Obedient Son

"Obedient Son" – John 8:39-47 To think that Abraham was their father is a great boast (presumption, vain). (37) However, the Lord Jesus remarked to them that, although they were Abraham's offspring (seed), they were not his children. Children usually "look like" their "parents" and walk and talk like them. But it was not so with His people. Their lives were the opposite of Abraham's. Although they were descendants of Abraham in the flesh, morally they were children of the enemy.

I. A man who has told you the truth. (John 8:40).

A. The difference between them and Abraham, Jesus lets them see the difference between them and Abraham.

1. Jesus comes into the world, saying nothing, "but the truth."

2. How can they not agree with Jesus? If they say that Abraham was their father.

3. They (40) were offended and upset by His teaching, and so they tried to "kill" Him.

4. "Abraham did not do this," as they were doing.

5. He (Abraham) stood on the side of truth and righteousness, through faith, they had already died in the faith, if they had had faith they would have received the Messiah.

6. (41) It is very clear who the father of each one is, what his works are, and one acts as the father teaches.

7. They were doing "the works" of their "father," that is, the enemy.

8. The people were saying that they had never committed spiritual adultery.

9. They had always been faithful "to God."

10. He was the only One they had ever recognized as their "Father."

11. (John 8:42) The Lord goes on to show the falseness of their claim, reminding them "that if they would love God," they would love Him, for "God had sent Him."

12. It is foolishness (absence of saneness, prudence, good judgment) for anyone to pretend to love God if at the same time he hates the Lord Jesus Christ.

13. Jesus said that "He had come out of God."

14. There was no particular time when He was born as the Son of God, but this relationship of the Son to the Father existed from eternity.

15. He also reminded them that He had "come from "God."

16. His pre-existence (existed), He was letting them know.

17. He had been dwelling in heaven with the Father for eternal centuries before He appeared on earth.

18. But the Father "sent" Him into the world to be the Savior of the world, and so He came as an "obedient Son."

19. (43) There is a difference between "language" and "word."

20. Christ's "word" referred to the things He taught.

21. His "language" refers to the words with which He expressed "His truths."

22. Like today: "They couldn't even understand His 'language.'”

23. When they spoke of bread, they only thought of material bread.

24. When He spoke to them about water, they never associated it with spiritual water.

25. Why couldn't they understand His language?

26. It was because they were "unwilling" to tolerate His teachings.

27. (John 8:44) Now the Lord Jesus spoke directly to them and told them that their father was the devil.

28. This does not mean that they were born of the devil in the way that believers are born of God.

29. Rather, as Augustine comments, it refers to them being children of the devil by imitation.

30. They showed their relationship with the devil "by acting the way the devil acted."

31. "You want to do the desires of your father: with these words He expresses "the intention or tendency of their hearts."

32. Our enemy "has been a murderer from the beginning."

33. He brought death to Adam and "to the whole human race."

34. He was not only the "murderer," but also the liar.

35. The devil did not hold to the truth (he did not abide), for there is no truth in him.

36. When he speaks a lie, he "speaks of his own," to say, according to his own nature: that is the same as the liar and envious.

37. Lies were part of his very existence; Be careful!

38. The devil is a liar and the father of lies.

39. The people of Israel imitated the enemy in these two ways.

40. They were murderers because the intention (take care of yours) of their hearts was to kill the Son of God.

41. They were liars because they said that God was their Father.

42. They pretended to be pious, spiritual men, but their lives were lives of lies.

43. Those who indulge in lies seem to lose the ability to discern the truth.

44. Here was the Lord Jesus, before these men, and He had always spoken the "truth."

45. But they didn't believe Him.

46. (John 8:46) There was no one in the world who could convict Him of sin.

47. There was no flaw in His character.

48. He was perfect in all His ways.

49. He only spoke real words, but they did not believe Him.

50. (47) If someone "truly" loves God, "he will hear, he will obey "the words of God."

51. The people were the ones who said they didn't really belong to God.

52. That the Lord Jesus declared that He spoke the very words of God.

53. There can be no confusion in this regard. Amen.