Children Of The Devil

Jesus says, ‘You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.’ (v44)

I wonder how many of you, actually believe in a ‘personal’ devil? Many world religions and belief systems subscribe to the existence of such a being. But how many of you actually believe in the existence, of this entity that we call the devil or Satan?

There were two boys walking home from Sunday School one day where they had just had a lesson about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. And one boy turns to the other and says, “you know, I don’t really believe in any of this devil stuff’. The other said, “What do you mean you don’t believe in the devil? It talks about him all the way through the Bible!” the first replied, “well, I think it’s a bit like Santa Claus, in the end the devil just turns out to be your dad.”

After reading what Jesus says in John 8 v 44 – perhaps that little boy isn’t too far from the truth! ‘You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.’ What’s that old saying? – The apple never falls far from the tree!

Those of you who are dog lovers will know that the experts say whenever you go to buy a puppy – you should always get to meet mum and dad – because by seeing mum and dad you’ll get an idea of what your dog will turn out to be. How big it is, how strong it is, what colour it is, what temperament it’s going to have.

And the same is true of humans – boys - if you want to know what your new girlfriend is going to look like and be like in years to come, take a good look at her mother! Girls, if you want to know what your boyfriend will turn out like in years to come – take a good look at his dad!

You know, when I get up in the morning and look in the mirror to have a shave – I see my dad looking back at me. We look alike, we dress alike, we talk alike, we think alike. All those years that I said I would never be like him – and here I am turning into a clone image!

Whether we like it our not we are all products of the influences/genes of our parents and from the moment we are born people try to look for a resemblance. They say things like, “She has his mother’s eyes, or he’s got his father’s nose.” I always tell people that our son James has my temper – he must have my temper because Michelle still got all of hers! (I only say that because she not here)!

If you want an accurate picture of who someone is – if you really want to know what they’re like – you need to look at their heritage, you need to look at their ancestry. You need to look at where they have come from. From the people they have come from.

I’m sure many of you will have watched the series on BBC called ‘Who do you think you are?’ It’s a documentary where celebrities go on a journey to trace their family trees – and as they do they make some pretty amazing discoveries about the people in their past. And by finding out about these people, who they were, what they did, how they lived, what they got up to – they become far better placed to understand who they themselves are in the present.

If you ask adopted children why they find it so important to trace their real parents they will say – ‘because I need to know who I am, I need to know where I came from.’

We know who we are - and we get a sense of identity, from knowing where we’ve come from, and from whom we’ve come from.

And the whole conversation that Jesus has with the Jews in John ch 8 is to do with this question of heritage. What he is saying to them is ‘If you really want to know who you are – you need to understand your heritage. You need to know where you have come from – you need to know who you’ve come from. And if you want to know who I am, you need to understand my heritage. You need to know where I have come from – you need to know from who I have come from’.