“WHO’S YOUR FATHER?”
John 8:30-58
Message # 19 In Gospel of John 2021
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
June 07, 2021
Video Link to The message: https://youtu.be/XOcR4B6mikY
INTRODUCTION:
1.) In many ways PEI, is a large family community, and people at one part of the island are connected to and often related to people in almost every part of the island.
A.) This strong island wide connection means there is a question I have often heard on this island: “Who’s your father?”
B.) Even with myself, I am from Deer Island, and though that was my home, I have now lived more years away from the island than I have ever lived on the island.
ba.) When I come home, I will see young people who look familiar, yet are people I do not know.
bb.) I have found myself also asking the question “Who is your father?” At times now I also have to ask “who are your grandparents?
C.) In John 8 there was also an emphasis on family genealogy, especially as to how they were related to Abraham.
I. THE JEWS CLAIMED TO BE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM. (John 8:31-41)
• It was in the midst of this that Jesus said:
1.) “if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (8:31)
A.) “You will know the truth” (8:32a.)
aa.) In the context of last week’s Scripture and message, Jesus had been speaking of himself as the “Light of the World”, another term for being the Messiah.
ab.) Jesus challenged them to be His disciples, and to learn from him.
aba.) True disciples of Jesus would know the truth of God, as children of Abraham, and ultimately Children of God.
B.) “And the truth will set you free.” (8:32b.)
ba.) Through Jesus, they could come to spiritual freedom from the law, sin, and their former ways of life.
bb.) These people could experience the freedom that comes through Jesus Christ.
2.) We are children of Abraham. (8:33a.)
A.) There was a pride in their Jewish heritage.
aa.) The Jews rejoiced in being able to trace their lineage back to Abraham.
ab.) Yet sadly, there was a spiritual ignorance that came with being children of Abraham.
aba.) Every Jew could show you his or her genealogy and pedigree charts proving a blood connection to Abraham.
.01) Had this been today, they would likely be using DNA testing to prove this connection.
abb.) The error of their understanding was in looking to a physical connection to Abraham rather than a spiritual connection.
abc.) Certainly, the world would be blessed through Abraham, and yet the blessing was not through Abraham, but through his descendant, Jesus the Christ.
.01) The question was not if they could prove a connection to Abraham, but rather that they had come in an obedient saving faith to Abraham’s descendant, Jesus the Christ.
.02) The fullness of that message would not be understood until after the resurrection of Christ when Peter delivered God’s plan of salvation on the Day of Pentecost.
B.) “We have never been slaves of anyone.” (8:33a.)
ba.) These Jews completely missed the message Jesus was giving and became defensive to the words of Jesus on freedom, looking only at physical freedom, and not spiritual freedom.
bb.) Even in their statement of freedom, they were showing their ignorance of Jewish history.
bba.) We recall the Jewish people had been slaves in Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, yet they were now claiming they had never been slaves to anyone.
C.) Jesus said: “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (8:34)
ca.) Our Lord was speaking of something far worse than physical bondage.
caa.) As terrible as it is to be a physical slave, it is that much worse to have our spirits in a state of bondage.
cab.) Physical bondage can affect us in this life only.
cac.) Spiritual bondage goes further to the very core of our souls and being.
.01) Spiritual bondage if not rectified in Jesus Christ will also be experienced in eternity.
cb.) Perhaps like these Jews of past generations, we would never recognize that sin brings with it a slavery.
cba.) And yet at the same time we know it is true.
.01) We have seen that a drunk is a slave to the next bottle, and a drug addict will focus his entire life around his or her next fix.
.02) Those who are addicted to pornography eventually come to need even greater stimulation to make them happy.
.03) A gambler with squander even his money for food or lodging because the next bet will solve his financial problems.
.04) Certainly these are but a few examples. Whatever sin, or addiction a person can have, will eventually become his or her slave master.
.05) To put it another way, several years ago there was a Christian song that came out I believe by the Cathedral Quartet that included the following words:
“Sin will take you further than you want to go; it will keep you far longer than you want to stay, and it will cost you far more than you want to pay.”
bb.) “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family” (8:35a.)
bba.) These Jews just claimed to be Sons of Abraham.
bbb.) Jesus declared that rather than sons of Abraham they are slaves to sin which means they are slaves to Satan.
bbc.) Therefore, if they are merely slaves instead of sons, they would have no part in the blessings, nor the sonship that comes from Abraham through Jesus the Christ.
bc.) “A son belongs to it forever.” (8:35b.)
bca.) To have Abraham as their Father could only come through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
.01) Galatians 3:26-27
.02) Galatians 4:4-5
D.) “How can you say that we shall be set free?” (8:33b.)
ca.) “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (8:36)
cb.) Jesus is taking them back to his earlier statement in verse 31.
cc.) Jesus Christ alone will bring spiritual freedom from sin.
cca.) These individuals still did not get that Jesus is the Christ, and that salvation comes only through him.
II. JESUS CLAIMED THE JEWS (AT LEAST THE JEWISH LEADERS) WERE CHILDREN OF SATAN (John 8:42-47)
1.) You are doing the works of your father. (8:41a.)
A.) “We are not illegitimate children” (8:41b.)
aa.) The King James, New American Standard, and English Standard versions all translate this as: “We were not born of fornication.”
ab.) These words were a direct dig and attack on Jesus and his birth.
aba.) Jesus had been calling them children of the devil.
abb.) Even though Jesus had been born over thirty years before this, the rumors were still being circulated on the circumstances of his birth.
abc.) When Jesus confronted them, they basically came back “Oh yeah, well we know who our father is. Unlike you we were not born in fornication.
.01) It was an insinuation that although Joseph had been gracious enough to wed Mary that nobody really knew for sure who the father of Jesus was.
.02) It was a statement for which they had no proof but was a means of retaliating against Jesus for calling them children of Satan.
B.) “The only Father we have is God himself.” (8:41c.)
C.) “If God were your Father you would love me for, I have come from Him.” (8:42)
ca.) A few months after this, near to the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father.
cb.) Jesus answered the request of Philip in John 14:9-11.
cba.) In the same way if these Jews truly had love for God, they would also have love for Jesus because the two are one.
D.) “You are of your Father the devil.” (8:44a.)
da.) “You want to do the desires of your father.” (8:44b.)
db.) “He was a murderer from the beginning. (8:44c.)
dba.) Although the religious leaders would repeatedly deny it to Jesus, they had for several months been seeking to put Jesus to death.
dbb.) The very actions they had been doing were proof that these Jewish leaders were more connected with Satan than with God.
.01) Jesus went on to say:
dc.) “He is a liar, and the father of lies. (8:44d.)
2.) Jesus on the other hand was doing the works of God His father.
A.) Jesus speaks the truth. (8:45)
aa.) Because it is the truth, they will not believe him.
ab.) When a person is aligned with the darkness, they will not accept the truth.
B.) Jesus challenged those present to convict him of sin. (8:46a)
ba.) Jesus put out a challenge to show him and confront him on any area of sin in his life.
baa.) Jesus put the burden of proof on them to prove him to be less than whom he declared himself to be.
bab.) I can guarantee you that as badly as these ones hated Jesus, they would have readily presented the evidence and proof Jesus had demanded from them if there had been any.
bb.) “If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me? (8:46b.)
bba.) If there was nothing they could bring, that was proof that Jesus was speaking the truth.
bbb.) Jesus therefore challenged them on not believing him, since it was obvious his words were true.
III. JESUS CLAIMED TO BE BOTH THE SON OF GOD, AND GOD HIMSELF. (John 8:48-59)
1.) You are a Samaritan and have a demon. (8:48)
A.) John 8:49
B.) On the charges of being a Samaritan, the final months of Jesus’ ministry he had avoided Judea.
ba.) He stayed largely in Galilee, but as the time came closer to the cross Jesus even spent time in Galilee going more to Perea, and Samaria.
aa.) I do not have a demon.
aaa.) Certainly, there was nothing in Jesus’ life that would warrant being called demon possessed.
.01) But the bottom line was if they could not find a legitimate charge against him, then a bogus one would have to do.
ab.) But I honour my Father,
aba.) Jesus brings the conversation back to the spiritual.
ac.) And you dishonour me.
aca.) By dishonouring Jesus, they were also dishonouring God the Father.
2.) I do not seek my glory.
A.) There is one who seeks and judges. (8:50)
aa,) Again Jesus focused their eyes back to God himself.
3.) “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (8:51)
A.) “Now we know you have a demon.” (8:52)
B.) As with so many other times in the Gospel of John, they could not get beyond the physical illustration to see the spiritual truth.
ba.) Abraham died.
bb.) The prophets died.
bc.) When Jesus said these words, he was not speaking of physical death.
bca.) Every generation of the world has died; In fact, every generation until the second coming of Christ will experience death until Christ comes back.
bcb.) While physical death is universal, spiritual death, also known as the second death, or eternal damnation will only come to those who do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
C.) “Surely you are not greater than our father, Abraham?” (8:53a.)
ca.) Who do you make yourself to be?”
cb.) While these people could not comprehend it, Jesus was and is greater than Abraham.
D.) The glory of Christ comes from God himself.
ca.) John 8:54-55
E.) Even Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ.
da.) These words again brought a challenge from the Jews.
daa.) John 8:56-57
4.) Jesus declared himself to be deity.
A.) John 8:58-59
B.) Jesus identified himself as: “I Am.”
ba.) These “I Am” statements in John echoed the title God spoke to Moses in Exodus 3.
bb.) When Moses asked God who it was who had called him, God said to tell the people: “I Am.”
bba.) Every time Jesus made one of these “I am” statements, they knew without a shadow of doubt that he was calling himself the Almighty God.
bbb.) Knowing what Jesus had said without comprehending who he was it is no wonder they picked up the stones to stone him to death.
.01) Yet like so many other times they could not lay their hands on him for his time had not yet come.
CONCLUSION:
1.) As I bring this message to a close, I again ask the question who’s your father?
A.) In this world we have all had physical fathers.
aa.) None of us can choose our physical father.
2.) The more important question is who is your spiritual father?
A.) Jesus made it clear we only have two options:
aa.) We can be a child of Abraham which also means we are children of God.
ab.) We can also be children of Satan.
B.) Who’s your father?
