United States not the world.

In the United States two-thirds of the people survey two-thirds of Americans. And this fairly large survey that was done. So they do not believe that Satan is a living being now that was general population.

Not just Christians. But I'm sure some Christians were included. If you include such a large group even Satanists don't always believe that the devil existed. You know that that that if you actually look like it the the satanic Bible or look up the the the website for the those who call themselves Satanists Satanists don't believe in a literal bath a met style character.

What they believe in is they believe the devil. The devil represents a sense of autonomy and a rejection of authority from God. So to them it's not about worshipping a real devil it's about following the idea of self-law autonomy.

It's about me being the authority. What was the very thing that the devil tempted Eve with in the garden you will be like God. And to this very day that is the desire of the natural man is to be like God to be his own God.

Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants God to be there. When they get there they want the throne to welcome them to sit down. That's the way the natural man looks at this. So in many ways the world says there's no devil.

There is no there is no real evil being out there. And a lot of Christians think the same. They think that the Bible doesn't teach a literal devil but rather that the devil represents evil in the world.

Well let me give you a few thoughts on that number one seven of the Old Testament books and every New Testament writer speaks of a literal devil not just a figurative embodiment of evil but a literal physical devil physical spiritual limit.

You know I mean literal as in he literally exists not physical in the sense of like the physical world. He shows up at the beginning of Scripture. He's seen through the very end of Scripture. Mike's preaching on that right now talking about and he's going to go on to the end about how we're going to see the devil at the end of the age.

And the destruction of the devil and what is his end. He's cast into the lake of fire. Denial of the devil is a denial of Scripture. It's plain and simple. You can believe one or believe the other but you can't believe both.

You can't say I believe the Bible. But this devil isn't real because the Bible is that clear. The Bible says he is a created being. He's not eternal. He has not been forever. And by the way he's also not equal with God.

The Bible says greater is he that is in you than what he was in the world. Who's that talking about. Talking about the devil. He is a limited creature. Remember the opening chapter of the book of Job.

What is what is Satan limited by God. He cannot do anything outside of the authority of God. He is counted among the supernatural angelic beings. In Ephesians chapter 6 verses 11 and 12 he's created good but he fell because of pride.

Based on first Timothy chapter 3 and verse 6 it said by the way in first Timothy 3 you know what is talking about an elder. And it says this an elder must not be a recent convert. You know why an elder shouldn't be a recent convert.

Because it says he may become puffed up and conceded and fall into the condemnation of the devil. What was the condemnation of the devil then. It was the condemnation of conceit of pride. The same thing happens to a man when he's put into authority over God's people before he's mature enough for it.

Same danger happens. The devil is described as carnivorous. He's described as a serpent a bird who comes and eats the seed of the word before it can make its plant in the heart of a man he seen as a wolf who comes to destroy the sheep a lion who prowls around seeking whom he may devour or a dragon waiting to feast on the seed of the woman.

We see this carnivorous figure throughout scripture who is representative of the devil. He is called a murderer a liar an accuser and an adversary. We're not given any explicit information about him prior to the fall.

There are a few passages in the Old Testament that which have been a traditionally applied to him. I have some questions about those passages in Ezekiel and Isaiah. But ultimately we do know this in the garden he tempted Eve and he called into question the very truth of God's Word and in doing so demonstrated himself to be evil in that very moment demonstrated himself to have a heart of evil.

Because he asked those very words that are still asked today by so many people. Have God truly said as Eve said on the day we eat of it we're going to die. And he says has God really said that? Did God really mean that?