Worship in spirit and in truth, John 8:48-59

                                               

Well today’s message is going to be a little bit different than usual.  I’m not going to expound the text, line by line, word by word as I would typically do. But today I want to focus on just a few points that Jesus makes at the end of this dialogue that we have been looking at for several weeks and try to make an application for us here this morning.

Almost every week that we have been studying John, I have quoted the same verse of scripture at some point during my message.  Any guesses which verse that would be?  Let’s assume that is a rhetorical question.  The verse of scripture I quote almost every week is from John 4:24  "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Now I have done that deliberately.  Most of the signage for our church says “Worship on the beach!” And so I would hope that is why you are here this morning.  To worship God. I hope that is your purpose. But we are not the only people who are worshipping this morning.  There are churches all over this county that claim to be worshipping God. There are seemingly a lot of different options out there for people who want to worship God.

However, I want to remind you that at the very beginning of the Bible, God makes it clear that He is not obligated to accept our worship, unless we worship Him as He desires.  As He designed it.  In Genesis 4, Cain and Abel come to present their offerings to the Lord.  You know the story.  Cain brought the fruit of his labor, the best of his crops, and Abel brought the firstlings of his flock and their fat portions.  That means that he brought animal sacrifices, blood sacrifices. And it says that the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.

And that shows that God did not accept Cain’s worship, but He accepted Abel’s worship.  That was God’s prerogative, wasn’t it?  But what was Cain’s response?  He became angry, and in his anger he sinned and murdered his brother.  

Now we find a very similar situation presented here in this passage today.  The Jews were very religious, they had a system of worship by which they believed they could please God, by which they thought they could  become acceptable to God, and yet Jesus said it did not please God.  In fact He says that they are still in their sins, and so they become angry, and end up plotting to murder Christ, and finally succeed in murdering Him 6 months later. 

The question then is how are we to worship God?  How do you know that He accepts your worship?  How does your worship make you acceptable to God? I’ve been speaking about this for weeks now to some degree or another. I would assume that most of us consider ourselves Christians.  But if I were to take a survey of 100 Christians about what they base their faith on, I would not be surprised to find that there would be dozens of different answers.  

There are millions of professing Christians around this country that are attempting to worship God this morning.  You happen to be here.  But how do you know what is true?  How do you know what is acceptable worship and what is not?  Why should you believe what I am telling you?  Does it really matter how or where you worship?  Does it really matter if you go to church or which church? Does the content of the worship service really matter?  Won’t God just accept you if you are sincere?  Does God really care how you worship Him?

Well, I would say that most of those questions can be answered by Jesus’s statement which I quoted from a moment ago, “God is Spirit, and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Note that He says you MUST worship Him in spirit and in truth.  It’s not optional, it’s not conditional.  He is stating the requirements for acceptable worship. Yet I must say I don’t think most professing Christians really believe that.  I think they have this idea that God is going to accept their worship however they may present it.  And yet I would point out again that illustration of Cain and Abel.  I believe that this was placed at the beginning of the scriptures for a reason,  that we might recognize that God has certain standards and requirements for worship.  And if God does not accept your worship, then I am afraid I have to tell you some bad news.  It’s the same news that Jesus told the Jews in this passage three different times.  Jesus said, “You will seek Me, but you will not find Me, and so as a consequence you will die in your sins.” And to add insult to injury, over and over again, particularly in vs.47 and again in vs.55, Jesus said you don’t know God.  In spite of their worship, they didn’t know God, and as a result they would die in their sins.

Now why would Jesus say something so dreadful to these very religious people, who were in the temple worshipping God at that very moment?  In fact, they had been there for a week long religious festival, night and day worshipping God.  And yet Jesus has the audacity to tell them that they are going to die in their sins.  That their worship was useless. Why would He say such a harsh thing as that?  These people were sincere.  They were worshipping God.  They were in church for a week.  Doesn’t that count?

I’ll tell you why Jesus said that.  First He said it because He loved them.  If He didn’t love them, He wouldn’t warn them of their impending doom, would He?  But because He loved them, He told them they were still in their sins. We hear all the time, love the sinner, hate the sin. But the Bible teaches that if you love the sinner, you will expose their sin.   People get offended though when you tell them that they are a sinner.  Just like Cain, the natural man gets angry at the idea he is a sinner.  But God’s desire is to save you from the condemnation of sin, and He cannot do that unless you first recognize that you are a sinner.  

But there is another reason that Jesus said that they were going to die in their sins.  And that is because they did not know the truth. Jesus said in vs 32, “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Some people think that freedom means that they can come to God any way they want, just as they are. But that is not what Jesus is teaching.  The freedom Jesus is speaking of is freedom from their sins. In other words, if they knew the truth, it would set them free from the penalty and enslavement of their sins. But these Jews didn’t accept the truth, because it did not fit into their paradigm of religion.  So Jesus said in vs.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.”  So just like Cain, they plot to murder Jesus, because they didn’t like the fact that God had rejected their worship.

So verse 32 then where Jesus said “you will know the truth and the truth will make you free” correlates to the quote from chapter 4:24, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  If you neglect the truth, or reject the truth, or ignore the truth, then your worship of God is in vain.  It doesn’t matter how sincere it is, it doesn’t matter how emotional you may be about it, it doesn’t matter how beautiful you may think the service may be, or how inspiring it may seem to you. If it is not truth, then it is not accepted by God, and as such you are still in your sins.  

Do you understand that folks?  I’m talking to you folks here today right now.  I’m not talking about the Jews 2000 years ago. I’m talking to 21st century Christians right here in this community. I’m telling you by the authority of God’s word that if your worship of God is not according to the truth, then your worship is in vain and you will die in your sins.

So what is truth? That’s the logical next question, isn’t it?  Well, Jesus has the answer to that question as well.  First of all, right in vs 31 He says that His words are truth: “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  Back in vs.14 at the beginning of this dialogue, He says, “My testimony is true.”  In John 17:17, Jesus says, “Your word is truth.”  And note another tremendous verse, which connects truth and the spirit together as we saw earlier that both are required. In John 6:63 Jesus says "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

So then we know the truth by the word of God.  And the word of God is spirit and truth which gives life. So if we are going to do what Jesus said, and worship God in spirit and in truth, then we must worship according to the word of God, which is the gospel of Christ. So God reveals how we must worship Him in His word.  

There is an important principle of hermeneutics, (hermeneutics means the interpretation of the Bible) and it’s called the principle of first mention.  How that works is that you find the first time a word or phrase is used, and that becomes a template for how you are to understand that usage throughout the Bible. And the first time worship is mentioned is found is in Genesis 22.  Abraham has been told by God to offer up his son Isaac on the altar.  To sacrifice his son.  And so He gets up early in the morning, and his servants and Isaac go to the mountain that God has appointed. And seeing the mountain in the distance, Abraham says to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”

Can you imagine that?  God told him to sacrifice his son, he has a knife to slit his son’s throat, he has the wood to make the fire, and his plan is to sacrifice his son in order to obey God.  And Abraham calls that worship.  Now that’s heavy. Think about that for a moment. And compare that definition of worship to most concepts of modern worship today.  There is no comparison.  There is no correlation.  Listening to a band play music and clapping your hands does not quite equate to sacrificing one’s own son whom you love with all your heart.  There is no comparison.  

Actually there is a comparison by contrast.  And that is in Genesis 22 as well. As Abraham bound his son on the altar and raised the knife to kill his son, God provided a ram caught in a thicket at the last moment. God pointed out the ram which was provided to be Isaac’s substitute.  And that was a picture of the sinless substitute that God would provide for the sin of the world so that sinners condemned to death might be made acceptable to God. So that their sins might be taken away. 

I believe that event is what Jesus is referring to in vs.56.  Jesus said, ”Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”  I think that Abraham was given the insight at that moment, that there would come the Lamb of God who would die in our place, as our substitute, so that we might be saved from the wrath of God against sin.  Abraham saw Christ’s day prefigured in the ram that he slew and laid on the altar.  And Abraham rejoiced, not only because Isaac was spared, but also because he understood the fulfillment of the prophecy given before Isaac was born, which was that through his seed would come One from whom the whole world would be blessed.

So before you can begin to worship in spirit and in truth, your sins have to be dealt with.  And God has provided a substitute to pay the penalty of death that we all deserve because all have sinned, and none of us are righteous.  So that is the first step in worshipping God.  Believing who Jesus is, and what He came to do, and accepting His sacrifice for your sins, that you may be counted as righteous through Jesus Christ.  

Listen, that is the basis for our salvation.  We cannot come to God without a sacrifice. Because the penalty that God requires for sin is death.  Romans 3:23 says “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  There are two essential elements in obtaining that salvation which Christ paid for.  Two essential elements; faith and repentance.  Faith is believing who Jesus is; the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and repentance is confessing and turning from your sins and asking God for forgiveness. 

 In the book of Acts, we see that the apostles taught that faith and repentance were necessary, Acts 20:21says they were “solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul instructs Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:25  “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.”  Jesus and the disciples went about preaching repentance and the necessity to believe in Christ. So repentance and faith are the twin pillars of our faith.

Now I will tell you what most modern worshippers get wrong.  They emphasize faith, but not repentance.  They say believe in God, but they don’t say repent of your sins.  I would suggest that the word sin is an anathema in most churches today. They don’t want to offend anyone. Instead, sin is accepted, it’s even condoned in many churches.  But I will say this, without repentance from sin, there can be no salvation.  And without the appropriation of Christ’s sacrifice to cover your sin, there can be no worship. There can be no fellowship with God.  There can be no acceptance from God.  

That’s why Jesus kept emphasizing to those Jewish religious leaders that they would die in their sins, because they would not accept the One who came to pay the penalty of their sin.  Now how do you know what is sin?  It must be found in God’s word.  God’s word defines sin.  God’s law defines sin. Not society, not the culture, not some religious figurehead.  No one can define sin but God. Sin is anything that does not conform to the nature of God.  And God has written His word that we might know sin, that sin would become even more sinful. 

Yet how many churches today are trying to accommodate society’s definitions of lifestyle, of behavior?  In their efforts to appeal to the world, they accept the world’s definitions of marriage, for instance, when it is in opposition to God’s definitions in His word.  I have to say that if they are changing God’s definition of sin then they are not worshipping God in spirit and in truth.  They are worshipping God in vain. They are still in their sins.

Notice how Jesus keeps refocusing on this aspect of God’s word is truth, and that His words are God’s words.  John 8:43-47,  "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because 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.”

So the bottom line is that He says, you don’t believe my word because you are from your father the devil who is the father of lies.  So instead of believing my word, you believe a lie. Since you are not of God, you don’t accept My word.  I would suggest this is evident in Christianity today; that those that do not believe God’s word is the truth, have no use for God’s word.  That is why many churches today rarely refer to the word of God.  They rarely preach the word.  They rarely teach the word.  Instead they sing some songs, watch a couple of videos, maybe watch a skit, and then the pastor ends up telling a couple of funny stories at the end, and everyone goes home feeling vaguely entertained and self righteous.  

So I will summarize so far; if the church does not preach faith and repentance, then they are not worshipping God in truth.  And if the church does not preach the word, then they are not of the truth.  I don’t care how entertaining it is. They have forsaken the truth, and as such are apostate.

Here is what the religious apostates believe: that God is love, and that sin is ok. That God accepts them in their sin. And so they hate anyone who preaches against sin.  This is the difference between true religion and false religion.  False religion does not deal with sin and claims all that is necessary is a relationship with God, and true religion recognizes that sin must be dealt with in order to have fellowship with God.

I want to point out another statement Jesus made in vs.50 "But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges.”  This is another way that they should have recognized that Jesus was speaking the truth.  He did not seek His own glory, but He sought to glorify the Father in all that He did.  

And I would suggest that this is a way that Christians can discern those who speak or teach the truth.  If a church or a worship service is geared so that it brings glory to the people who are conducting it, then you need to be suspect of whether or not they are of the truth.  I’m going to be very candid with you for a moment.  I don’t do this to bring glory to myself.  I don’t do this for fame.  I don’t do this to bring some sort of honor to myself.  To be frank, I’m often humiliated as a pastor.  But I think that is the method God employs to able to use me. 

There was a time in my life when I had a certain degree of fame when I was in the antique business. I was on a national television show about antiques for a few years as an appraiser.  And I received  a lot of recognition from people in my field at that time in my life.  I thought that God could use me from that platform and from my success to bring people to the Lord. But God had to take me down a few pegs in my pride in order to be able to use me for His glory and not my own.  So I didn’t chose this ministry because I thought it would make me popular or well liked.  If anything, the more people listen to me, the more enemies I seem to make.  

But I will say that I am in good company.  Jesus said in John 15:18 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”  And I believe that is because I try to preach the truth of God’s word.  We obviously don’t have a whole lot else to offer you folks here.  I don’t tell jokes very well.  We don’t have a cool band.  We don’t have skits or interpretive dancing.  But what we do is preach the truth of God’s word without apology and as the central focus of our worship.  And I believe that the word of God is truth, and that only the truth will set you free. Some people are offended by that.  And as a result they get mad when I preach on sin, and the need for repentance.  But I would also hope that there are going to be some that will believe, and will respond to the truth, and will commit to this church.

Sometimes I find myself praying the prayer of Elijah as he contended with the priests of Baal in 1Kings 18:36.  He prayed, ““O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.”  I pray that God will show that I have done these things according to HIs word.  And that God will turn the hearts of His people back again.

Well, I warned you that I was going to go on a bit of a tangent today.  And so I’m going to wrap this up with one last point.  And that is the principle found in vs.51, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” Death is the universal consequence of sin.  But for those who believe in Christ’s word, and keep His word, they will not see that consequence of death. Their body will die, but their spirit will live forever with Christ.

So you want to worship Him in spirit and in truth?  Then you will keep His word.  Jesus emphasizes this over and over again.  This key principle is found in vs.31, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Listen,1 Samuel 15:22 says, “to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams.”   To obey is better than coming with songs and hymns. Isaiah 29:13 says, “Then the Lord said,’Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.”  And because of that false worship, God says He will turn away from them. God wants obedience from the heart.  To obey is to love the Lord. Jesus said in John 14:15  "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

Notice that phrase, “their reverence consists of tradition learned by rote.” Jesus is speaking of rituals and ceremonies that may have their origin in worship, but they have become external rituals that have not affected their hearts. Just watch a Catholic or Episcopal service and I think that you will definitely see the correlation to what Jesus is speaking of. 

Now, I don’t have a lot of time to show you every reference this morning, but over and over again Jesus says “continue in my word”, or “keep my word,”  or “keep my commandments.”  In fact, as an example to us,  Jesus Himself keeps the word.  That was the measure of His truthfulness that the Jews should have recognized.  He says in vs55 “and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.”  

And I would suggest that this is the way we know that someone knows the Lord as well.  They keep the word of God.  If they don’t keep the word of God, then they don’t know God.  1John 2:3, 5  “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” ... 5 “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.” 

That’s the reality of true worship.  It’s sacrificing your prerogatives, your rights, your purposes, to obey the word of God.  It’s putting Christ first in your life.  True worship requires that you bring to God the offering of yourself.  Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  

That’s all I have for you this morning.  Worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.  Nothing else counts.  Anything less than the truth is a lie.  God desires truth in the innermost being.  And we do that by being conformed to God’s word.  Simply lay the template of the gospel over your life, and follow the commands of God as He laid them out in His word.  It starts with a sacrifice, Jesus substitionary death on the cross, and it ends with another sacrifice, presenting your body as a living and holy sacrifice.  Acceptable to God. That is your spiritual service of worship. That is how we are made free.  Let us pray.

Characteristics of a child of God, John 8:37-47

I have noticed that some people really value their ancestry.  Their heritage means a lot to them. They usually have done all sorts of research into their family tree.  And perhaps your family history should be remembered and valued.  But then again I think some people put way too much emphasis on some great thing they can claim their great great grand daddy did, and they feel that somehow validates them in some unique way. 

It’s kind of like those people that believe in reincarnation.  Whenever you hear someone claim to have been reincarnated, it’s interesting that they always claim to have discovered that they were somebody great in their past life.  There are a lot of people that claim to be the reincarnation of Napoleon or Cleopatra, for instance.  I read about one guy who believed he was the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe.  He didn’t look anything like her though. Phil Collins, the rock singer, said that he is the reincarnation of a survivor of the Alamo.  Amazing.  And looking around on the internet you can find more than a few  people who claim to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.  I guess these poor confused people want to find some way to add importance to their lives.

But I guess everyone would like to know if they are related to anyone famous. I found out something interesting about my own ancestry a while back, which in light of those previously mentioned people is going to sound like I too am trying to add importance to my life, and maybe I am. But my nephew supposedly traced our lineage back to Scotland, and found that our line came from one of the daughters of Robert the Bruce, a Scottish king that was featured in the movie Braveheart.  I have to admit, I found that a little bit exciting for a while as I thought about it.  But the truth is, one of my ancestors that lived over 700 years ago has very little to do with my life today.  

But for the Jews, their ancestry meant a lot. They, of course, claimed their lineage from Abraham. And being descended from the line of Abraham they could rightly claim the benefits of God’s covenantal people.  Their property, their ancestral lands, were divided according to their tribe, according to the sons of Jacob, the son of Isaac, who was the Son of Abraham.  So for a Jew living in the first century, being a descendant of Abraham was a matter not only of religion, but nationality, property and even to some degree determined their livelihood.  

Now this week as we look at these claims by the Jews to be children of Abraham,  we need to remember that we are jumping into the middle  an ongoing teaching session that Jesus was having with the Jews, which occurred during the Feast of Tabernacles, which lasted for several days.  We have looked at various elements of this discourse for the last several weeks.  All of it was occurring in the temple during this feast which has tens of thousands of people in attendance.  And last week, we saw that Jesus delivered this great statement at one point in the discussion, saying, that if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 

Now Jesus wasn’t talking about freedom from slavery, or freedom from Roman oppression, but He was speaking of spiritual freedom, freedom from the enslavement of sin.  And three times in the previous section Jesus said they were still enslaved to their sin, and as such they would die in their sins.  The Jews, who had already hated Him enough to want to put Him to death, were enraged by this accusation.  So they argue that they couldn't go to hell as sinners, because they were descendants of Abraham.

You see, the rabbis taught that no son of Abraham would enter into hell.  They believed that their father Abraham was actually posted at the gate of Hades to make sure that no circumcised person would enter there.  Justin Martyr, in the Dialogue of Trypho in the second century, argued with a Jewish man who said this about the Jews; “They who are the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, shall in any case, even if they be sinners and unbelieving and disobedient toward God, share in the eternal kingdom.”  So this was their belief, that due to the covenant of God with Abraham, they inherited eternal life with God, and escaped hell, simply due to their being a descendent of Abraham.  

So in vs.33, the Jews in response to Christ say, “we are Abraham’s descendants.”  They said that as a defense of their freedom, possibly referring to their religious freedom.  And three times in this passage before us today, the Jews are going to claim their heritage as a defense against what Christ was teaching.  They have three claims they make, and as we look at them you will notice that they are progressive in their claims.  First, they claim to be the physical seed or physical descendants of Abraham, which Jesus says is true in vs.37.  Secondly, they claim to be the spiritual seed of Abraham, which Jesus says is not true.  And thirdly, they claim to be the children of God, which Jesus again demonstrates is not true.  So Jesus agrees with the first claim, and then just debunks the second two, exposing the falseness of their claims. 

And I would just like to make a parallel to people in our culture today.  Most people in America today claim to be Christian.  A recent Pew research study showed that 70% of Americans claim to be Christians.  At the very least that should mean that they believe in God, they believe in Jesus, and they believe in an afterlife in heaven.  But I’m afraid that for the majority of those claiming Christianity, they are not unlike those Jews.   When we examine the basis for their claims, we find that the number one reason is that they were raised to be Christians.  They were raised in a home where Christianity was taught, or at least accepted by parents who believed in God.  So most people I believe would claim their heritage as a basis for their Christianity.

Secondly, for a lot of people, their claim to Christianity is based on their church affiliation.  You could equate the nation of Israel with the church in many respects.  And so spiritually, many in our culture claim their Christianity based on their church association.  They not only were raised to believe in God, but to belong to a particular denomination; whether it be Catholic, or Episcopal, or Presbyterian or Baptist or whatever, and they find their identification in the rituals and ceremonies and community of their church.  And as the Jews were required to be circumcised in order to belong to their church, many denominations require people to be baptized as a mark of belonging to their church.  

And then thirdly, as a result of the first two reasons, most people in that 70% would believe that they were children of God. And as such they believe they would escape any judgment that might fall on the world.  Rather than Abraham standing at the gate of Hades, they might expect Saint Peter to be checking credentials at the gate of heaven.  But I’m afraid that in light of what Jesus is teaching today, we will discover that what Jesus is talking about is not being made a child of God through physical means, but by being born as a child of God by spiritual means. And so the requirements which were true for the Jews are true for us as well.  

Now let’s look briefly at each of those claims of the Jews. So number one, they claim to be Abraham’s descendants in vs.33.  That’s their defense against Christ’s charge that they would die in their sins.  So Jesus’ response is in vs. 37 "I know that you are Abraham's descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.”  Jesus agrees that they are the physical descendants of Abraham, through Isaac and then Jacob, and then the 12 sons of Jacob, constituting the nation of Israel.  

But though Jesus acknowledges their physical relationship, He says that there is something amiss.  What is wrong about their claim is that they were seeking to kill Him, because they did not believe His word. This is a very important principle by the way.  You cannot say you believe in Christ, but not believe His word.  Christ’s word is inseparable from His entity.  It’s like the old adage, “a man’s word is his bond.”  Or like my Dad used to say, “you may not have much in this world, but the most valuable thing you possess is your name.  Don’t dishonor your family name.”  The principle that he was trying to teach was that if you gave your word, you better keep it.  Your word was who you were.  It was your character, your reputation, your nature.  

There is an effort by liberal theologians today to try to redefine who Jesus was, irrespective of His word.  They want to claim to believe in Jesus, but deny the authority or reliability of God’s word.  And what Jesus is teaching here is that HIs reliability, even His deity, is authenticated by His word.  So we either have to believe what Christ taught, or dismiss Him altogether.  Jesus Christ was the Word, He was in the beginning with God, and He was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and His word is truth.  That is why Jesus said in vs. 31, “if you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine.”

So Jesus says, though you might be physical descendants of Abraham, yet your deeds are witness that you are not the spiritual children of Abraham, and further evidence is that you do not accept My word. So spiritually speaking, your lineage is worthless because it hasn’t affected your spiritual condition. Literally, in vs 37 He is saying, “my word makes no progress in you.”  It’s the same idea as what He said was the evidence of a true disciple; you will continue in His word.  A characteristic of a true Christian then is that you have an appetite for His word.  I would hope that is the reason that you are here this morning.  I hope it’s not just to fulfill some sense of obligation.  I hope it is to drink and eat of God’s word.  

And not only is it necessary to accept the word, but the word is a sanctifying agent in your life.  It changes you.  It is the means by which God speaks to you and the Holy Spirit guides you.  It is making progress in you.  The word of God is progressively doing the work of sanctification in you, changing you into the image of Jesus Christ.  

But that isn’t the evidence in these Jews lives, according to Christ.  So He says in vs. 38, “I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father." In other words, you have no interest in things which come from My Father, you are only interested in things that come from your father.  So Jesus is saying that their lineage says one thing, but their actions say another.  Listen, our actions speak louder than our words.  I had a young man come up after a service some time ago who talked to me about his conversion.  He related how as a teenager, a self righteous man acting in hypocrisy in the church had really turned him off on the church.  But later in his college years, he came across some believers who really practiced what they preached, and that testimony was the catalyst for him coming to the Lord.  When he saw the reality of what they claimed lived out in their lives, then it made an impact on him.  

So the Jews respond to Jesus again in vs.39, claiming once again to be the children of Abraham, and I think they are claiming not only physical descendancy, but now they are also claiming spiritually to be sons of Abraham.  They say in vs.39, “Abraham is our father.”  See, I think they realized that Jesus was saying they had another father, and so they are refuting that, asserting once again that Abraham was their father spiritually as well as physically. 

Jesus answers, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham.”  What are the deeds of Abraham?  Well, 3 times in the New Testament, in Romans 4, Galatians 3, and James 2, it says “Abraham believed God, and He counted it to Him as righteousness.”  When God spoke to Abraham, he believed God. It doesn’t say that Abraham believed in God.  But that Abraham believed God. That is, Abraham believed God’s word. Jesus says I am speaking to you the words of God, but you don’t believe them.  Therefore you are not children of Abraham, because Abraham believed God. Jesus said,  "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 know what else can be said about Abraham?  Abraham obeyed God. Hebrews 11:8 says,  “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”  Listen, we are saved by faith.  But faith is more than just lip service.  It takes little to no faith to say you believe God, but it takes faith to act on that belief.  It takes active faith to leave all and to follow Him, as the disciples did.  God wants more than just lip service.  That’s what’s wrong with a lot of the modern praise and worship movement in churches today.  They are projecting this image of this narcissistic God that just wants to hear us tell Him how great He is all the time.  That’s not the image of God we see in the Bible.  But Jesus said “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”  To obey is better than sacrifice, it’s better than praise.  To obey is the evidence of your faith.  

So in vs.41, Jesus said, “You are doing the deeds of your father.” See, to whom you belong, you obey.  Not whom you claim to be, but  who you act like reveals who you belong to.  That’s what Paul said in Romans 6:16 “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”  That’s the same thing Jesus said in vs.34, “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”  

So twice now Jesus has alluded to another father whom they are obedient to.  And it is not God the Father but another father. Their response is very interesting.  They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication.”  And here’s where they make the final claim: “We have one Father: God.”  Not only are we the physical children of Abraham, the spiritual children of Abraham, but we are the spiritual children of God.  Because we’re not born of fornication. 

Now some commentators say that the Jews are claiming by this statement that they had not worshipped idols.  Idol worship was associated with fornication, which produced illegitimate children. So many feel that fornication was closely associated with idolatry and that was the meaning of what the Jews had to say.  But I think it was because they wanted to besmirch Jesus’  own pedigree, and they had ascertained incorrectly that He had been born out of wedlock, saying He was not Joseph’s biological son.  So I think that this is more than likely a slam on Him and on HIs sinlessness.  Because as we see in vs.46, Jesus asks, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?”  Well, they couldn’t prove His Illegitimate birth, of course.  But they would have loved to believe that He was born in sin, and thus eliminated from any consideration that He could be God in the flesh.  

And that highlights the significance of Jesus being born of the Holy Spirit who came upon the virgin Mary.  He was born of the Spirit so that the sin nature of Adam did not pass on to Him.  But He was born of God  So Jesus was born sinless, and He remained sinless.  And therefore He was able to be the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

So Jesus says if you were the spiritual children of God, you would love Me. Vs.42 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.”

To love God then is to love Christ, because He is the physical manifestation of God in the flesh.  Hebrews 1:3 says that He is the exact representation of God. So it’s impossible to love God and not love Christ.  And how is that love for God expressed?  Well, we just said it earlier, we believe His word, and we are obedient to His word.  And I would add to that you do not love the world.  The world being synonymous with the realm of Satan. Jesus continually refers to Satan as the ruler of this world. So in 1John 2:15 it says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”  

That love for the world, the love of the things of Satan is the characteristic of those that are not of the Father, but are children of the devil.  That’s the next point that Jesus makes, the clarification of who their real father is.  Vs.43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because 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.”

Listen, physically we exhibit the characteristics of our parents, don’t we?  That’s natural.  You pass on your physical characteristics to your children.  I would even say that we pass on more than just physical characteristics, we pass on some of our personality, some of our intelligence, and then as our children grow up, we pass on many of our habits, our personal tastes for certain things, even the way we talk.  All those things are greatly influenced by our parents.  Most of us are horrified to realize as we get older how much like our parents we are.  We thought we were so different.  And yet it turns out that we end up to be very much like our parents.  

Well, Jesus is saying, if you love God and are a child of God, then you will take on the characteristics of your Father.  But if you love the world, and the things of the world, then you will take on the characteristics of the ruler of this world, that is the devil.  And it’s interesting to note the characteristics of Satan which Jesus points out.  He was a liar, He says, and the father of lies.  There is no truth in Him.  What a contrast to Christ who is the truth, and who speaks the truth of God.  Satan is a liar and entraps mankind by his lies.  But Christ is the truth, and His truth sets men free.

You remember the first time we see Satan in Genesis, he comes to Eve with a lie.  And she believed it, and then obeyed it, and was entrapped by it. And as a result of her and Adam’s sin, the entire human race is trapped in the bondage of sin.  And Jesus adds to that he is a murderer. What that means is that in that first deception, Satan brought about the murder of the entire human race.  Because sin brings forth death.  From Adam’s sin, came about the murder of all men, of which Satan bears much responsibility.  Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

So Jesus expresses that contrast again by saying in vs. 45 "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.”  You could simplify that statement by saying, the way to determine a child of the devil is he doesn’t believe the truth, he doesn’t love Christ.  And the way to determine a child of God is he loves the truth, he loves Christ.

The summary of this principle Christ is teaching is found starting in vs.46, Jesus says, ”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 could ask that question, “which of you convicts Me of sin”, because it was apparent to all that He was guilty of no sin.  And that fact alone was validation that He was the Son of God.  There is no prophet of any religion that can honestly say that he is not guilty of any sin.  No one on earth can honestly claim to be sinless.  And even if we did have the audacity to claim sinlessness, you better believe someone could convict you of sin, because your life reveals evidence of your sin.  Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And Romans 3:10 says that there is none righteous, not even one.  No one can claim sinlessness.  So for Christ to be able to say that, and for them to be silent in response to that claim, was further testimony that He was the Son of God.

And yet irregardless of the truth, they choose not to believe Him.  They reject His words as the word of God, and Jesus said that is because they are not of God.  They are not the children of God.  They may have been descendants of Abraham, they may have been members of the nation of Israel, but their sinful deeds were evidence that they were of their father the devil.

Listen, to what evidence is your claim to Christianity?  Is it to your heritage?  Is it to your church membership?  Is it to your nationality?  Is it to some religious ceremony?  I would submit to you today, that as Jesus said in Matthew 7, by their fruits you shall know them.  If you are of your Father in heaven, then you will do the works of the Father.  You will love Christ, and love His body, the church, and you will love and obey His word.  And your life will be evidence of your faith.  

But if you love the world, and the things of the world, and you do not love the word of God, nor the things of God, then it is evident that you are of another father.  The good news is that there is a way to be adopted into the family of God.  Gal. 3:26 says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” And then in vs. 29 ‘And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.”

Today adoption as a child of God is offered to you.  Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sins by HIs blood on the cross.  That those who believe in Him might receive His righteousness, and our sins would be transferred to Him, the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And having been made righteous by faith in Christ, we are made the children of God by redemption.  The offer is open today to all who will call upon Him in faith and repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, and confess Jesus as Lord.  I pray that today is the day of your salvation.  Don’t trust in anything else, but in Christ’s righteousness alone.