Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] In your bulletin, you'll see that the. The title is a spiritual DNA test. We've been going through the Book of John in a series called that you may believe just John has laid out for us at the end of the book the purpose for this book, that he desires all people to come to know and believe that Jesus is the savior, that he is the Lord. And so we've been walking verse by verse through the book of John. So we find ourselves today at chapter eight, verse 37. And we'll look today at verses 37 through 47.
[00:00:31] Have you heard the phrase, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree? So most of you have. It's this idiom that means a child is usually similar in character or similar qualities to his or her parents or like father, like. Like father, like son. When a child does something strikingly like a parent or like a father, you might hear that phrase again.
[00:00:55] Sometimes when I'm interacting with medical professionals or something, and they might ask a question like, is this in your family history, or do you have a family history of blank? And then I usually pause and look at them for a second. I'm like, I don't know.
[00:01:12] Now, you might not know this, but I was adopted from Africa when I was a baby, and I do not know my biological family in any way, shape, or form. And as far as I know, there's no way to know them. And so that question always stumps me a little bit and stumps them. It's not helpful for them when they ask because I can't give them anything helpful.
[00:01:32] As I was reading through this passage, I was reminded of that again.
[00:01:37] Up until my son, I've never known someone that I shared physical DNA with.
[00:01:45] The family that I call my family today, I don't share physical DNA with. I know them as my family because I was adopted. If you are a Christian, you too have been adopted by Jesus into a family of people that don't share your physical DNA.
[00:02:04] You do, though, share spiritual DNA. That is a code inside of you that informs your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions. Really, the spirit of God that is inside of you. How? Well, when you trusted in Jesus as your lord and savior, you became a new creation and your spiritual identity transformed. You got new spiritual DNA. And in this passage, we find Jesus talking to a group of people who are claiming that, and this is important. They're claiming that their physical DNA is enough to make them, is sufficient to make them right with goddess Jesus. Though, in this passage, and this is important for us to understand, it's kind of the umbrella concept in our time here. Jesus, though, will clearly tell them that their current familial identity is far from good enough to make them right with God.
[00:03:02] So in this passage, he's really quite direct. He's quite blunt, and some might even say he's rude.
[00:03:08] You'll see that in a moment. What does jesus do? He shows his listeners that the idiom, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree is true. In their case, he tells them that their actions reflect their spiritual DNA. And he's very pointed here that they have DNA that reflects the devil.
[00:03:32] Not a pleasant thing to hear from Jesus. Remember, they're at a feast of Jesus is speaking. There's hundreds of people around, and the primary people that he's interacting with are the religious leaders, the jewish religious leaders, who believe that I can be right with God because of my physical heritage. And Jesus lays it out on the line for them and says, that is not the case at all. So let's read. We pick up in verse 37, if you have your bibles there, you'll see this, and then I'll pray, and we'll dive into your outline and what God has for for us. Last week, we saw that Jesus laid before them that they were to abide in him, in his word. We see that in verse 31. And he says that if they walk with him, that they will truly experience freedom. We know that Jesus speaks of spiritual freedom. They are often hung up on the physical side of things. We're gonna see that again today. And then he continues, or they continue and says, or Jesus is speaking. He says, I know. Verse 37. I know that you are offspring of who? Abraham. Abraham. There's the physical DNA that he's connecting them to, and we'll dig into that in a little bit more in a moment. Yet you seek to kill me, Jesus speaking, 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. Different fathers. Thus, he's speaking of different backgrounds or different identities spiritually. Verse 39. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the work Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. They said to him, we were born. We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Verse 42. I'm reading from ESV. Jesus said, to them. If God were your father, you would love me. For I came from God and am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
[00:05:43] You are of your father. The what?
[00:05:47] The devil.
[00:05:49] Very pointed. And your will is to do your father's desire. 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?
[00:06:12] If I tell the truth? Why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. Wow. Let's pray together.
[00:06:27] Lord, we look this morning at this passage, this powerful passage, this gripping passage before us. When you spoke very clearly, you did not his words. You laid it out before those listening in.
[00:06:44] We see not only the clarity of what you're saying here, that you desire us to be in your family. The only way to be in your family is through you, Jesus.
[00:06:53] You also lay before us the urgency of being in your family and the result of rejecting you.
[00:07:03] Lord, we look at this passage today, and as we do, we ask your spirit to guide and direct us. We ask you to open our eyes and our minds to the truths that you want to instill in us. The ways that your spirit wants to grip and move our hearts. And that all those here today and listening whenever and wherever that may be, Lord, that you would show us that our spiritual DNA matters, who we are on the inside matters. Our actions might be one thing, our proclamations with our mouth might be one thing.
[00:07:35] But who we are in relationship with you truly matters. And you've given us a way to be right with you. We praise you for that. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:07:45] Let's jump right into your outline. Point one on your outline. Hopefully you have a pen. You can write some things down. I know there's a lot of things there in front of you, spaces that you can kind of write in. What we'll do is we'll just fill that out as we go through this passage and understand what's happening in greater detail here. Firstly, and most of the points that you're gonna see are true. Yes, for them, but also true for us as well here. Jesus is very clear, and we've made this point already. But point one in your outline, your spiritual identity matters more than your physical identity. The argument here that those are making, the religious leaders are making is our physical identity is significant and you should care about it. And Jesus goes back the other direction and says, yes, I get that, but really what matters is what's going on in your heart, in your soul. So look, in verse 37, we'll break this down a little bit more slowly here. I know Jesus speaking. I know. It's not a question. I know that you are offspring. And the word offspring is different than the word children or descendants. It's the word seed or, I'm sorry, it's the same as descendants or seed. So I know that you are physically related to Abraham, yet that's an important word, if you like to underline or circle things, yet is something to circle or underline, yet you seek to what?
[00:08:59] To kill me. To kill me. And because my word, that is logos, finds no place in you, these first two verses, we'll camp out here for just a moment. Verse 38, I think it's on the screen as well. We'll sit there for a moment. I speak of what I've seen from my father, and you do what you have heard from your father. So today, as I'm here, we'll have, like, the family of God and the family of the devil. Okay? So we'll kind of go back and forth. Today, Jesus is laying out the difference between the family of God and those who are rejecting God. So he says, I know that your offspring of Abraham. So that's kind of out here somewhere. You're physically related to him, yet you're seeking to kill me, which does that sound like someone who'd be in the family of God? Not at all. Right. And the other side, though, we know who desires the death of Jesus, we know who is opposed to Jesus, and we know it is not God.
[00:09:50] Yet you seek to kill me. So he's showing that there seems to be this significant difference between the heart of God and their heart here. And he lays this out. He says, you seek to me, kill me, because he explains, even to them why they don't like him. Look what it says. Because my word finds no place in you. There were many who were rejecting Jesus words, and that's who he's talking to here. These people were not allowing the work and the word of Jesus to penetrate their hearts. They saw it with their eyes, they heard it with their ears, yet they were pushing it away. Maybe just an image to have in your head. They're pushing it away like a kid pushing away vegetables, right. Just. I don't want this. I can see what it is. No matter how much you try to convince me that it's good for me, I'm gonna push it away. I'm gonna push it away. And that's what they were doing. And so we see Jesus saying, I've laid my word before you, and yet you're the pushing it away. You're resisting the word. Why? Because it's my word. Because you don't want to hear my word. And yet Jesus says here very clearly, my word finds no place in you. So as we have this picture of the family of God, the people of God, the people who desire to honor God, and the people who reject Jesus, the people who are not of the family of God, this side over here, these are the ones that reject the word of Jesus Christ. Now, hopefully, for those of us here today who know and believe Jesus, he says that part of being in the family of God means that we're going to receive the word of God. Amen. That's what he says there. He says, this word that I say will find a place in you. And this is key here. This phrase here of finding a place in you, that's what he shows us is true for those who are actually in the family of God. That is, those who call God father. So what does this look like to have the word of God finding place or finding it in us? It looks like us giving ourselves, maybe write some of these ideas down. It looks like us giving ourselves time to consume the word. Like, if we actually had a father or me interacting with my father, if I believed the words he had for me were good, then I would sit under his word, because I believe they exist for my benefit, rather than me saying, I'm going to reject you. If I truly want to act as a son, I'm going to listen to the words of my father. I'm going to even provide time for me to hear from my father. This also looks like that we would expect the word of God to change us and to shape us, to sit in a place where we want to find the word of God. Being in us doesn't just mean I'm going to hear it, but it means I'm going to let the word change me. It means I'm going to let the word shape me to be someone different than I am right now. And it looks also like us seeking to understand things that don't make sense. Just like when you and I interact with somebody else and they say something and, you know, they have my best interest in mind. They say something to me and I don't understand. What am I probably going to do? I'm going to ask a follow up question, right? I don't understand. Help me under stand for those who desire to have the word of God in us, to reflect the image of God. When there's things we don't understand, we're going to ask, we're going to seek out understanding. These are key traits of those who are children of God. The word of God finds root in us. And then verse 38, we look and go on. We find that Jesus now begins this. Really. It's a DNA analysis of the heart of those people before him. He tells them that he reflects his father. Do you see that there? And they reflect their father. I'm sorry? He reflects his father. They reflect their father to keep the right sides of this jesus now, as he often does, he connects the physical conversation with the spiritual reality. And that's what he does here. He does this over and over again through his teaching, connecting the physical and the spiritual. But Jesus is about to say what Jesus is about to say about their hearts and identity is not pleasant. You saw that, right? It's not something that they are looking for.
[00:14:00] He's saying here that your father, your true, even spiritual father, is not Abraham. In other words, you don't connect. The idea of something being children is not physical relation, but rather spiritual similarities or characteristics of somebody else. Right?
[00:14:17] The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The father like son. Right? Those are not. We're not just speaking about the physical connectedness of the father and the Son, but rather we're seeing that the child is acting like the father and here he lays before them. You are not acting like your father. When Abraham had visitors from as we see. If you go back, you could read it for yourself. I think it's chapter 18 or so of. Of Genesis. When Abraham has visitors from heaven, what does he do? Does he reject them or does he receive them? Right. They have words from God. They're messengers of God. And here the messenger of God is now before them. And are they receiving him? No. So even in that simple glance, we see you are not acting like your father that you claim that you are like and that you follow. We also learned some key points from Jesus here. Points a on your outline. You could write this in as well. We walk through this semi briefly. Our actions and words reflect our souls or our identity. This point is true for us just like it is true for them. Jesus makes it clear as they have of them as he has of them, that they, the people there, they want him dead. They want him to shut up. They are like, stop talking. You can exist somewhere else. Get out of our sphere. They're thinking of Jesus. They desire of Jesus. And if Jesus won't shut up, they're thinking, we're gonna shut you up. We're gonna find a way to make sure that you stop talking. On top of all of that, they want him dead, not just because of his teachings, but because of his claim of deity. You see that all through the passages that we've been walking through in John. Why do you say what you do?
[00:16:02] Oftentimes it's because it's where our heart is.
[00:16:06] Why do I say the things that I do and do the things that I do? Oftentimes it's because of where my heart is. This is not a brand new concept, is it? When we see something or we watch somebody do something, you're like, that's not good and that's not healthy. What we should be thinking is, where is their heart? This can often be a reflection of the heart. Not all the time. We make mistakes. There's times that we do things that are not in line, what we know are right, but it is a reflection of where our heart is, is.
[00:16:36] Luke, chapter six. Let me just read this passage if you want to maybe write this down. I don't think it's in your bulletin. Luke, chapter six, verses 43 through 45. Listen to this.
[00:16:46] For there is no good tree that bears bad fruit, nor on the other hand, a bad tree that bears good fruit. For each tree is known by its own what fruit. For people do not gather figs, figs or from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bushes. Rather, verse 45. It goes on. It says, a good person, the good person, out of the good treasures of his heart brings forth what is good. The evil person, out of the evil treasures brings forth what is evil. For out of a man's mouth comes, shows us what's in his heart. For his mouth speaks from that which fills his. His heart, or out of the heart, the man speaks. If there is something about you that isn't in line with what God wants, we'll say this before we move on to the next point. It's important for us to not just think, I got to fix my actions. I got to fix my actions. I got to fix my actions, but rather for us to say, wait a minute. Are my actions a reflection of what's going on inside of me right now? And if so, which oftentimes they are, I think I need to get right with God in this area. I need to let God transform. Part of me is there unclean language? We can work really hard by ourselves to fix it. Or selfishness or bitterness, or lying, or anger, or lust, anxiety, apathy, unforgiveness, fear. The list kind of goes on. And sometimes we come as even christians, especially with other people looking at our lives and saying, man, somebody doesn't like this in me, or I don't like this in me, and I got to work really hard to be better. But what Jesus lays before us is this. Our actions and our words reflect where our heart is. So maybe, maybe we should lean more into the person and work of the potter if we want our hearts to be reshaped.
[00:18:34] Because he wants to shape our hearts, doesn't he? He wants them to be in line to reflect the image of him. And if we let him, if we sit in the potter's hand and say, I know it might hurt a little bit, and I know I might be shaped in a way that I don't really like, but I'm going to let you do that, then our actions is a byproduct. Our words is a byproduct, will change. This is called sanctification. Right.
[00:18:57] Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the work of God in our life, does the sanctification our job. Submit. That is your job and my job every day. Submit. Let him change us be. On your outline our identity is decided by how we respond to God's word. Verse 37 and 40. Make mention of this. This is just a brief point here. Our identity is decided by how we respond to God's word. This is specifically to this point of our spiritual family and our eternal destination.
[00:19:29] Consider our identity, apart from Christ is destined for hell.
[00:19:38] Orphans, children of wrath, children of darkness, enemies of goddess, unredeemed, darkened in our understanding and hopeless. The list can go on. Our identity in Christ is destined for heaven, loved by the king, children of righteousness, children of light, friends of God, redeemed, enlightened and possessing a living hope.
[00:20:12] What's the deciding factor between those two identities? It's how we respond to the message of the gospel that's the deciding factor.
[00:20:22] Let's look at c on your outline. Our enemy will focus on our physical identity. Our enemy will focus on our physical identity.
[00:20:34] We see this in verse 41. It's a interesting, like jump. It almost seems like, what is this going on? What's happening here? We see, though that Jesus is dealing with great opposition and he was telling the truth, which is from God. He makes that very clear. He makes also clear that the founding father, their founding father Abraham, didn't reject God's messenger and God's truth. So by rejecting Jesus, they were not actually doing what their father would have done. And so I think for them, and I wasn't there, but I'm just going to imagine, as we read through the text, I think for them, they're kind of feeling pushed up again against a corner. Have you ever felt like that? Just kind of pushed up against the wall by somebody talking to you and you're feeling like you don't really have anything to say. You don't know how to lash out at them. You don't know what to say to, like, get the pressure off of you, because what the other person is saying is kind of harsh. Have you been there before? Kind of frustrating. It's kind of scary. So sometimes what we might say is things that aren't particularly true or things that are very rude just to get back at the other person. It's not even to the point of what they're talking about. You're just trying to, like, kick them in the shin for a second, right? You're just trying to get them to back up a little bit. And I think perhaps for those listening in to Jesus here, they throw something out here that I think is to that exact point and that exact reason.
[00:21:52] Look, what they say in verse 41. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Now here's what's most likely happening here. Jesus, for the last 33 years, has been doing ministry. Now take a moment, pause with me for just a minute, and let's fast forward to Christmas time. Okay? That's only a few months away. Somehow, Christmas we talk about, we realize, and through scripture, we see that Jesus was born of a virgin. So Jesus has been doing ministry now for 33 years. And I'm gonna go out on a limb from some things that we see here and assume that this virgin birthday was something that people talked about for a while and most likely something that followed Jesus around. People were like your dad. I mean, they weren't married yet and somehow your mom was pregnant. Hmm. Hmm.
[00:22:49] So who's the dad? What? It's. It's not Joseph, but it's Joseph. Like, explain that to somebody. Right? So even as today, the virgin birth is something of a controversy among some, we see that as integral to the faith that we have because it shows that we believe that one God can do the impossible. But also we see that followers of as we see, and people in the family of people who are reflecting the work of the devil are desiring to undercut the identity of Jesus. And here we see they don't know what else to say. And so they're spitting back now here, saying, well, at least we know who our father was. But you, on the other hand, do you know where your father was from?
[00:23:33] Hinting at very clearly, I don't even know if it's a hint. It's very clear we were not born out of sexual morality, presuming here that you were. That's their point here. Now, this practice, friends, is still done today. The enemy, the devil, sometimes working through in the lives and mouths of others, will point out our physical identity or our past to distract us from who we truly are in Christ. People not acting in a with the heart of God and the words of God will do this as well. The devil desires to pull us back to do you remember who you were? Do you remember who you were? Do you remember what you've done? You'll never change. You're messed up. You might hear. You might believe you're unforgivable. These words might be, you can't do anything right. You're a failure. You're stupid. You'll never measure up. God can't love a person like you. You've sinned too many times.
[00:24:27] That sin is unforgivable.
[00:24:31] You're too old to make an impact for the kingdom. You're too young to make an impact for the kingdom. God doesn't want to use you if he'd rather use someone prettier or better looking or more well spoken or smarter than you. These lies, can't they pile up on us?
[00:24:49] Can't they make us ineffective and unproductive in the kingdom of God?
[00:24:54] That's exactly what we see going on here. These people are trying to pull Jesus down and say, I don't care about your true identity. I want to drag you back into the past and really into a lie. So, friends, let's be like Jesus and carefully discern what words we need to hold onto and what words we need to reject. Did Jesus even speak to this? Nope. He moved right on. He knew the truth, and so he was not offended. He was not hurt by this. He was like, you can lie about me, but I'm not going to let those words penetrate my mind and my heart, because I know the truth. And the words of God are more important and more powerful than the words of the opposition in front of me. This is hard to do, isn't it? To be able to have that kind of discerning mind, to go back to the word of God and be reminded again and again that my spiritual identity matters more than my physical identity. Let's review those points really quickly. On the next slide, we see all of those things kind of coming together, that our actions and words speaking again to our identity or our souls, our identity is decided by how we respond to Jesus. What do we do with the gospel? And the enemy will desire to pull us away from experiencing true freedom in Christ, the true identity that God desires us to have as his children. Because of the work of the gospel. Verse a .2. On your outline, you could write this in God's children. And we find this in verses 42 and 43. God's children listen to and love who Jesus is. The right answer? Yes. Verse 42, we see that Jesus said to them, he's like jumping right over what they said. He's like, I'm not going to let those words of accusation even impact me. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. And notice the change there that happened. It's quick. It's a quick change that you might just skip right over. Notice what they say in verse 41, he said, they say we have one father, even God. They've almost here. They've put aside identifying Abraham as their father, and now they're claiming God as their father. So Jesus, he's going to speak even more directly here and says, if God, maybe not even Abraham anymore, now you're going to claim God as your father. If God were your father, you would love me. For I came from God and I'm here not of my own accord, but he sent me. We've spoken about this in previous weeks. And then he asks the question and then answers it.
[00:27:16] Why do you not understand what I'm saying? And then he answers the question. It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. And if you look at verse 42, he says, if that's a really big if. And I bold put it in bold on the screen there. If God were your father. The way the sentence is structured is this, since God isn't your father, you would love me. Or in other words, since God isn't your father, that's why you don't love me. Their claim is God is our father. And he says, well, since God actually isn't your father, that's why you don't love me. We can read that this way. If God were your father, as you claim, you would love me. Now, in some sense, their claim is true. Jeremiah 31 speaks about how Israel is a child of God. He cares for them as a father would care for a child. And on the other hand, we see that the people of Israel, that is God's nation, don't treat God as a loving child. Would they care more about the state of Israel rather than the king of Israel? Do you see that there? They care more about what's happening in our nation than they do about the king of the nation.
[00:28:28] If they truly were children of God, they would listen and love. This is powerful for us today.
[00:28:38] This is true for us today. To claim to be a follower of Jesus means that you will listen to Jesus when he speaks, yes, through prayer and through people and through the written word, and you'll demonstrate love to him. To claim identity with Jesus and to ignore him at the same time is hypocritical at best and reveals our true identity as unsaved people at worst. Let me say that again. To claim our identity with God and to ignore the work of Jesus, the words of Jesus, is hypocritical at best and reveals our true identity as unsaved people at worst. There's plenty of people who say, I believe in God, but I'm not sure about Jesus. And here's what Jesus is saying. That doesn't work. It's not to say that. Well, here we see that if you think about sports teams, for example, it's like Jesus saying this. Maybe in our language, you can't be on team God and be fighting against team Jesus. They're on the same team. And here the folks are saying, the religious leaders are saying, we're on team God and you're on Team Jesus, and Jesus, like God and I, are on the same team.
[00:29:48] It doesn't work like that. You can't be on team God and against team Jesus. We're on the same team. So if you're on team God, that means by default, you are on team Jesus.
[00:29:58] So in order to avoid any misunderstanding, Jesus comes out and says exactly what he's been saying. But even more clearly in .3 very clear language. Rejecters of Jesus reflect the devil. And this is where he gets really clear with them. Look what he says you are. They just moments ago said, God is our father and Jesus says, the devil is your father .3.
[00:30:23] Rejecters of Jesus reflect the devil. And this we see just in verse 44.
[00:30:30] Jesus really lays it on them. We often talk about Jesus being loving and kind. Was Jesus loving and kind yes, he was.
[00:30:39] Sometimes he was very nice. And other times, I think we could go back in time. If you get in a time machine and go back 2000 years and ask some people, hey, was Jesus really loving and sweet and kind and nice and have nice flowing hair? Some of them would say, probably not the hair part, but they would say, well, Jesus was. Sometimes he was loving and he was kind. He was a friend of sinners. But to those religious leaders, nice is not the word they would use to describe Jesus.
[00:31:05] He was very direct and they hated him for it.
[00:31:10] They hated him for it. And he calls them the sons of the devil. And we sometimes talk about how Jesus, they called the Pharisees. He called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs. Yes, that was bad. And here I think this might be worse, actually.
[00:31:24] He says, he shows us in at least three ways. You can write this in pretty quickly. Here he says you are.
[00:31:31] He says, rejecters of Jesus reflect the devil by. And you can write this in point a, by manifesting his desires. Look what it says, verse 44. And your will, that is your pursuit, your intent in your life is that word there that will you intend. Your intent is to do your father's cravings or your father's desires. So here's again, direct reflection. Children and fathers. Apple doesn't fall from the far, far from the tree, right? So it's that similar characteristics, similar desires, similar personalities. There's two ways to live your life. It's either for the kingdom of God or for the kingdom of self. When you are not for the kingdom of God, you are by default for the kingdom of what self do you know who has perfected living for himself?
[00:32:21] The devil. He has perfected it. And so here we see that Jesus lays before them. Your desire is to live for yourself, your own position, just like the devil. His desire is not to honor my kingdom, to live for my kingdom, but rather to live for self. So they're manifesting the desires of the devil. They're manifesting. B. On your outline, the actions of the devil. Manifesting, by manifesting his actions, 44. B goes on and says this. He was a what?
[00:32:49] A murderer from the beginning. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth. So as we see here on your outline on the screen, hopefully here, b.
[00:33:03] These actions that he's talking about are two things. Maybe write this in somewhere. It's murder and deception. Yes, murder would refer back to verse 37, when Jesus is talking there and he says, you want to kill me? But also, I think back to Genesis three, right. Remember Genesis three, deception that led to death. That was the heart of the devil. From the beginning, the devil, through crafty deception, has sought to bring about a reality of this people not dwelling with God. That has been the desire and the pursuit of our enemy. How can I find a way to make sure that you live over here and, and stay far away from living under the throne, the dominion, the sovereignty, the work of God over here? How can I keep you living in your own little bubble? From Genesis three. That was the start. You don't need to honor God. You don't need to obey God.
[00:34:00] Sadly, the work of these God fearing leaders was aimed at the outcome that the devil desires, not the outcome that God desires. Namely this, their pursuit. Their desire was the rejection of Jesus Christ.
[00:34:17] And that is the desire and the work of the devil. See on your outline. So we see those three things. By manifesting his desires, by manifesting his actions, by manifesting his character. Verse 44 C. There is no truth in him. That is the devil when he lies. And your father when he lies. He speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father lies. So now Jesus, he shifts a little bit and he says, not just talking about his actions or his work or the things that he says, but also his character. This is who he is. And here's basically what he's saying. There's nothing reliable or good about your father. Nothing.
[00:34:59] So what do you have to say for yourself in their culture? As we're reading? This is significant thing to hear. For us, it's one thing, because we may not have, we don't have such strong familial ties like they did. For them, being able to say Abraham is our father or Moses, or listing off various genealogies, that was very, very important in their culture. Most of them might have known who their great great great grandfather was. Do any of you know who your great great great great grandfather was?
[00:35:31] Right. So again, that shows the difference here in the culture between us today. And for them, they would have found great, especially if that great great great grandfather was a significant person, found great pride in that. And Jesus, he literally rips that out from under them. Before we go to, .4, I need to be very clear, you and I, making a practice of what Jesus is doing here is not the best in all situations. Don't plan on going shopping tomorrow and walk around and tell people in the store that they're children of the devil.
[00:36:04] It is not the best tactic for evangelism.
[00:36:08] So we look at this and say, well, Jesus said it. So I should be like Jesus and I should tell people that not the best way to reach the lost. In this situation, Jesus is speaking to people who have God and the kingdom of God. They say they have it all figured out, but rather in reality, they are far from God. And Jesus is using strong, very harsh words with them because he's trying to get through their thick skulls and thick hearts and say, you don't get it. You are leading people away from God.
[00:36:46] For us, as we interact with people most of the time, and I won't say all the time, but most of the time, we might be interacting with people who know about goddess, but I say, I don't really want that. For me, they may be saying, I don't know anything about God. Maybe I'm willing to let you talk about it. Most of us, though, are probably not interacting with people on a regular basis that are going out of their way to lead people away from God, very clearly articulating that or living for themselves. Now, maybe if you interact with some cult leaders or something like that, you can use some strong words as the spirit leads. That's all I'm going to say.
[00:37:21] .4. What we do with Jesus and his message matters. What we do with Jesus and his message matters.
[00:37:30] Look at verse 45. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Huh, that's pretty pointed. Why don't they believe? Because I'm speaking truth. Why do you not believe what I'm saying? Because it's true. That's very pointed about their character. Which one of you convicts me of sin? In other words, who can refute what I am saying? If I tell you the truth, why do you not believe me? What is it inside of you that's so resistant to hearing the truth? But he already has answered this question, hasn't he? Your father, who you reflect, father, like son, your father is the deceiver. He's the father of lies. Thus, you, as his children, are going to by nature reject the truth. So Jesus, he's like asking the question, but he already knows the answer and he already gives us the answer. Because your heart is far from truth. You're not actually seeking what is true. You're so set in your own ways. And we can easily look at them and say, wow, these guys are messed up. Humble yourselves and listen to Jesus. It's so clear what he's saying. But don't we do the same thing? Sometimes we have an opinion in our mind or an interpretation of scripture in our mind, and we are set in it and unwilling to listen to somebody else's opinion, no matter how clear it may be.
[00:38:47] So humility, yes, vital for them, but also for us, even as we look through scripture and our own interpretation, our own perspective, let scripture interpret scripture for itself, walk through scripture and say, does this make sense? Does my understanding of this make sense? Do other pieces of scripture? Does it connect with what I believe? Jesus laid out scripture before them, and they said, we don't like it. For us, it's important that we look at scripture with humility.
[00:39:14] So how do you know? Maybe the question that's floating around your head before we go to the last point a, how do you know whose child you are? Right? Jesus. We see children of the devil, children of God. How do you know? And it's found in what you do with the message of Jesus. If you have trusted in Jesus as your lord and savior, then God will take your sinful heart and identity as an enemy of him and move you into being his child. Friends, this is really good news, isn't it? We go from being hopeless to having living hope. We went from being on our way to hell by default to I am now on the road to heaven. And the only way that transition happens is through the power and the work of the gospel. That is Jesus coming into a world that is broken and saying, you are sinners on the road to hell. You are all living in a way that reflects the desires and the passions of the devil, the enemy of God. And he says, but I am going to step in and show you a better way.
[00:40:18] Trust in me. Trust in me, and you will be moved from being a child of the enemy to my child, a child of the king. Point a on your outline, right? The children of God receive Jesus message. That's his point. To them, this whole concept of, like, thinking about your spiritual identity, we have to then today ask ourselves that question. Everyone here in this room, ask yourself that question. Where is my spiritual identity? What does my spiritual DNA look like? If we somehow had some sort of machine to check that, what would it say for you?
[00:40:56] I want to ask some questions just to kind of reflect and help us think about these four questions. And then we're going to transition to a time of communion when we're able to celebrate the work of Jesus on the cross. Maybe write these questions down or just kind of download them into your mind and heart, particularly this first question for everyone here. Do you have assurance you are a child of God?
[00:41:23] Do you have assurance that you have moved from being an enemy of God, being hopeless to being under the umbrella of the work of Jesus on the cross.
[00:41:36] Do you know that for sure? And if so, how do you know?
[00:41:42] How do I know that I am a child of God? How do you know that? When I think back about even my adoption, right. I do not remember the day that I was adopted. I was a few months old, but today I can see the result of my adoption.
[00:42:02] Some of you might not remember the day that you chose to trust in Jesus as your lord and savior, but you can see the result of that if you've trusted in Jesus. Does anyone else know that? Have you been baptized? If not, reach out. We would love to baptize you. We would love to show the family of God your faith in him. Second question. Do you want to be a child of God but you don't know how?
[00:42:29] Do you want to be a child of God? That sounds really good, but I don't know how. I'm not sure or I don't know how. If that's you, reach out to a brother or sister that you know around you, or a pastor or myself, we would love to walk you through that, that decision, saying, yes, I want to be a child of God. Third, do you find yourself resisting trusting in Jesus as your lord and savior? Maybe you're like, I'm not a child of God. I haven't done what he's talked about there. I haven't trusted in Jesus. Do you find yourself resisting saying, I'm. I'm not sure I want to do that? Right. I talked about earlier like this. Imagine a kid pushing away some vegetables on a table in a bowl, right? We have this picture of I'm pushing it away. I know it might be good for me, but I don't want it. And people that I love, that love me say that it's good for me, but I still don't want it. I want to ask you to do this. If that's you, write down some reasons that you are pushing away Jesus and talk about that with someone.
[00:43:25] Fourth question and last question. Actually, maybe it's not a question. It's more of a statement. God has no grandchildren.
[00:43:33] There is no way to squeak into heaven because of your relationship with somebody else, because of the amount of times that you've gone to church, the information that we have or you might have or know about the word of God being able to be related to someone or connected with someone who is significant in Christianity or something. None of those things do it. Rather, the only way to be adopted into the family of God is by the work and the power of Jesus Christ.
[00:44:01] God has no grandchildren.
[00:44:04] Everyone is directly and personally adopted by him.
[00:44:09] Let's close this portion in prayer. And as I do, I want to encourage you. Just join me in this time of prayer. If you're an usher, you can get ready for a communion. If you're on the worship team and leading in some way, you can come up to the stage. But as they're doing that, just keep your head bowed and pray with me as we transition in this time of communion. Jesus, we are grateful for the work that you have done to save us, to bring us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of glorious light, from being people that were far from you to people that you call children.
[00:44:43] Thank you for the grace that you show us each and every day as we make mistakes, as we go our own way so often, and yet your love remains and persists.
[00:44:59] Thank you that we are able to invite other people into this relationship of being adopted by our heavenly Father or for those here today who might still be resisting. They're not sure. They think they've made a decision, but they're walking their own life. Lord, I pray that your spirit would grab their hearts and show them the beauty of being your child.
[00:45:22] We don't know when you're coming again, but we know while we take breath, we have the opportunity to trust in you. And I pray that today is the day of salvation for those who don't yet know you. In Jesus name, amen.
