John 8:37-47

Psalm 22 is just so absolutely stunning that

of all people especially the Holy Spirit

inspires

King David himself to give a picture of what's

happening at Calvary down to the details of

the gambling of the clothing centuries before

it came to pass. There's no other religious

book that exists that could possibly come to

the level of that. That can only be explained

supernaturally. Well it's been one of those

weeks and so we're back in John. It's been

a minute since we've been in John. I asked you

to turn in your Bibles or look on the

screen with me. John chapter 8 verse 37 and

that brings us back to some of the hard say

ings

of Jesus and here we have yet another text

that a topical preacher would never pick

to preach on. There is just too much in your

face straight forward language that Jesus

uses here in characterizing the Jewish leaders

. Jesus time hopped to now and went on CNN and

said this thing about Jews. Wow with a

backlash that you would see in social media

would be

a firestorm. And many people probably feel

that the language that Jesus uses because

of thinking that way might offend people or

they may feel that it's too embarrassing what

he says because he's talking about the devil.

And in the 21st century who wants to discuss

a literal devil as we've been talking about in

the last verses in Ephesians chapter 6.

Whatever it is that would tend to make this

fly over country for many a preacher. We have

to understand that in studying the Bible it's

not like going to Piccadilly. You don't get

to pick and choose in the Bible. If you're

going to be a serious Christian and you're

going to claim that you believe that the Bible

is the actual Word of God then guess what?

You do not have the option of skipping over

the challenging verses. You don't have the

option of skipping over the difficult verses.

If we're going to be faithful to our

confession

right here at this church that the Bible is

the inherent infallible Word of the Living

God then we have to meet every verse that we

come to and we have to meet it head on

no matter how challenging the content may be.

So let's start today by reading our text

and then we're going to dig into dealing with

its content. Let's start in verse 37 and we're

going to read through verse 47. In verse 37

Jesus is continuing to speak from where we

left off last time. "I know that you are

Abraham's descendants, yet you seek to kill me

, because

my Word has no place in you. I speak the

things which I have seen with my Father.

Therefore,

you also do the things which you have heard

from your Father." They answered and said

to him, "Abraham is our Father." Jesus said to

them, "If you are Abraham's children, do

the deeds of Abraham. 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 are doing the deeds of your

Father." They said to him, "We were not born

of fornication. We have one Father, God."

Jesus

said to them, "If God were your Father, you

would love me. For I proceed forth and have

come from God, for I have not even come on my

own initiative, but He sent me." 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 the 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. What a text, man. What a text.

Now there are a whole lot of folks who would

profess to be Christians who would rather

not deal with the obvious ramifications of

this text because what is clear here is that

every single human being alive on planet earth

right now exists in one or two families.

You are either in God's family or you are in

the devil's family and it is that simple.

That is exactly what Jesus Christ is making

clear in this text right here. Oh brother

Philip,

come on bro. You can't talk like that. This is

2026. What's wrong with you? Man, people

are going to hear you say this on the internet

. You are going to look like a cookie snake

handling lunatic if you talk like this. I get

that, but I can't escape the fact that

this is what Jesus said. So if I just have to

go down as a kooky snake handling fanatic,

that's what you need to call me. Go ahead on.

This is the breakdown that Jesus gives

us about these two families. I happen to

believe this book is his word and therefore if

that

is true, then I have to believe everything

that is in it. Most people especially here

in America, if they say they believe in God,

and I promise you, you could go to Walmart,

you could go to the farmer's market at the

tractor supply, you could go to anywhere you

want especially out here in Central or in

Livingston and you just walk up to anybody

and say, hey, do you believe in God? I promise

you, especially God, thank God we are still

here living in the deep South. I would venture

to say 80-90% of the people tell you, yeah,

I believe in God. Now what that means may mean

something totally different, but just

as a generic, do you believe in God? Yes. And

then, if you had a follow-up question,

I think they would give a hearty yes as an

answer to this next question. Do you think

you're a child of God? Well, I certainly do. I

believe in God and yes, I think I'm a child

of God. And why is that? Well, most people

want to think the best about themselves, right

?

That's human nature and for sure religious

people want to think the best about themselves

and for sure these extremely religious Jews in

our text today, they saw themselves as

the paragons of religious virtue. They saw

themselves as the only gatekeepers of God's

kingdom and so to be so straightforwardly told

that they are children of the devil would

be something, I promise you this, I promise

you this, I don't have to go back in the time

machine to check this out. I promise you this,

they never ever heard that coming from anybody

ever before to their face ever. Nobody ever

told them that. Since they were a little kid

and they were looking to the religious leaders

of their day when they were little kids, they

never heard anybody tell them that. And I can

guarantee you that if this very sermon

that I'm preaching here today and all that I'm

fixing to say to you about this text,

if somehow some way it could be broadcast

publicly on the most popular TV network that

we have, we would not be able to calculate the

uproar and the anger and the backlash that

would come at us as a result of saying that

there are many, many, many people in our

culture

here in America who are children of the devil.

But that is exactly what Jesus says and it's

most people. I wouldn't even be saying it

either unless he had said it. Unless he had

made it very clear. That's the thing people

don't get. That's not my opinion. I didn't

come up with this. Why are you saying things

like that? Jesus said this. I'm just telling

you what Jesus said, okay? And it's fair, I

think, to ask the question as we've been

reading through the Gospel of John and

studying it. Why is he so blunt here? Can you

get more

blunt than this? You're of your father, the

devil, right? I mean, really? Why is he so

severe? I mean, you get to this point. Why

doesn't he just stick with, "Come unto me,

tell you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I

will give you rest." Why doesn't he just

stay in that lane right here? Well, I got an

answer for you. That's why. Try to remember

where we are on the timeline here on John 8.

He's in Jerusalem now. He's six months

away from the end of his life. He has been

preaching in Israel for two and a half years.

He has been in direct confrontation with the

Jewish religious leaders for the entire time

of his ministry, starting all the way back

when he attacked the temple at the very start

of his ministry. He has witnessed the attitude

of the Jewish leaders hardened over the two

and a half years, and now it's just absolute

firm rejection. They hate his guts right now.

They hate him and they want to see him dead,

and that's their plan. In chapter 7, verse

1 of John, it says, "The Jews were seeking to

what? To kill him. They were seeking to

murder him." Later here in chapter 8, verse 59

, by the time this discussion we're in here

is over, what does it say? They picked up

stones to throw at him. They wanted to stone

him to death. So the stakes now are very high,

and that means this is no longer a time to

invite them in some gentle way to embrace the

blessings of salvation. Come to me, all

of you who are heavy laden, this now at this

point, this is a time to warn them. Because

of the conclusions they have made about Jesus,

they are now all in severe danger. And by

the way, one of the conclusions that they had

made up to this point was that Jesus himself

was from the devil. Remember that? We studied

that, and so he tells them, the truth is,

two of the devil's children. Now remember

again where we are in our study. He's been

in direct confrontation with these leaders

since the beginning of chapter 7, especially

remember when he showed up at the feast in

Jerusalem? And these conversations have been

ongoing throughout chapter 7 and 8 with the

Jewish leaders and with the people. Remember

there was always a crowd outside the perimeter

of the leaders. There were other people there

listening, and all the way through they have

completely, definitively, resolutely rejected

him all the way through. And as the antagonism

of these leaders continues to elevate, so

has the directness and the severity of Jesus'

statements to them increased. Why? Well,

because

the stakes are getting higher all the time.

And the more they show him hatred, the more

he strikes devastating blows at their hypocr

isy. This is no hippie Jesus that we see in the

modern day culture here. And although they don

't realize it, they don't realize it.

What this is when he speaks like this to them

is mercy. Do you get that? He's already told

them, "You will die in your sins and where I

go, heaven, you can never come." He's already

told them that directly. And the reason he

never backs off as they continue to harden

against him and the reason why his words

continue to get more and more direct and

devastating,

why? It's because their eternal souls are at

stake. And that's why I say, really? If

you look at it, this is mercy coming from

Jesus when he's so direct with them. Why

do I say that? Well, he could have just left

them alone to their sins and their way of

thinking. He could have just left them alone

without any further warning. And he would

have not been wrong to do so, right? So, when

we understand this completely, this is a

merciful

reaction to their escalating hatred. And he

knows they're going to kill him. You

understand?

He knows Psalm 22. He knows what's coming from

them. And if you consider what we've

studied so far that he said that shocked them,

for sure, he has never said anything more

devastating than what we read in that opening

text. It is so shocking. And they are so angry

.

As I said, by the time you come to the end of

this chapter, they're picking up rocks

and just that just pelt him with rock. Can you

imagine being stoned to death? Can you

imagine dying like that? And so, the more

hardened they become with their rejection,

the more straightforward Jesus gets with his

warnings because eternity is a state for each

one of these people. And think about it.

Shouldn't that be our model in dealing with

people who

are resisting? But what do we normally do with

our own human nature? I mean, I'm right at

the top of the list. How quickly do we slink

away at the first hand of rejection? I mean,

I'm guilty as charged. Why? Why? Because you

got to get way outside of your comfort zone

to keep ramping up the warnings about the

consequences of rejecting the gospel, right?

That puts you outside your comfort zone when

you do that to tell people, hey, you have no

security in your religion. There's no security

in your good works. Hell is real. Judgment

is definite. Death is coming and you can't

stop it. You got to get outside your comfort

zone to tell people like that. It's hard. You

have to pray for that kind of courage.

It takes to be straightforward like Jesus.

Certainly doesn't come natural to us, does

it? I mean, let's just be honest. It doesn't.

Now, let's remember there's been a progression

that has led up to this current confrontation

that we're in with the Jewish leaders. And

for a long time, Jesus has been calling on

them to believe in, I mean, my goodness, how

many times have we been over this? They should

have believed because of his works. The

incredible,

undeniable, supernatural, jaw-dropping

miracles that he had been performing every

single day

for three, two and a half years at this point.

And then just remember the works that he did,

they never offended them. I mean, they love

being fed for free. They love getting some

free healthcare. I mean, they never denied at

all in one jotter title in the Bible that

these were the astounding miracles that they

were. But as we've seen, it wasn't his works

that offended them. It was what? His words.

Like when he said, "I came from heaven."

Isn't that Joseph's boy? They didn't like that

. They didn't accept that. Like when he

said, "He was the only source of spiritual

life and that it was necessary to believe

in him to go to heaven." Oh, they didn't like

that. When he told them that they needed

to repent and be forgiven, they denied and

refused that outrightly. When he made clear

that he was equal to God, well, they just

couldn't handle that. When he told them they

didn't know God, they didn't buy that. When he

told them they would die in their sins,

they just mocked him. And they laughed at that

. Religious people in false religions never

see themselves as they really are. I mean, I

can go down a long list of people I've

watched, too, in false religions. It's the

same with them. They're never really aware

of their need. Why? Because they think that

they're just fine with God or their

understanding

of who God is. And so finally, we come to this

text and it's reached a point where they're

so hard-hearted. Jesus equals their hardness

with these devastating statements of the

reality

of their condition. And remember, they're

holding on to this. They're holding on to

the fact that we are Jewish people. We're sons

of Abraham by physical descent. They

were sons of Abraham by religious descent. And

that alone made them the children of

God. And man, Jesus is just, he's going to

completely shatter those false securities

in this text. They really did bank on their

physical descent as their protection. Listen

to what one rabbi of the time wrote. He

actually wrote this. "Abraham himself sits

besides

the gates of hell and does not permit any

wicked Israelite to pass." So Abraham sitting

there and even if a wicked Jew, I can't come

by here and get on to heaven, you're a Jew.

So for them, being Jewish was a free pass. It

didn't matter. No matter what they believed,

they would never experience judgment when they

died just because of their Jewish physical

heritage. But Jesus disagrees. And as we come

to these verses, I want you to see three

claims

that they make. And they are progressive as

they go. First, they claim to be the physical

seed of Abraham. Now that's true. They are.

Secondly, they claim to be the spiritual

seed of Abraham, which is not true. They are

not, and I'm going to explain that in just

a minute. Thirdly, they claim to be the

children of God, which they are not also not

true.

Jesus agrees with the first and then he just

devastates the second two as we're fixing

to see. Let's start with number one. They

claim to be Abraham's physical children.

You go back to verse 33 in the prior of the

conversation we looked at last time when Jesus

remembered, and that in that section is

talking about truth and he's talking about

freedom

and he's talking about the truth will make you

free and he's talking about if you continue

in my word, then are you my disciples indeed?

And they say this in verse 33, we are Abraham

's

descendants. You know what they thought when

they said that? They thought, oh, that's a

might drop. They thought in their mind, that's

supposed to end the discussion, dude. You

don't have nothing else to say. What are you

talking about? We don't need you Nazarene.

We're Abraham's descendants, right? We've got

all the basis covered. So Jesus picks

up on the claim after what all we studied last

time in verse 37. Look there. How does

he start? I know you're Abraham's descendants.

I know that. And that's true. All the Jewish

people descended from the loins of Abraham and

then down him, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph

and all down through the Abrahamic line, all

the way down through history, all the way

down to today. Look, put your eschatology

aside and all those different views. You can't

escape the fact that no other people group has

continued to survive for so long, still

having the same identifiable language and now

incredibly back in their land. I don't care

whether you're email, postmail, premium, what

meal, I don't care what it is. That's pretty

incredible fact, but put that to the side.

That's another argument for another day. Jesus

acknowledges here for sure that they came from

Abraham physically at the Abrahamic

covenant promised in Genesis 12 from Abraham.

What will come a great nation? Remember, as

many as the sands of the sea and the stars of

the heaven. But then next Jesus says something

's

wrong here after he says, I know that you are

Abraham's descendants. Look in verses

37 to 39. Yet you seek to kill me because my

word has no place in you. I speak the things

which I have seen with my father. Therefore,

you also do the things which you have heard

from your father. 39. They answered and said

to him, Abraham is our father. So of course

this is a big issue for them. And that's what

Jesus is doing right here. He's in the process

of shifting them away from their thinking that

Abraham is their father to thinking somebody

else is their father. But notice he doesn't

say it just yet, right? So far he acknowledges

their physical descent from Abraham. And with

that, yes, it's true. As Paul says in Romans

chapter 9, they have the law and the prophets

and the covenants. And they have all the

privileges

of being physical Jewish people. You're the

stewards. You're the caretakers of the law.

But that doesn't do anything spiritually

because as Paul makes clear, no man can be

justified

by the deeds of the law. So that means,

spiritually speaking, that their physical

lineage means

absolutely nothing, zero nada. Now, you have

to understand when we hear that in 2026 on

this side of the cross with the New Testament

in our hand, when we hear that, we say, yeah,

that's right. Amen. Right. But for them, oh

brother, this is shocking. This is beyond

offensive because what it's saying to them is,

yeah, you are Abraham's physical descendants,

but you can't possibly claim Abraham descent

spiritually. You are not the true sons of

Abraham, which means you are not heirs of

salvation or are you possessors of the kingdom

?

Why go back to verse 37 where he says, yet you

seek to kill me because my word has no

place in you. Now, here's why that's important

because look what he says next in 38. I speak

the things which I have seen with my father.

Therefore, you also do the things which you

see and which you have heard from your father.

In other words, you don't have any interest

in what comes from my father who is God. You

only have interest in the things that come

from your father. So he continues to make this

distinction between his father and their

father, verse 39. They answered and said to

him, Abraham is our father. How does Jesus

of Islam live? Abraham, you're the children of

Abraham. Go on and do the deeds of Abraham.

Now we need to know what are the deeds of

Abraham, right? As we study the Bible. Abraham

's

faith was demonstrated through his obedience

to God. Now, I want you to look and listen,

read with me, James 2, verses 21 to 23. "Was

not Abraham our father justified by works

when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

He see that faith was working with his works."

Get that distinction, okay? Don't get out of

bounds. As a result of the works, faith

was what? Perfected and the scripture was

fulfilled, which says, "And Abraham believed

God and it was reckoned to him as

righteousness." It doesn't say, "Abraham did

works looking

to be reckoned as righteousness." No, his

belief, his faith alone, was reckoned to

him as righteousness and bound up in the

Abrahamic covenant was the promise of a seed

to come.

Abraham was looking ahead to the day when the

final, full and acceptable sacrifice would

come. And that's why if you skip down to verse

56 of John 8, oh man, this is a big one too.

He just had to make their eyelids flip up and

get stuck. Then when your kid used to make

your eyelid, I never could do that, do like

that. He must have done that naturally when

he said something like this. "Your father

Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it

and was

glad." What? Wow. And so, Jesus is saying to

them is this, "If you, if you folks, you

Jewish religious leaders, if you are Abraham's

children, do the deeds of Abraham." Abraham

received me. Abraham looked forward to me. I

mean, if you were Abraham's children, you

would act like Abraham. You would be obedient

to God. If you would, if you reject me, you

would reject me. I'm the Messiah. I'm the

promised one to come. You're not a spiritual

son of Abraham. Abraham rejoiced to see my day

and he saw it. And what are you doing

here in my day? You're rejecting me. What are

you saying? If you're Abraham's true children,

you'd act like Abraham towards me. Verse 40, "

But as it is, you are seeking to kill

me a man who has told you the truths which I

heard from God." And look what he adds

at the end. This Abraham did not do. That's

hilarious to me. When the word of God was

spoken to Abraham, Abraham listened. Jesus is

saying again, "Yes, you're children of

Abraham physically. I'll give you that, but no

way are you children of Abraham spiritually."

Now, let's make sure we understand what that

means to be a spiritual child of Abraham.

See, Galatians 3-6 gives us some insight into

this where it quotes. This is a quote directly

from Genesis 15 and we also just quoted it out

of James. And so the fact that we see

it here again in Galatians 3-6 tells me just a

simple student of the Bible that just must

be important. Galatians 3-6, "Even so, Abraham

believed God." And it was reckoned to him

as righteousness. That's say, "alone." And

next, here's the kicker. Galatians 3-7, "Who

are the spiritual sons of Abraham? Therefore,

be sure that it is those who are faith, a

saving

faith." Who are the sons of Abraham? The

people who have believed God like Abraham,

people

who have believed God's word. All people

listen to me. Jews and Gentiles who have exerc

ised

Bible repentance and true saving faith in

Christ alone. They are the spiritual

descendants

and sons and daughters of Abraham. Every

Christian in this room is a spiritual descend

ant of

Abraham. So they are insisting that Abraham is

their father. Again, verse 40, Jesus saying,

"Look, man, how can that be? You're trying to

kill me. Me! You're trying to kill me.

I'm the one who told you the truth straight

from God. Abraham would never be acting like

you are." And then, next, Jesus turns another

corner. Verse 41, "You are doing the deeds

of your father." And then, they have a very

interesting response. Look next. They said

to him, "We're not born of fornication. We

have one father, God." They're saying, "Not

only are we the physical children of Abraham,

we are the spiritual children of Abraham,

which makes us the spiritual children of God."

Why? And then they say something you don't

expect right here in verse 41, right? "We're

not born of fornication." What is that about?

To put it very simply, this is what they're

saying. "We're not pagans. We're not idolaters

.

Connected to every form of ancient idolatry in

the ancient world was fornication, sexual

perversion, religion with temple prostitutes."

We've studied that over and over. So they

are meaning what they're saying there with for

nication is spiritual fornication. We are

not pagan idol worshipers. And then next, they

say, "We have one father, God. We are

monotheist. We have one God." And it's true.

That's true right up to today. The Jews don't

have any idols, but that doesn't mean they

worship the true God in the true way. They

worship in the name of the true God in a

totally unacceptable way. They were not

engaged in

spiritual fornication in the sense that they

were worshiping pagan idols or having temple

prostitutes. And so they reason, "Well, golly,

how can you say Abraham's not our father?

We acknowledge God as our father and he was

Abraham's father." And then next, Jesus hits

them with the inescapable truth in verse 42.

Jesus said to them, "If God were your father,

you would love me. If God were really your

father, you would love me. You would embrace

me. You would welcome me. You would believe in

me. I am the ancient of days standing right

in your face." That's what he's saying. How do

we know when somebody, God is somebody's

father when they embrace his son? And they

have an eagerness to hear his word. The main

problem, Jesus, again, I got to go back to

this in verse 37, the main problem, "My word

has no place in you." And that phrase has no

place in the Greek means to move, to leave.

It could be to depart. We could put it this

way, "My word goes no place with you." It

makes no progress. My word does not advance

with you. It goes nowhere with you. You can't

possibly have the same father as Abraham

because we done read it three times in

Scripture.

He believed God's words to such a complete

degree that it was counted to him as

righteousness.

God's word, God's not your father because

unlike Abraham, you want to kill the Messiah.

You want to kill the messenger sent from God

back to verse 42, "Jesus said to them, 'If

God were your father, you would love me, for I

have proceeded forth and have come from

God, for I have not even come on my own

initiative, but he sent me.'" You know what

that is? It's

a complete shattering of all their confidence

in their religion. And for their sake, Jesus

has to do this at this point. Because as long

as they're trusting in their false hopes

of Judaism, they are doomed eternally. So they

had two main problems. They don't receive

the Word of God and they hate the Son of God.

Boy, those are two of the biggest problems

you could possibly have as a human being. And

you can use that same evaluation on people

today. How can you know when somebody's a true

child of God and has God as their father

when they love the truth? They love the Word

of God. They love the Savior. Why are you here

today? Why are you listening to me stand

behind this pulpit and talk for 45 minutes

straight

without interruption? Why are you doing that?

Why do you keep coming back to hear me talk

for 45 minutes straight week after week? Is

there any other subject that somebody could

talk on like this weekly that would keep you

coming back to this building if it was another

subject other than this one? Now maybe if it

was required for some reason for your work

or maybe if you had some kind of personal fasc

ination with the subject, maybe for a few weeks

I guess.

And even when the group is small, we have a

lot of diversity. We have different interests.

We have different hobbies and jobs and

backgrounds. And yet, you all keep coming back

every Sunday

to listen to me rattle on them out of this

Bible. Why? Well, there's good evidence as

with all of God's people is because you come

here and I hope to hear from God. Not from

me. You want to hear from me? You want to hear

from God? I'm just delivering the mail, God's

mail. That's all I'm trying to do here. You

believe the book is His Word is why you keep

coming back here week after week. This is

where He speaks. You believe His Son is who

He claimed to be. You love the truth. You love

God's Word and the reason for why right

now, right this very minute, probably 80% of

the people that live in this community are

sleeping in or laying on the couch, watching

TV, scrolling through the channels or doing

anything else but going to church on Sunday

morning. And the reason why is because those

two things about them are not true. They don't

love the truth. They don't love the Word.

They don't love really the Savior. I don't

care what they say. I'm American. I love Jesus

.

You can say that all day long. Prove it. What

are you doing about it? But if you go out

and ask them, "Are you a child of God?" Well,

of course I'm a child of God. Everybody's

a child of God when the reality is all people

are God's creatures. But not everybody is

a true child of God. Only those who love the

truth of the Word of God and embrace Jesus

as substitute Savior and King. Those are the

only children of God adopted by grace into

His family. Look next in verse 43. Jesus poses

a question. Why? Why do you not understand

what I'm saying? Because you cannot hear my

work. What prevented them from hearing? Well,

that's 1 Corinthians 2, 14, "But a natural man

does not accept the things of the Spirit

of God, for they are foolishness to him, and

he cannot understand them because they are

spiritually appraised." That's a fact, Jack.

Can you get around it?

So it's very simple. If you don't believe, you

are still in a state of being a natural

man and your unbelief equals ignorance in the

area of spiritual things. You don't understand

because you won't believe. But once you

believe, everything gets clear, right? And you

start

understanding. I still can't get over that. So

Jesus is saying you don't understand what

I'm saying because you can't hear my words.

You don't have the capacity because you refuse

to believe. You're unable, you're unwilling,

you're incapacitated by your unbelief. These

Jews, of course, they think, hey, we're in

good standing. We have one God, we have one

Father, and then Jesus drops the atom bomb.

Verse 44, "You are of your Father the devil."

Now, I just wish that the Bible gave us a

little bit of something more about their

reaction

to what he said because it was not without

reaction. "You are of your Father the devil."

The only thing I can liken to that is if he

had had a stick of dynamite and he lit it

and he just threw it right up in the middle of

them. That's the only thing I can kind

of liken it to, right? "In the parable of the

wheat and the tares, Jesus is described

in church folk," right? And he teaches us

there that the wheat and the tares grow

together

in the New Testament age and he describes the

wheat as the sons of the kingdom and the

tares as the sons of the evil one and the

language is unavoidable. But it comes straight

from Jesus himself. And he keeps going, man,

in verse 44, "And you want to do the desires

of your Father." He was a murderer from the

beginning and he 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. What

a name for Satan, the father of lies. That's

intense. That's Jesus telling us about Satan.

Now let me tell you something, folks, it's

just real simple. Either you believe him or

you don't. It's really that simple. If you

believe Jesus is who he says he is and when he

talks about the devil, you either believe

him or you don't. But if you're wrong, let me

tell you something, you're really, really

wrong and you will be in for a rude awakening

when God stops your heart and takes you out

of here. So Satan is a murderer and a liar.

And you don't go very far in the Bible before

you find that out because he shows up in the

garden and what's the very first thing that

he does, he lies because Jesus said he's a

liar. He's the father of lies. And the second

thing he does is kill. And I'm not talking

about King. I'm talking about the whole human

race. We saw last time, Hebrews says he has

the power of death. We talked a little bit

about that. That's a vile thing. I'm still

exploring all the nuances of that. But for

one thing, in one sense, he exercised it in

one act in the garden when he did what he

did that literally plunged the whole human

race into being born in a state of spiritual

death and corruption. That's murder, man. Now,

there's a very interesting book that

John MacArthur comments on called The Emperor

of All Maladies. It's a book written on the

history of cancer and it's written by a

brilliant scientist. He was a medical doctor.

Now, some

of you in here may not agree with his

conclusions. I know Daryl is going to have an

eyebrow at

this and I do too because I see, I just kind

of feel very strongly that they do have a

cure for cancer, but they're just not letting

us know because they're making a lot of money,

but that's another story for another day. But

after hundreds of pages, but his bottom

line overall premise, everybody's going to

agree with this. He writes this though, after

hundreds of pages of well-written material,

his bottom line conclusion is this, you can't

cure cancer. He says, because cancer is just

being human. Listen to what he says and you

can apply this to cancer, heart disease,

anything that's wrong with us. He says this,

and I

want you to remember this is a secular doctor,

a very brilliant doctor. This is not a

Christian

at all. He says this, there is something in us

. He says that is corrupting us. It's not

a virus. It's not some germ. It's not a

bacteria. It doesn't happen accidentally. It's

not some

kind of congenital defect. It's just there in

us. Remember, this is a secular book and

he is right about that, no matter how you get

to it. There is something in us that's

corrupting us. We can't sustain the original

body, the perfection of certainly the body

that was in the garden. There is a great high

degree that none of us, chance that none

of us in this room is going to make it past a

hundred. You might, some of you might get

to a hundred, but let's be real. Ain't very

many of us going to live much past that. And

in the grand scale of time and even eternity,

what's a hundred? It's a hundred years, a

hundred trips or outside. Done. And what we've

got, how we got this way, how we got this

way with our natural depravity, our natural

condition, the moment that we're born

physically

in the earth, not only are we spiritually dead

, we begin to die physically. That's why

my hair is getting gray and I got the bald

spot happening in the back, man. It's because

I'm decaying right in front of you. It's a, it

's a result of what happened in the garden

and we got this way because there was a

murderer in the garden in the beginning. He's

the

father of lies. That's how we got here. And

what he did brought the whole human race into

a state of corruption and radical depravity

and he hates our guts. You have to understand

that. You have to understand how much he hates

you, Christian. He wants to cause as much

chaos in your life as he possibly can because

he knows, as I told you last week in Ephesians

six, he can't have you. And he knows you win

in the end and he loses and he hates that.

So while he's got the time and opportunity, he

's the father of lies and you want to know

one of, one of his biggest lies is everybody's

a child of God. Go ahead and sleep in on

Sunday.

You don't even have to go to church. That's

nothing but a bunch of hypocrites down there

at that church. Well, you need to go down

there. You can just have church in your living

room, right? So Jesus told these Jews, you,

you're a, you're a father of the devil. And

then next, first 45, Jesus says, but because I

speak the truth, you do not believe. Child

of God loves the truth. A child of the devil

doesn't believe the truth. Simply put, next,

Jesus says in verse 46, what's one of you conv

icts me of sin? In other words, it's been

something

not done that makes you not believe me. Do you

know something about me that I'm not aware

of? Do you know something about me that, that

calls my credibility into question or my

integrity?

But you know what? Nobody from their group

ever brought up anything like that. Do you

know why? Because there was never anything to

bring up ever. If they had anything, do

you think they would have used it? You better

believe it. The mock trials, there was nothing

of evidence in those mock trials. And finally,

what they had to do, they had to bribe some

false witnesses to make things up. Remember,

there was no record at all of any misdoing

on the part of Jesus ever and you can believe

they looked because he was living the perfect

life that you and I can as our substitute. Don

't forget that. He says next in verse 46,

if I speak the truth, why do you not believe

me? Answer, because you're of your father,

the devil. That's why. That's the desperate

reality of the natural human condition. Let

me tell you something. I don't even have words

to explain how, how shocking the words of,

that Jesus are giving in this text. And we got

to deal with them because they're here.

Verse 47, and we're fixing to close. He says,

"He who is of God hears the word of God. For

this reason, you do not hear them because you

are not of God." Wow. Like I said when

we started, everybody in the world is either

in one family or the other. I hope you

understand

that a little better today after this message.

So if you want to go to Ancestry.com or 23and

me

and check your Ancestry, go ahead, check it

all out. That's fine. Not only do you get

to part of the way to go all the way, you got

to dig a little deeper. And the big picture,

it's interesting, but your family in the past

is not what matters. It's your family in the

present. That's the issue. What family are you

in? There's only two. That's the ultimate

spiritual question. And we all only get a very

certain ordained by God number of heartbeats

and breaths to get that question answered.

What family are you in? If you don't have

the answer, get it answered. And get it

answered today because today, folks, today is

the day

of salvation. Let's pray. How do we thank you

for this word? I feel like a little bug.

I feel like a little worm preaching the words

of Jesus. And I am. But you have to have

somebody

to do this to proclaim, this is what you've

ordained, that the word be preached. And so

I thank you for that privilege that I don't

deserve to preach your word to your people

on your day behind your pulpit. This ain't my

pulpit. It's yours. I'm just a steward.

And so I pray I've been a faithful steward

today to deliver your word. And I pray, Lord,

that you would burn it into our souls, the

realities of who Jesus is and what family

it is that we're in. And for all who rejoice,

being in the family of God, we'll be doing

that rejoicing forever. But if anybody's here

who is not or is not sure and don't have

it straight, please, Lord, we pray, draw them

to yourself. Use the word preached and the

power of the Spirit to bring another to

yourself. All for your glory. In Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.