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Well, please turn with me in 
your Bible to John's gospel. We're in John chapter eight. John chapter 8, our focus will 
be verses 37 to 41, but I'll read from 37 to 47. So here now, the word of the 
living and true God. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, 
but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. 
I speak what I have seen with my father and you do what you 
have seen with your father. They answered and said to him, 
Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were 
Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But 
now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which 
I heard from God. Excuse me, Abraham did not do 
this. You do 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 proceeded forth and came 
from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do 
you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen 
to my word. You are of your father the devil, 
and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer 
from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there 
is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks 
from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 
But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which 
of you convict me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why 
do you not believe me? He who is of God hears God's 
words. Therefore, you do not hear because 
you are not of God. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our 
Father, we thank you for this beautiful day. The heavens do 
declare the righteousness of God Most High. We thank you for 
your handiwork in the created order. We thank you for the providential 
order that you govern all your creatures and all their actions. 
We thank you for the redemptive order, the fact that you sent 
your Son into this world, sinners to save. We praise you for his 
life of obedience, his death as a sacrifice and substitute 
on Calvary's cross, and for his resurrection the third day. We 
thank you that he is in the midst of the lampstands as we gather 
together for corporate worship on the Lord's Day. And we pray 
that even now our hearts would be encouraged and built up and 
strengthened as well, God, for any and all who've come here 
this day that have not believed the gospel. We pray that by grace 
and for your glory, they would look on to the Lord Jesus Christ 
in faith. Forgive us for all sin and all 
unrighteousness and guide us now by the presence and the power 
of your Holy Spirit. And we pray through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. Well, remember that John 
chapter eight takes place the day after the Feast of Tabernacles. And it's one long discourse beginning 
in John 8, one all the way to the end of the chapter. But along 
the way, we see these various dialogues occurring between Jesus 
and the religious leaders. So we've kind of broken it up 
along the way in conjunction with that. So verses 37 to 47 
is a unit and it's balanced structurally. The Jews make two claims. They 
claim that Abraham is their father. And then in verse 41, they claim 
that God is their father. Well, when they claim that Abraham 
is their father, Jesus reproves them or rebukes them for that 
in verses 37 to 41. Once they make that assertion 
that God is their father, he then rebukes them or reproves 
them in verses 42 to 47. Now, when we look at the gospel 
records concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew and Mark and 
Luke and John, we'll notice that Jesus never shrinks back from 
declaring hard things. In fact, if you look back to 
the synagogue in Capernaum in John chapter six, we see an instance 
of that. Notice in John six at verse 60. Therefore, many of his disciples, 
when they heard this said, this is a hard saying, who can understand 
it? Essentially what he was teaching, 
with sovereign grace. He was talking about election, 
predestination, and the depravity of man, and no one can come to 
me unless the Father who sent me draws him. So that was, in 
fact, a hard saying. But Jesus doesn't recant. He 
doesn't say, well, I'm sorry that I've offended your delicate 
sensitivities. I'm going to make this softer 
and more easy and more palatable for you. He doesn't do that. 
As well, when it comes to various persons that he meets in the 
gospel records, he has the most stinging words reserved for the 
religious leadership. In Matthew chapter 23, for instance, 
he says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. He calls them 
hypocrites. He calls them brood of vipers. He calls them blind guides. Just 
think about that for a moment. If you were going to go travel 
down to the base of the Grand Canyon and your guide came walking 
up with a seeing eye dog or a cane, you wouldn't have a lot of confidence 
in him. You don't want a blind guide. Well, that's how Jesus 
refers to the religious leaders in his own generation. But probably 
nowhere does that hard word come to pass more than in chapter 
8 at verse 44. You are of your father the devil. That's a bell you don't unring. 
That's a position you don't come back from. That is Christ indicting 
these people for what they are truly. Now, he doesn't just say 
this out of the gun. He doesn't just say, you're wretched 
and you're children of the devil. He builds his case, and that's 
what he's doing here in our section from verses 37 to 41. So in verses 
37 to 41, there is this two-fold claim made by the Jews. Notice 
that in two places, verses 33 and 39, they assert that Abraham 
is their father. So, verses 37 to 41a. And then they make the claim 
that God is their father in verse 41. And so, for the sake of time, 
we'll just take up that first claim concerning Abraham and 
how Jesus rebuts that or how Jesus rebukes them and says that 
that, in fact, is not the case. So I want to look first at the 
assertion of their status, secondly, the rejection of their claim, 
third, the explanation of their delusion, and then finally, the 
declaration of their paternity in verse 41. So let's look at 
the assertion of their status. Notice back in verse 31, then 
Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, if you abide in 
my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the 
truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, 
we are Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage 
to anyone. How can you say you will be made 
free? So that is wrong on a political 
level because they had been in bondage to Egypt and then Assyria 
and then Babylon and now presently in the Roman Empire. They had 
certainly known their share of physical bondage. But most likely 
that's not what they're saying. We're not in bondage to any authority 
except for Yahweh. In other words, they're expressing 
their fidelity to the God of the Old Covenant. And this has 
become sort of a badge for them, sort of a boasting right for 
them. Remember in Matthew's gospel when they come out to hear John 
the Baptist, when John the Baptist is baptizing and he says to them, 
do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. 
For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to 
Abraham from these stones." So this was their boast. This was 
their arrogance. This was their claim. Abraham 
is our father. Who do you think you are talking 
about us believing on you and you making us free? We've never 
been in bondage. We are Abraham's descendants. 
And then when Jesus starts to reprove them, they double down 
in verse 39. They make the same assertion. 
We are Abraham's seed. We are not the sorts of people 
that you are condemning us for. So that's their assertion. We 
mustn't forget it. Now notice the rejection of their 
claim. This is in verses 37 to 39a. Christ affirms their physical 
descent. Notice in verse 37, I know that 
you are Abraham's descendants. As far as the flesh is concerned, 
as far as the blood in your vein is concerned, as far as your 
tribes and your clans and your kingdom and your earthly situation, 
he does not deny that physically they are descended from Abraham. 
He affirms that reality, but what he is going to do is clarify 
It's all about definition. They've already said, hey, we're 
not in bondage when he has said that you're in bondage. And now 
they're saying, oh yeah, we're Abraham's seed. And he's going 
to say, no, you're not. You are physically, but spiritually 
you are not connected to Abraham whatsoever. Edward Klink makes 
this observation after clarifying their definition of freedom in 
verses 34 to 36, Jesus now clarifies their definition of the seed 
of Abraham. Just as Jesus can acknowledge 
the uniqueness of the Jewish people in the plan of God and 
yet still declare them to be enslaved to sin, so also can 
Jesus acknowledge that they are born of the seed of Abraham and 
yet still need a new birth. So this claim that they boast 
of, this physicality, are they thinking that salvation is by 
race? Because the Word of God tells 
us that salvation is by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ. It's not simply because you've 
descended physically from Abraham that you are necessarily heaven-bound. The Apostle Paul amplifies this 
in Romans 9 at verse 6. He says, for not all Israel is 
Israel. He amplifies this in Galatians 
chapter 3 in verse 7, saying that those who believe on Jesus 
are the sons of Abraham. He also celebrates that fact 
in Galatians 3, 26 to 29. And in the book of Galatians, 
the awesome thing is, is that Gentiles, believing on Jesus 
Christ, are the sons of Abraham. But the Jews who reject Jesus 
Christ are not the sons of Abraham. So they're operating at two levels 
here. They were wrong concerning their 
definition of bondage, so Christ clarifies that. They're wrong 
concerning their definition of being Abraham's seed, so Christ 
is going to clarify that. He affirms physically, yes, but 
then he condemns this notion that they are somehow spiritually 
okay because they are Abraham's physical descendants. He makes 
this distinction. John Gill makes the observation, 
and what follows proves them to be under the power and in 
the servitude of sin, and that they were the seed of the serpent 
that was to bruise the heel of the woman's seed, or put the 
Messiah to death, though they were the natural sons of Abraham. 
Thank you. And so that is a reflection in 
the mind of Gil to Genesis 3.15. We considered that passage yesterday. 
We had a wedding here. It was awesome. It's wonderful. 
We have a pair of newlyweds in our midst this morning, and we 
praise God for that. But we looked at the ordinance 
of marriage in Genesis 2, but then after the ordinance of marriage, 
there is this fall into sin. But after this fall into sin, 
there is this announcement of recovery on the part of God most 
high. He's going to send his son. He's 
going to send one born of a woman. He's going to send one that is 
going to suffer and die to achieve total victory and conquest. And 
he is going to achieve that total victory and conquest over the 
devil himself. That passage is Genesis 3.15. 
I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your 
seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and 
you shall bruise his heel. So Gil, I think, rightly sees 
that coming to fruition in a passage like this. We have this antithesis 
between the devil and the seed of Christ. We have this antithesis 
between the righteous and the unrighteous. We have this antithesis, 
this age-long war that culminates now in the rejection of the one 
promised by God to come in to save his people from their sins. 
And it's no accident that Jesus will appropriate that language 
in verse 44 to tell them that they are in fact children of 
the devil. That's the problem. That's the issue. For all their 
religiosity, for all of their correctness, for all of their 
fidelity, at least in externally to covenant theology, they are 
wrong. They have missed the boat. They're 
not believing on the one whom God the Father had sent. So the 
rejection of their spiritual connection to Abraham, Jesus 
shows now in verse 37b. He says, I know that you are 
Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me. This betrays 
this confession that you are Abraham's descendants. This is 
proof positive. This is an evidence. This is 
an exhibition. We see or he knew that they were 
in fact trying to kill him. Look back in chapter seven at 
verse one, prior to the feast of tabernacles. Verse one, after 
these things, Jesus walked in Galilee for he did not want to 
walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him. Go back to 
chapter five, that healing of the man at Bethesda. And in chapter 
5 at verse 16, for this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus and 
sought to kill him because he had done these things on the 
Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, my father has been working until 
now and I have been working. Therefore, the Jews sought all 
the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, 
but also said that God was his father making himself equal with 
God. So here in John chapter 8, when they say, oh yeah, we're 
the seed of Abraham. We're the descendants of the righteous 
Abraham. We've come from the loins of godly Abraham. Jesus 
says, no you haven't. And what's the first proof that 
he issues? You're trying to kill me. You 
want to rid the world of me. You want to murder me. He understood. He had that knowledge with reference 
to their particular intention to kill him. The fact that they 
want to kill him underscores their paternity. Again, it's 
no accident that in verse 44, when he makes that declaration, 
you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father 
you want to do. Well, I wonder what those desires 
are? Murder and lies. You're murderers and you're liars. He doesn't just shoot this particular 
verse at them in verse 44 without building his case. And that's 
what he does here in verse 37. But you seek to kill me. So they 
have this intent to murder him, but also they have a refusal 
to hear him. Look at what he goes on to say 
in verse 37. You seek to kill me because my 
word has no place in you. Well, brethren, it all depends 
on the Word of Christ, doesn't it? Every man since then, every 
man prior to then, every man in our own current generation, 
we're all basically at the level of, do we believe on Jesus or 
don't we? Have we by grace tasted and seen 
that the Lord is good or have we, because of our solidarity 
with Adam and because of the fact that the devil is our father, 
have we rejected him and despised him? So look at what Jesus is 
saying. You've not received my word. 
Well, what word is that? Well, he's already spoken to 
that in verses 31 and 32. Notice, then, Jesus said to those Jews 
who believed him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples 
indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
you free. And then in verse 36, therefore, if the Son makes you 
free, you shall be free indeed. My word has no place in you. I have come as the one sent by 
the Father, the only begotten Son of the Father. I have spoken 
true doctrine to you. I have taught you the way of 
salvation, and yet my word does not have a place in you. You 
reject it, you despise it, you forsake it. So again, he's answering 
their claim to, we are the descendants of Abraham. We are the seed of 
Abraham. Well, Abraham didn't try to kill 
the Messiah. And Abraham didn't reject the 
word of God most high. Abraham received that word. Abraham 
acted consistently with that word. And therefore you are not 
Abraham's sons. It is that word that is instrumental 
in the salvation of sinners. Romans 10, 17. Faith comes by 
hearing, hearing by the word of God. Remember that scene at 
the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 7, when 
Jesus talks about the two builders, the man who builds his house 
on the rock and the man who builds his house on the sand. What's 
the rock? The rock is the word of Jesus 
Christ. The sand is everything other 
than that. And of course, when you build 
your house on the sand, can it withstand the rain? Can it withstand 
the tempest? Can it withstand the wind? No, 
it cannot. But when you build that house 
by grace on that rock, you are able to withstand all of those 
things. And so the Lord Christ is telling 
us, telling them and us, by extension, that you stand or fall based 
on the reception or rejection of His Word. Now, before we proceed, 
where are you at with reference to his word? Have you by grace 
believed that word? Have you seen Jesus as altogether 
lovely and chief among 10,000? Is he the one alone that you 
are trusting in for salvation? Or perhaps you're going to say, 
well, you know, I'm not that bad. never murdered, I've never 
committed adultery, I think I'll fare well on that day of judgment. Let me tell you, friend, that's 
not gonna happen. It's either perfect, absolute 
perfect obedience to God's law on your part, perpetual, exact, 
entire, personal obedience in order to be accepted with God 
or grace through faith in our blessed Savior, the one who did 
personally, the one who did perpetually, the one who did exactly and entirely 
obey that law. Well, the scriptures are clear. 
It's a blessed thing. The gospel of our salvation. 
Believe on Him and you will be saved. When we believe, we're 
justified freely by God's grace. We receive forgiveness and we 
receive a righteousness so that we can enter into the presence 
of God Almighty. That's the good news. That's 
what Jesus has been preaching and teaching to these people. 
And yet they continue to refuse it. They continue to reject it. 
And they are not Abraham's seed. And that is evidenced by the 
fact that they want to murder him. The fact that they refuse 
to hear him. And notice as well the fact that they have this 
commitment to reject him. Look at verse 38, I speak what 
I have seen with my father and you do what you have seen with 
your father. The word Jesus speaks is the 
word he received from his father. Now, when Jesus receives the 
word from his father, it's not the same as when creatures receive 
the word from their fathers. You know, a discursive sort of 
understanding. You know, we learn lessons, and 
we grow in our understanding, and perhaps there's a test applied 
to see if we're retaining the information. This idea of seeing 
and hearing in terms of the son relative to the father. They 
share or have the identity of essence. And so what Jesus hears 
from the father is according to his divinity. It's according 
to his blessedness as the only savior for sinners. And so he 
tells these people, I speak what I have seen with my father and 
you do what you have seen with your father. So they reject that 
word that Jesus has been sharing, telling, declaring, preaching 
and teaching. You see what he's saying? I haven't 
come on my own authority. I'm not some, you know, other 
rabbi that, you know, got my degree online and I thought I 
would just compete with you religious leaders in the Sanhedrin. No, 
there's a unity of essence with the Father so that what the Son 
speaks is the Father's word. What the Father speaks is the 
Son's word. We speak or we worship a triune 
God, one true and living God that exists eternally as Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. And so Christ upbraids them. 
You want to kill me? As well, my word has no place 
in you. As well, you have this complete 
rejection of me, even though I speak what I have seen with 
my Father, and then you do what you have seen with your Father. 
See how he's leading them along? It all focuses upon these two 
claims. Abraham is our father and God is our father. He has 
to disavow them of this notion. He has to disenfranchise them 
of this confession. He has to show them their malady 
and their issue and their problem. Yes, to condemn them because 
they're fakes and hypocrites, but as well, Jesus according 
to his humanity. When he goes about to preach 
the gospel, he's like any other preacher, save Jonah, that wants 
people to get saved, wants people to hear the truth. Remember that 
last day, that great day of the feast in John 7, 37. They'd already 
shown their enmity against him. They'd already rejected him. 
They already despised him. And yet he stands up and he cries 
out, if any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. The 
Lord Christ has a heart of benevolence. The Lord Christ is leading these 
people to understand how their sin and depravity has affected 
them so that they might come to him and believe on him and 
be saved by him. So they, or rather, notice the 
parallel in verse 38. I speak what I've seen with my 
father. You do what you have seen with your father. And of 
course, they double down. They don't say, well, you know, 
he's got a lot of right things to say. We are trying to kill 
him. His word doesn't have any place in our hearts. He has claimed 
to be speaking in authority because the father sent him. They're 
not softened by this. They're not brought in by this. 
They're not wooed by this. They are doubling down in their 
sin with this affirmation in verse 39. They answered and said 
to him, Abraham is our father. Again, brethren, I don't think 
they're just offering it up as a bit of information. Well, you 
know, Abraham is our father. They're doubling down. They're 
resisting him. They are confirming the very 
thing he is indicting them about. You want to kill me? My word 
has no place in your heart. The things that you have seen 
from your father, those are the things that you're doing. Well, 
what had they seen from their father? They had seen murder. 
They had seen lies. They had seen deception. They 
had seen depravity. They had seen all the sorts of 
things that the sons of this age are marked by in terms of 
their commitment to the prince of the power of the air that 
works in those sons of disobedience. So Christ is leading them now, 
and instead of them humbling themselves, instead of them repenting, 
they just double down. The unbelieving Jews understand 
exactly what he is saying, so instead of reneging, they double 
down. Brethren, always, doubling down doesn't mean you're right. 
Doubling down and saying, well, we really are the seed of Abraham. 
Doesn't make it so. That does not. Just to assert 
something, you might assert that, you know, you're able to slam 
dunk a basketball. But until you pony up and slam 
dunk a basketball, that assertion makes no sense. Somebody says, 
well, I don't think you can slam dunk a basketball. Oh, yes, I 
can. Again, the proof is in the pudding. So when Jesus gives 
them or furnishes them with evidence that they are in fact not connected 
spiritually to Abraham, instead of submitting to that, instead 
of listening to him, instead of learning the lesson that God's 
Word holds out to all sinners, you're not going to win. God 
is always right. Jesus speaks the truth. There's 
not some sort of wiggle room for you to get around His Word. You're going to stand before 
Him. You're going to give an account of deeds done in the 
body, whether good or ill. You're going to meet Him on that 
day of judgment. Best now to submit. Best now 
to bow. Best now to confess Him as Lord 
and Savior. Best now to own Him as that One. 
who saves to the uttermost all who draw nigh to God through 
him." Now notice, Jesus now explains their delusion in verses 39b 
to 40. So verse 39, they answered and 
said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were 
Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. Pretty 
simple, right? It's a logical proposition. Geometry, it's called an if-then 
statement. If Abraham were your father, 
then you would do the works of Abraham, right? We all get that. Children imitate their parents. 
Children do what? You know, sons do what their 
fathers do. Christ is able to make that assertion. I always 
do what pleases Him who sent me. Look back in verse 29, He 
says that. The Father has not left me alone 
for I always do those things that please Him. Verse 38, I 
speak what I have seen with my Father and you do what you have 
seen with your Father. So He's furthering His argument. He's furthering his emphasis. 
He's furthering to demonstrate that they are not what they purport 
to be. Physical descendants of Abraham, yes, but those who receive 
Messiah, those who are blessed and conquered by sovereign grace, 
those who are heaven bound, no, you're not there. And not only 
are you not there, you're way off from there. And you really 
need to pay attention and you really need to listen. So that's 
why he furthers his argument. If you were Abraham's children, 
you would do the works of Abraham. A son imitates his father. The 
statement is illustrative and it's designed to illustrate that 
point. You're not Abraham's seed. Whatever 
you think you are, whatever you pride yourself on, whatever boast 
you have in your heart, it's just not true. Now, brethren, 
it doesn't take much to jump from this context to our own 
sort of context. You've got people that pride 
themselves on their religiosity or they're spiritual people. 
You just don't know. I'm really spiritual. I'm really religious. Well, what 
think ye of Christ? I'm not into all that. Not that 
Bible sort of religion. You hear that moniker at times, 
born-again Christian. Well, if you're not born again, 
you're not a Christian. You see, in modern parlance, born-again 
Christian is the real wacko. Okay, if you're just a Christian, 
we don't like that, we can't stand you for that. But if you're 
one of those born-againers, then you're just offensive. But I 
thought you were religious. I thought you were spiritual. 
Well, not that kind of religious and not that kind of spiritual. 
You see, there's people that pride themselves that they're 
going to go to heaven based on what they do or don't do, or 
based on whatever religiosity or spirituality that they subscribe. But these were the same sorts 
of people. Well, we're Abraham's seed. We're Abraham's descendants. 
I don't know why we're button heads like this. It's not us 
that has the problem, Jesus. It's ultimately you that has 
the problem. They're gaslighting or attempting to gaslight the 
Savior, and the Savior won't have it. If you were Abraham's 
children, you would do the works of Abraham. Now, this is a confirmation 
of the righteousness of Abraham and the wickedness of these hypocrites. When you think Abraham, what 
do you think? If we played word association, 
you'd probably think faith, right? Genesis 15, 6, Abraham believed 
God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. But in 
light of that justifying faith, you'd think obedience, you'd 
think godliness, you'd think righteousness. And you might 
be tempted to think, at least you probably will now, because 
I'm going to tell you, Genesis 22. Take your son, your only 
son, the son that you love, up to Mount Moriah, and there I 
want you to sacrifice him for me. Now, the text starts off 
in 22.1 that God was testing Abraham. So I've told you before, 
we read that information, but Abraham didn't have that. Abraham 
didn't know it was a test. Abraham was simply told to take 
his son, the only son, the son that he loved, up to Mount Moriah 
and to kill him in sacrifice unto God. Now we know the story, 
the angel of the Lord stops him. The angel of the Lord keeps him 
from engaging in that. But we see him living consistent 
with his profession of faith. And if you think this is an outlandish 
connection, this is precisely James's point in James chapter 
two. When James talks about faith 
without works is dead, he's not suggesting that it's faith plus 
works in order for salvation. He's talking the way that our 
confession rightly comments. So justification is by faith 
alone, but that faith is not alone, but it's always accompanied 
by every other saving grace. That's James's point. We're justified 
by grace through faith in Jesus. And once we're justified by grace 
through faith in Jesus, there are works, there are manifestations 
or demonstrations of that reality. And so James invokes Abraham, 
Abraham and Rahab. So whether you're a patriarch 
or a prostitute, it's always salvation by grace alone, through 
faith alone, and Christ alone. But he speaks concerning this 
incident in Genesis 22. We see then, he says, we see 
the validity of his faith in God because of what he does consistent 
with that. Was not Abraham our father justified 
by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you 
see that faith was working? And that's the point in the section. 
James 2, 14 to 26 has to do with seeing, touching, validating, 
confirming. Justification is by grace alone, 
through faith alone, but it will externally manifest itself in 
a life of obedience. Not perfect obedience, but in 
obedience. He says, do you see that faith 
was working together with his works and by works faith was 
made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled. 
So Genesis 22 was a fulfillment of what? The scripture was fulfilled 
which says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for 
righteousness and he was called the friend of God. So, at Moriah, 
we see fulfillment of 15 sects. Abraham believed God, and it 
was accounted unto him for righteousness. See, we are justified freely 
by grace through faith, and that faith is alone, but it doesn't 
remain alone, but all other saving graces accompany it, so that 
we obey, so that we do what God is pleased with, so that the 
obvious implication in our passage is very simple. If you were Abraham's 
children, you would do the works of Abraham. Now notice he shows 
them that this is just not the case. Once again, he reminds 
them that they want to kill him. He's not gonna let them off the 
hook. He knows what their intentions are. He's not gonna say, well, 
yeah, I guess you are the son of Abraham. And you know, we 
can have fellowship and friendship together. You're seeking to kill 
me. You want to eradicate a holy, 
harmless and righteous man. You want to eliminate or liquidate 
from the earth someone who hasn't done anything wrong. That's problematic. And notice the proof that he 
makes in verse 40. But now you seek to kill me. 
a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God." Abraham 
did not do this. So I've told you the truth from 
God, that word that does not abide in you, and then he says 
Abraham did not do this. What does he mean then? Abraham 
knew about Jesus according to verse 56. But Abraham didn't 
try to kill Jesus. What's Jesus mean here? Abraham 
was a righteous man. He had believed the gospel. He 
had believed the truth. He understood the nature of Genesis 
3.15. He knew there was a deliverer 
that would be born of a woman that would accomplish total victory 
through his own suffering and death. He understood that. In 
fact, Genesis 22 rehearses that reality. When he goes to Mount 
Moriah, what's Abraham say on the journey? Abraham says, Dad, 
we've got the fire and we've got the wood, but where's the 
sacrifice? What's Abraham say to him? The 
Lord will provide. The book of Hebrews tells us 
that Abraham knew that even if he carried out that act of execution, 
God was able to raise him from the dead. He walked by faith 
consistently up to Moriah. And then after, the angel of 
the Lord stays the hand of Abraham. What do we see in the narrative? 
A ram caught in the thicket. The Lord's provision, the Lord's 
remedy, the Lord's Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the 
world. So Abraham didn't do this. He wouldn't have killed the promised 
Messiah. He wouldn't kill an innocent 
man. He certainly wouldn't kill a 
spokesman from God. This is Jesus' point. Look at 
what he says in verse 40, But now you seek to kill me, a man 
who has told you the truth which I heard from God. It's not that 
he heard it from God the way that I told it to my sons. One 
man says, he heard the truth from God in as much as from eternity 
he received from the father through an eternal generation the same 
nature that the father has. So that's the emphasis in this 
hearing and seeing in terms of the son and the father. But what 
does he say? You're not Abraham's seed. You 
want to kill me. And I'm a man who's come to you 
to speak the truth as it is in God Most High. Abraham didn't 
do this. So stop this nonsense. Stop this 
hypocrisy. Stop this boasting that somehow 
you're on a good footing because of your physical relation. Of 
all the evangelism that I've ever done, I'm not saying this 
like I'm Ray Comfort or something, you know, all I ever do is evangelize, 
but the most disturbing, the most difficult person to deal 
with is the person who doesn't need to hear the gospel because 
his grandfather taught Sunday school in an Anglican church. 
Oh, wow. Well, yeah, you're heaven bound. I mean, heaven's going to open 
up, and you're going to be ushered in, and the angels are going 
to attend you. Why? Because your grandfather taught Sunday school 
in an Anglican church? We want every other way of acceptance 
with God than through blood atonement. We want every other way with 
acceptance through God without Christ. If you asked 100 people 
today, do you want to go to heaven? Of those hundred, there'd be 
the fools, the morons, the agnostics, the atheists. There's no heaven, 
there's no spirit. But I think there's still a prevailing 
opinion in this world that there's a heaven and a hell. So if you 
asked a hundred people, I'd say the great majority of them would 
say, yeah, I'd like to go to heaven. I mean, do you want to 
go to that place of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth? 
Well, no. Would you like to go to heaven? 
Yeah, sure. We want to go to heaven through faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Well, again, I'm not that kind 
of religious. I'm not that kind of spiritual. 
I'm not that kind of a person. I'm not one of those born againers. 
You know, I'm just trying to do good. I try to benefit people. 
I try to be helpful. I try to just be a good citizen. You know, that's gonna land me 
a place in heaven. So I think everybody wants to 
go to heaven, but they bypass or reject the means that God's 
ordained for entrance into heaven. And these Jews are no exception. 
Christ sent by the Father. God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life. They reject it. They despise 
it. They resist it. When you stop 
and think about it, when you talk about the gospel, we oftentimes 
append the adjective simple. It is simple, isn't it? Think 
about it. My encouragement to you today, 
if you're not saved, is not go out and do the best you can, 
try hard, be perpetually perfect, exact and entire, with reference 
to your obedience to the law. My encouragement to you is to 
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. to look to another, to not look 
to yourself, to not look to your accomplishments, to not look 
at how good you think you are, to not look at how bad everybody 
else is, but rather to look at him who's altogether lovely, 
the one who always did what pleased his father, the one who lived 
for sinners, the one who died for sinners, the one who was 
raised for sinners. Look to him and live. That's 
a simple message, isn't it? If it was the case that no one 
would go to heaven unless they stopped everything they had been 
doing up to this point and completely changed the other way. That'd 
be tough to work out, brethren. That would be tough to sort of 
manage. But that's not the call of the 
gospel. The call of the gospel is to believe on the Lord Jesus. 
To repent from your sins. To have a change of mind and 
bear fruit consistent with that. Now that by grace, that by God's 
glory, that for the blessing and praise of our blessed sovereign, 
but that's the emphasis, and that's what's happening in the 
midst of these people, and yet they continue to double down. 
This is the sin of man doubling down. Look at the prodigal. Does 
the prodigal, when he comes to himself, is that the defining 
moment in his conversion? Not by a long shot, brethren. 
He just thinks like a mercenary. He's eating the pig food, according 
to Luke 15, and he's thinking, you know, if I was a hired servant 
in my father's house, I'd get three huts and a cot. I'd have 
a place to sleep and I'd get food. I wouldn't have to eat 
this pig slop. There's nothing wrong with not 
wanting pig slop. There's nothing wrong with wanting 
three hots and a cot. But he's not converted when he 
comes to himself in the distant country. That's not a sign that 
he's converted. What's the first step? He goes 
to another man to try to get safe haven there. When he comes 
back to the father, it's not in repentance. It's not with 
a change of heart. It's not faith in his father. He comes back for three hots 
and a cot. The emphasis is upon God's grace. 
The father runs to him. The father falls on him. The 
father kisses him. The father puts a robe upon him. 
The father puts a ring on his finger. The father orders the 
slaying of the fatted calf. It's the father's initiative 
to restore that son. Everything about that son is 
trying to do everything other than cast himself on the mercy 
of God, spiritually speaking. He wants to cast himself physically 
because he doesn't want to eat pig slop. And so he's willing 
to be a mercenary in order to get what it is he's after. That's 
the Jews here. That's every man today. When 
you tell sinners the way of salvation is through a bloody knife and 
a smoking altar, they say, no, I don't want that. I'm going 
to just try harder. I'm going to do better. And I'm 
going to isolate myself from those wicked influences around 
me. Those things aren't necessarily bad, but those things won't land 
you in heaven. It's grace alone, through faith 
alone, in Christ alone. That's the recurring emphasis. 
It's not their race, physical descent to Abraham, but it's 
grace. God makes sinners willing in 
the day of His power to come to Him. So Abraham did not do 
this. Matthew Poole says, Christ takes 
them off this glorying, that they're seed of Abraham, by reminding 
them that the blood of Abraham running in their veins would 
be of little significance to them, so long as they did not 
walk in Abraham's steps. Men are truly to be accounted 
the children of those, not from whom they are naturally descended, 
but whose steps they walk in, and whom they imitate in their 
conversations. And then Christ ends this exchange 
with these sharp words in verse 41 that he's going to amplify 
in verses 42 to 47. He says, you do the deeds of 
your father. You do the deeds of your father. 
You're not of Abraham. You're not spiritually connected 
to him. You don't do his works. You reject 
me. You want to kill me. You reject 
my word. It has no place in you. You rather 
do the deeds of your father. Now look at what they do. They 
double down once again. These people are not listening. 
They're not getting it. They're not following the argument. 
Verse 41b, then they said to him, we are not born of fornication. We have one Father God. Probably 
two things that they're emphasizing with this statement. We are not 
born of fornication. One, it may be a jab at the Lord 
Jesus. Matthew 1, verses 18 and 19, 
Mary was found to be with child before her and Joseph had come 
together. I mean, it's probably not a lot different in Judea 
in the first century as it is in Chilliwack in the 21st century. What happens when a piece of 
unsavory news is done? People, I wish they didn't, but 
they tend to just want to yap about it, right? I don't think 
it's an outlandish supposition that the religious leadership 
are slandering our blessed Savior, at least in a backhanded sort 
of way. We, what's the implication? Like 
you, we were not born a fornication. We're not those kinds of despicable 
people. We're more upright. We're more 
polished. We're better than you, Jesus. These are wicked people, brethren. 
As Jesus goes down the streets of Judea, when he's up in the 
northern region in Galilee, he doesn't generally walk down the 
streets. No place that I have found in 
my Bible where he sees the harlots and he sees the tax collectors 
and he sees all the riffraff and he just shouts them down 
and tells them, you're the children of the devil. You know, there's 
some sorts of evangelists today that do that. Oh, you're the 
sons of the devil. That's not Jesus' common way. That's not his typical approach. 
That's not his manner. Remember the woman at the well, 
the Samaritan woman? kind of promises her the living 
water, and then he challenges her to bring her husband. She 
says, I don't have a husband. He says, you're right, you've 
had a few, and the one you're presently with, he's not your 
husband. He doesn't shout it out, and call her a child of 
the devil. The religious leaders that are responsible to guide 
Israel, the religious leaders that are responsible to teach 
the truth, the religious leaders that should have known better 
in terms of expectation concerning Messiah, when they botch it up, 
when they twist and distort it, Jesus lets them have it. I think this passage underscores 
or passages like these underscore what James tells us in James 
3.1. Brethren, let not many of you become teachers. Why? We'll 
receive a stricter judgment. There'll be a stricter judgment 
for those who distort and who twist and pollute and abominate 
the word of the living God. So these men say in a backhanded 
way, we're not born of fornication the way that you are. But more 
likely brethren, we're not idolaters like you are. Look at verse 48. They accuse him of being a Samaritan. When they say we were not born 
of fornication, they're expressing their religious fidelity. We're 
not born of fornication in the sense that our hearts are divided 
between Yahweh and Baal. Fornication, harlotry, that sort 
of thing in the Old Testament was indicative of idolatry. Just a few specimen passages. Isaiah 1.21, how the faithful 
city has become a harlot. It was full of justice, righteousness 
lodged in it, but now murderers. Jeremiah 3.3, therefore the showers 
have been withheld and there has been no latter rain. You 
have had a harlot's forehead, you refuse to be ashamed. Why 
do you think God commands Hosea to marry Gomer? Gomer was a harlot. Why do you think that happened? 
Well, Hosea won too. Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry 
and children of harlotry. Here's the reason, for the land 
has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. In 
other words, Hosea was a type of God and Gomer was a type of 
Israel. And so that's the point. I want 
you to take a wife of harlotry because I'm teaching something 
to the children of Israel that they're harlots. They're abominable. They've gone after that which 
is not God. So when these men say, we were 
not born of fornication, yeah, passive aggressive attack upon 
our Lord and his dignity, but as well an affirmation in their 
minds that they're not idolaters. They're not Samaritans. I mean, 
that's what they accuse him of. In verse 48, we're not like you. We're faithful to Yahweh. We're 
the ones that are in league with Him, in lockstep with Him, and 
on the heels of that. That's why they say what they 
say. We have one Father, God. Here's their second claim. The 
first is, they're children of Abraham. Jesus rebukes them for 
that. Now they say, we have one father, 
God. He's going to rebuke them for 
that in verses 42 to 47. So that's why in verse 44, when 
he says, you are of your father, the devil, it's not out of the 
blue. It's not like, wow, that was 
really uncalled for. That's a big, massive mallet 
to the head. No, he's built his case. He's 
shown them where they're at. They are physically connected 
to Abraham, but spiritually they are hypocrites. They are frauds, 
they are deceivers, and they deserve to be rebuked. So in 
conclusion, in terms of some practical lessons, we see first 
the delusion of the unbelieving Jews. And this isn't a pick on 
the unbelieving Jews session. This is a time for us to reflect. 
It's a time for people to think through our own commitments in 
terms of the true and living God. The evidence of their delusion 
was their intention to kill Jesus. Very obvious, right? You can't 
be a follower of the true and living God and want to kill the 
son of his love or kill his only begotten son to reject him or 
to despise him. So conversely, those who are 
in Christ, not only not want to kill him, they want to love 
him. They want to serve him. They want to worship him. They 
want to adore him. So the evidence of their delusion 
was in that, that they wanted to kill our blessed savior. The 
arrogance of their delusion is their constant opening of their 
mouths. They never learn the proverb, 
and this is one, this is free of charge, great, great advice 
here. No matter where you are spiritually, 
where you are physically, whatever your lot in life, when you're 
in a hole, stop digging. Very good advice. When you're 
in a hole, stop digging. Now, if your intention is to 
dig a deep, deep hole, then keep digging. But you know, we talk 
about, well, I'm really in a hole. Well, you need to try to claw 
your way out. Don't keep digging that hole, 
because it makes it more difficult to claw your way out. These guys 
keep digging the hole, don't they? Of course we're Abraham's 
seed. Of course we're the godly. Of course we have faithfulness 
to Yahweh. I mean, they not only hear that 
you're not Abraham's descendants, spiritually speaking, but you're 
actually children of the devil. Guinea doesn't do that with the 
harlots. He didn't do that with the Samaritan woman. He doesn't 
do that with Matthew at the tax office in Matthew chapter nine. 
Hey, son of the devil, I want you to leave your money there 
and I want you to follow after me. This is reserved for those 
persons that are tasked with teaching the word of God most 
high and prostituting it, abominating it, perverting it, dripping their 
godless hands all over it is what their crime was. Third, 
their persistence or the persistence of their delusion was their asserting 
that God was their father. He's already shown you you're 
not Abraham's descendants, spiritually speaking. He's probably right 
on the fact that you're not God's descendants either. But they 
open up that door and Christ drives a truck through it. Christ 
lets them have it. Look at the nature of his argument. 
Verse 42, if God were your father, you would love me. If Abraham 
were your father, you wouldn't try to kill me. If God were your 
father, you would love me. This is indicative of those who 
are conquered by grace. We don't love him as we ought, 
but we love him. We don't love him like we will, 
but we love him. We don't love him like we want 
to, but we love him. That is indicative of those who 
have been saved by grace through faith, and this is absolutely 
absent in these persons. And then the power of their delusion 
necessitates what we've already seen in John's gospel. Look back 
at John 1. John chapter 1. In the prologue, 
John announces theologically what's in store in terms of the 
rest of the gospel narrative. Notice what he says concerning 
Jesus in verse 10. He was in the world. That means 
earth. The world was made through him. 
That means the cosmos, all of the, everything that is. And 
the world did not know him. That's used in an ethical sense. 
We think of, do not love the world or the things in it. It 
doesn't mean you can't love your wife. She's in it. It doesn't 
mean you can't love a steak. It's in it. But it means don't 
love this world system that is in opposition against the living 
and true God. So three different ways the word world is used in 
verse 10. He's in the world, earth. The 
world, the cosmos, was made through him. And the world, the ethically 
perverse, did not know him. Now notice in verse 11, he came 
to his own. That speaks of Israel. the external, 
covenantal people of God. He didn't come to the Gentiles. 
He definitely has the Gentiles in his focus and a target, but 
he comes to Israel. Where's he born? He was born 
in Bethlehem, Ephrathah. He lives in Galilee. He lives 
in Judea. He traverses the countryside 
preaching and teaching the word of God. So he comes to his own 
and his own did not receive him. That makes perfect sense now, 
doesn't it? When we've left the Feast of the Tabernacles, we're 
with Jesus in this temple setting in John chapter eight, and they're 
hurling constant insults at him and slandering him. Oh yeah, 
that's right, John, he came to his own and his own did not receive 
him. Now notice verse 12, but as many as received him, to them 
he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe 
in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of 
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It's not race 
that secures your place in heaven, it's grace that secures your 
place in heaven. Notice in John 3, John 3 verses 
1 to 10, Nicodemus was one of their own. He came on behalf 
of the Sanhedrin to sort of, to vet Jesus, to test Jesus, 
to ask Jesus questions. Well, what does Jesus teach? 
You must be born again. Don't these Jews connected physically 
to Abraham in John chapter 8 illustrate that? The man who says, well, 
I think I'm safely going to heaven because my grandfather taught 
Sunday school in an Anglican church. That man needs to be 
born again. Regeneration. We're dead in our 
trespasses and sins. The only way to get from this 
point to that point is by God's sovereign grace. You must be 
born again. You must be given the graces 
of faith and repentance. You must believe on him. You 
must turn your back on your wretchedness and on your wickedness and on 
your evil. You must imbibe the truth of 
Romans 13, 14 as one who has believed, but put on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its 
lust. Don't continue on like these Jews who claim that Abraham 
and God was their father and yet they had murder in their 
hearts. They had a desire to reject the very word of God most 
high as it was hand delivered by the Messiah. What do we think 
of God? What do we think of His Christ? 
What do we think of His Word? These are very simple tests, 
very simple ways to see if whether or not we are in the faith. It's 
not magic, it's not mystery, it's all pretty quantifiable. 
What think ye of Christ? And if you're not a believer 
here today, that's the emphasis. As many as received Him, as many 
as believed on Him, to them He gave the right to become the 
sons of God. The Jews missed it. The Jews 
despised it. The Jews, I'm talking about these 
unbelieving religious leader Jews, they despised, rejected, 
and resisted it. And as well, we see the glory 
of the Son. The glory of the Son. Have you ever heard people 
that say, you know, they read the Old Testament, or they have 
some inkling of the Old Testament, and they conclude that, you know, 
God is just this warring, vengeful God. You look at this pantheon 
in the Old Testament, you had Asherah, she was the girlfriend 
of Baal, and whenever Baal and Asherah sort of hooked up, then 
that meant fertilizing the crops. And then you had Moloch. He was 
all over family planning. I mean, if you didn't want your 
children, you just threw them in the arms of Moloch, and they'd plop 
out of his arms, because he was fake, into the fire that burned 
at his feet. So you got all these gods in 
the pantheon. Well, who was Yahweh? Yahweh was this vengeful god, 
vengeful god that commanded the children of Israel to go in and 
commit genocide in the land of Canaan. That's how people think, 
brethren. If you've never witnessed or 
never testified or never evangelized or ever heard somebody say that, 
be prepared. And it's unfortunate because 
it's not just the heathen or the pagan that argue that way. 
There's sometimes people that profess faith in Jesus argue 
that way. They've got this great dichotomy 
between this Old Testament, vengeful, bloodthirsty God versus the New 
Testament God of love and compassion. Brethren, do you know how much 
patience is exhibited in the Old Testament? How much patience, 
how many times God pleads with the children of Israel to renew 
the covenant, to come back to me. There's that instance in 
1 Kings chapter 21. Remember Ahab, he marries Jezebel, 
woman of the year. And Jezebel has come from a situation 
where she just won't take no for an answer. Ahab wants to 
co-opt his neighbor's field because Ahab wants more land. And so 
Naboth is the owner. So Ahab goes to him and he says, 
I want your land. And Naboth says, no, I've been 
given it by inheritance. It's my father's land. So of 
course Ahab goes home and he's sullen and he's down and he's 
pouty and Jezebel says, my daddy would never allow for a no response. You get over there and you take 
that land. So she concocts this story that 
Naboth had committed blasphemy and so Naboth is summarily executed. And then Elijah comes. I mean, 
your crime will always find you out. Your sin will always find 
you out. So Elijah comes and rebukes Ahab. Ahab shows not full on repentance 
and an expression of faith in Yahweh, but he has a bit of a 
change of heart. He feels bad over what's transpired 
after Elijah rebukes him. Do you know what God says? God 
basically says to Elijah, did you see that? He humbled himself. There was something approving 
in God over that external act of Ahab feeling bad that he had 
killed Naboth. The point is, God is patient. The long-suffering of God is 
a reality. Look at it in the temple. Look 
at Jesus going back and forth with these people that hate him, 
these people that want to murder him, these people that are going 
to murder him. The long-suffering of God is 
evident, it is manifest, it is prevalent, it is palpable, but 
it will end. Don't delude yourselves that 
there's always going to be a chance for repentance. There's always 
going to be a chance for faith. There's always going to be a 
chance for me to get right with God. What's change say? Don't 
boast about tomorrow. You're like a vapor. It's here 
for a moment and then it's gone. The appeal in scripture is now 
is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation. 
I got a whole list of beautiful things here about Jesus, but 
I just wanna focus on his patience, on his goodness, on his kindness, 
that he labors long with these wretches, and that ultimately 
he will indeed be crucified by them, but it's all according 
to the plan of God so that he can save his people from their 
sins. Do not tarry, do not hesitate, 
do not wait or resist, but rather come to him in faith. And the 
scripture says you will have everlasting life. Well, let us 
pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
you for your word. We thank you for the ministry 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, for his wonderful teaching in the 
temple in John 8, and for what he tells us concerning human 
nature in general and these unbelieving religious leaders in specific. 
And we just see a very stark contrast between those who thought 
themselves religious and their response to the one sent by God 
most high. I pray that we would learn the 
lessons from a passage like this, and that by your grace and for 
your glory, we would make peace with you through our Lord Jesus 
Christ. She would be merciful and open hearts here and all 
throughout the earth today as your gospel is preached. May 
it run swiftly, may it be glorified, may it accomplish the purpose 
for which you send it. And we pray through Christ our 
Lord, amen. Well, let's turn in our hymn 
books to number 568. 5, 6, 8, we'll close our service by singing 
the doxology of praise to our triune God. O praise Him, all ye Israelites, 
praise Him, all ye heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. The Lord make his face shine 
upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance 
upon you and give you peace. Father, thank you for the Lord's 
day. Thank you for the house of God and the people of God 
and the blessing of worshiping you. Go with us now and may the 
things spoken in this benediction be true for each of us. And may 
you be glorified in our lives. And we pray through Christ our 
Lord. Amen. Well, please be seated for a 
brief time of meditation.