[0:00] it's funny when we talk about faith what do you believe and what do you believe about God is the most important thing you could believe that's the most important faith adventure what do you believe about God the most important questions in your life because that determines everything we're gonna talk about that today I think a little bit and if you show no interest in the sermon I will get through all ten of these verses but if you show interest I may have to do a part two so just so you know so show no interest and we can maybe father as we come to your word now we come because we believe in you father son Holy Spirit we believe we believe you sent your son that we may have life and have it abundantly and have it for eternity we trust in you we believe you are our healer and we want to lift up a few more of our brothers and sisters
[1:20] Dana and Erica and Rachel crumble Lord for healing on their surgeries Lord and others well we we pray your healing touch upon each one heal our damaged emotions thank you for being our healer and thank you that you use your word many times to heal our hearts to heal our wounds and when you do that today use your word to save show us your glory as we come to your word today show us the majesty of Jesus and all that he has done for us we wait to hear and Lord give your servant your unworthy servant great grace to proclaim the word of the Lord in the name of Jesus I believe in you I believe in your spirit in Jesus name Amen
[2:27] Jesus speaking I know that you are offspring of Abraham yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you I speak of what I've seen with my father and you do what you have heard from your father they answered him Abraham is our father Jesus said to them if you were Abraham's children you would be doing the works of Abraham did but now you seek to kill me a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God this is not what Abraham did you are doing the works your father did they said to him they said to him they said to him we were not born of sexual immorality we have one father even God Jesus said to them if God were your father you would love me for I came from God and I am here I came not of my own accord but he sent me why do you not understand what I say it is because you cannot bear to hear my word you are of your father you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies but because I tell the truth you do not believe me which one of you convicts me of sin if I tell the truth why do you not believe me whoever is of God hears the words of God the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God that is the word of the Lord please be seated thank you praise team beautiful music beautiful music sometimes we are proud of our family lineage including our parents and sometimes we are not and one of my favorite rom-coms for those of you that initiated that's romantic comedy my hitch
[5:11] I love thank you I love hitch Will Smith plays a professional watchmaker yes I said Will Smith don't shoot me he he repented I think I hope he plays a professional matchmaker meaning he finds love for others but does not in his case have it himself he goes on a date with this lovely young lady uh her name is Sarah she's played by Eva Mendez he surprises her by taking her to Ellis Island where there's a registry of immigrants hitch has set this up with the caretaker there to find her long lost relative who brought her family to America with hitch's help she sees the signature of her great great grandfather who came to America through Ellis Island she's overwhelmed with emotion and hitch he's sitting there smiling and looking at the caretaker and he utters these beautiful lines you can't know where you're going until you know where you came from he thought he was making points but she displays an angry reaction and runs out of the building in tears he catches up to her he's totally confused he looks
[6:44] Sarah what's going on this is their first date by the way he's like what's going on what's going on she tells her that her family never saw her great great grandfather again except on the wanted posters he was called the butcher of Cadiz that's in Spain which hitch mistook as a profession not a headline she said it's just one of those horrible family legacies we've all tried to forget family family can be a source of pride and hope or sometimes it can be a source of shame and despair Jesus is going to talk this morning about two spiritual fathers over all of humanity who you recognize as your spiritual daddy determines the quality of your freedom we've been talking about freedom the quality of your freedom in life remember
[8:06] Jesus is talking about what true freedom looks like it's freedom to it's freedom from the bondage of sin but now he wants to challenge the self-deception of religious people who think all is well because of their religious heritage their family in our passage he challenges their description of themselves as children of Abraham first of all verses 37 to 40 hope you have a bible religion causes confusion about the baby daddy religion causes confusion about who the baby daddy is put it another way the baby in this case are the religious leaders who oppose Jesus I call them religious folks they're more concerned about the rituals of being Jewish than they are about the heart of God they're more concerned with keeping the rules keeping traditions in the church as it were they're more concerned about the Sabbath and circumcision and all the commandments but without faith and love of God their identity is found in works of righteousness not in the gift of righteousness therefore they do not have a relationship with God which is what transforms your life they thought being descendants offspring or literally the seed of Abraham
[9:48] Abraham was enough was enough to make them right with God Abraham is our father Jesus remember who your father was in that culture determined your privileges or lack thereof it's still true today isn't it in many ways not in all ways but in many ways it's still true today that's why we have so many paternity suits in Hollywood right let me give you two Spice Girl Melanie Brown sued Eddie Murphy claiming that he was the father of her child which he denied a paternity test proved that he is so now he's supporting her but the but the tech but the article said he has no relationship with her the daughter Michael Gaginti filed a paternity lawsuit against Kourtney Kardashian claiming her child was his the test said no he believes it was rigged and in both those cases money is at stake privilege is at stake it's for the baby but the parent also gets access because who your parent is can be can get you in the door can get you on the bus can get you the job can get you in the school who your parents are can really open doors or or close them you see the same is true spiritually in our text to have
[11:45] Abraham as their father puts them in a privileged status with God they thought this is the second time they've made that claim they made the claim we saw last in verse 33 we've never been slaved to anybody we're Abraham's kids that's their claim to fame and privilege but Jesus says you may be Abraham's seed literally but you're not Abraham's children you may be Abraham's seed but you're not Abraham's children because children look like their parents I'm no geneticist but I still see that's true genetics is one of those you know genetics is like a crap shoot you can your children can come out looking like a great great grandfather who was 6'5 and all of y'all are 5'8 it can happen genetics is a wonderful thing but the truth of the matter is you tend to look like your parents how did
[12:55] Abraham respond to God's word do you remember let me give you some examples God said leave your relatives and go into a land that I will show you and give you in Genesis chapter 12 Abe went God said I will make you into a great nation even though you are old and have no biological children Abe believed him when God came to visit Abe in the form of travelers with two other men who were actually angels Abe realized who he was and received him with joy and gladness here's the big one you know you know where I'm going when God told Abe to give up his idol by way of sacrifice his only biological son Isaac which means laughter Hebrews 11 comments on that Abe figured God was just going to raise the boy from the dead to keep his word to him so he went to sacrifice his only son even though it broke his heart into pieces and God stopped him of course
[14:09] Abe was faithful to God when God spoke Abe said here I am yes sir I'm your man count on me I'm there I'm following you he didn't always get it right read Abe's life okay he messed up a couple times pimped his wife twice to save his life that's what he did y'all I know that's you may not know what he did put Sarah out there thank God no one touched her God makes sure of it he protects his daughters he wasn't a perfect man but he followed God had initiated a relationship with Abraham and Abraham followed he initiated it was by grace that he was saved and brought into a real fellowship a covenant with God he followed he listen the religious leaders of
[15:09] Jesus day didn't look anything like Abraham spiritually so Jesus says there's no way you're his kids he just y'all y'all not his kids I guess we can start to ask some questions let's apply it let's start thinking about how we can think about this for ourselves whom do you resemble as Christians do you favor more your earthly father or the heavenly father where is your identity found more in your biological family or in your spiritual family who do you favor just think about it somebody is confused in this passage and now it's time for a spiritual paternity test the next thing I want you to notice is the devil is a horrible daddy bad daddy bad daddy verses 41 and 43 to 47
[16:17] I'm giving you the address I hope you got your Bible so you can look it up yourself but I've read it already but here's the thing people today look at Jesus as a great man right but they don't believe what he believed it's amazing Jesus believed in a real evil spiritual being called the devil and as it were Jesus takes a sample of the DNA of his religious leaders here he takes a sample of their DNA and Jesus now goes into the lab to test to see who's daddy who's the daddy here I can see him now in the lab with his lab coat on and he's testing their DNA and he goes oh I see the way you guys are behaving looks familiar to me let me let me think let me think where I've seen this before you see there's a match for another father they object now they up the ante in the passage ultimately they say hold it not just
[17:30] Abraham is our daddy God is our father they up the ante isn't that human nature though when we get challenged we double down that's especially true when we're confronted by the word of God God's word says don't do it don't go there God's word says no no no sister no brother don't think that and don't don't don't don't love that don't do that don't say that God's word says what we're doing is sinful right and if our hearts are in the wrong place if we're not understanding who are who I'm talking to Christians now if you're not understanding who your daddy really is your heart's in the wrong place you end up in your pride going further into sin rather than humbling yourself before the Lord in repentance and faith we end up doubling down it's like was it uh the son of
[18:36] Solomon when he's confronted Solomon's dead remember he's confronted um by the people saying hey can you can you lessen the taxes man we're paying 75% I don't know what it was for real but you know it was high and they're saying your father put a heavy burden on us will you release us from this burden and you remember where a boy did right he he consulted with sacks fifth and avenue and said what do you guys think I should do well first of all they said the old the old guys in the club said hey listen to them they'll love you for life but the young bucks in the in the firm the young bucks trying to make a name for themselves said you tell them to get to stepping my pinky finger is bigger than my father's thigh you tell them I'm gonna show you who's the boss so what happens he was confronted and he doubled down you know what happened he lost the whole he lost 10 out of 12 tribes split from him you see when God confronts us with stuff we need to change don't double down don't puff up
[19:54] I know sometimes you may not even like the messenger there's nothing like somebody who you don't like telling you you're wrong it's nothing like somebody who you think is less than you telling you you're wrong it's nothing like having a child point out daddy you're not being nice humble yourself they double down here when Jesus confronted them and Jesus says you know the devil is real and he has kids and your test came back positive who your daddy now notice I'm going to summarize this real quick for you because this takes more time but I will summarize it for you these are the character traits of the devil and of being the devil's child let me summarize them for you boils down to this one the devil is a liar truth is not in him he doesn't the Bible says he doesn't
[21:07] I mean I'm just going to text it he doesn't stand in the truth the devil the devil's a liar from the very beginning what did he do to get Adam and Eve to fall he lied to them from the very beginning he will tell half truths and make you think it's the whole truth and if you don't know the truth you will fall because he's very good and very convincing you see it in our culture when we're being told so many things from social media and from advertising what will make you happy what will give you life what you need to be on the top of your game all this stuff you're being told and so much of it ain't true when it comes to God's word truth is important we we we we have to be people who recognize how important we taught this last time how important truth is you shall know the truth right it shall make you free Rick Phillips says something I think is very interesting he said this is why it is literally satanic that so many people today even
[22:11] Christians consider matters of truth and doctrine to be of little importance by Jesus own reckoning Satan wants us to care only about things other than truth such as feelings and experiences which talking about the devil he can counterfeit to our destruction what's true the enemy has no truth in him he's the father of lies Jesus says we have to gear our hearts and minds toward what is true especially as revealed in the word of the living God the second the second thing about the devil and his children is that he's a murderer that's what the text says Jesus says he's a murderer and a murderer from the beginning he hates humanity and he hates Jesus here's the thing that's the the the devil lied to our first parents Adam and Eve and murdered them he murdered them in two ways one he killed them on the spot they died on the spot spiritually they lost their closeness with God sin entered their hearts they thought they knew more and could be more than God had created them to be and so they stepped way over the line and then they begin to die slowly in their case physically and so all manners of ills in our bodies and in our minds and emotions entered into the world he hates humanity because humanity is created in the image of
[23:53] God as it is we're his favorite and that gnaws the devil's evil heart to pieces we bear his image and no other beings bear the imago Dei but humanity he wants us dead and he wanted Jesus dead because he is the ultimate son of God thoroughly he disregards God's word throughout that passage I've read it's a disregard for the word of God Jesus is speaking he asks him several times why don't you understand what I'm saying why don't you believe what I'm saying he says it a couple times in the passage why can't you handle or bear what I'm saying devil can't stand the word of the living God and so he's tried to destroy the scriptures for centuries it's been burned banned butchered he's got false preachers in the pulpits telling people what they want to hear and how they want to hear it and so his kids his kids look like him his kids favor him in all those areas his kids favor him turn his heart hisло and his bed in all the kid is just smiling. Come on, moms. You know, you're just smiling and going, oh, he's so cute. This is great. He's good. I'm going to be them. But his sisters didn't think it was too cute. They're like, you know, dad, you're just a brother. And we don't like this. So the sisters get together and they say, okay, we go, you want to be dad? Okay. So they create a problem. They think of a scenario, a problem. And they say, okay, you're going to be dad. Will you fix this? So they start telling him this make-believe problem at the dinner table. And they say, now you're going to be dad. Tell us what to do. And he looks at me and says, yes, right. I'm going to do exactly what dad does.
[26:59] Ask your mother. It's amazing what children do, right? They copy us. And Jesus is showing them that the devil is your father. You will mimic him. You will copy him.
[27:21] You can't help it. It's in your DNA. It's in your spiritual DNA. But the Bible shows us, Ephesians 2, that we're all born under the power of the prince of the air. Ephesians 2.
[27:45] He describes humanity. All of us are born in the wrong family. All of us are born, not demon-possessed, but Paul is saying in Ephesians 2, that we're all in his kingdom.
[28:02] We're all in his camp. Jesus is showing we all have his DNA. He's the daddy. And the only way out is if you're rescued from that family.
[28:19] Amen. So let's go to the final point. Having God as your father is freedom. He only mentions one verse really about this in verse 42. Most of the section is about what it means to have Satan as your father. Isn't that interesting? Verse 42, he says, if God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and I am here. I came on accord, but he sent me.
[28:47] If God were your father, you would love me. That's the freedom that Jesus offers us in the gospel. That's the freedom he wants to give us.
[29:01] J.R. Packer in his classic book, which I hope you will read, Knowing God, says, what is a Christian? The question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as father. The New Testament shows God as father, not of all, but of those who, knowing themselves to be sinners, put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their divine sin bearer and master, and so become Abraham's spiritual seed.
[29:31] To be a Christian, brothers and sisters, is to really understand that Jesus has made it possible for God to be your father. It's John 1, right? He came to his own. His own people did not receive him, right? In our text in John 8, but to all who did receive him, right? Who believed in his name, that's faith. He gave the right, the privilege, the honor to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
[30:06] It wasn't even your idea. God's idea. The will of God made us children of God. The will of God brought us into contact with Jesus. In Ephesians 1, we have been predestined to be adopted as his sons.
[30:24] God marked us out beforehand. Before anything was ever said or done, he planned it that you and I would be sons. Now again, ladies, you know what I've always said in the Bible when they mentioned that ladies are sons, that's a honor. It was a stick in the eye to that culture because in that culture, only the firstborn son got the larger part of the inheritance. And Jesus comes along and says to sisters and brothers, you're all sons, which turned that culture upside down because he said, we all get the inheritance, not just one of us and not just the men, but the ladies, all of us who believe in Jesus, we're all sons and daughters or sons of God. Hallelujah.
[31:13] Most of the Jews of that day rejected Jesus, but those who received him by faith showed themselves to be the children of God by the Father's design. The right and privilege of a sonship is a gift of grace. We don't become sons by being born. We don't become sons because your grandmother was a faithful Christian. You don't become sons because your great-grandfather was a pastor. You become sons because you've been born again. Is that your story? Paul's going to expound on this divine parentage and again, he ties it to Abraham. Galatians chapter 3, for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither a Jew nor a Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. What Paul shows us there is that when the Jews were claiming to be Abraham's offspring, and Jesus showed you may be offspring, see, but you're not children, you're not children, you're not sons. What he's showing us, Abraham does have offspring.
[32:39] And the offspring of Abraham are those who believe in Jesus, Jew and Gentile, male and female, from wherever they come. You are the children of Abraham. You look like him. I can see him. Yep, yep, yep, I see him.
[33:03] You look like him. You take God's word seriously. You take and you love, because you love the father, because the father, because he is your father, because you are connected, you love the son.
[33:22] Jesus said, the reason they don't love me, because they don't know you, father, but we know the father. He's the one who planned our salvation. Well, I'd have to put it this way. Help me out here. Come, I got to wrap this up now because time is against me. But I like to think of it this way.
[33:36] The father walked into the orphanage of sin and death, incorporated, by the way. He started picking out the children he wanted. They were undernourished, unloved, wearing tattered and dirty clothes.
[33:52] Angels with dirty faces, right? All have some type of disability emotionally and physically and certainly spiritually. Their behavior was very selfish, and at times they were actually mean to each other.
[34:05] But the father's heart went out to them. He said his will to adopt some, a lot of them actually, but still not all of them. He did adopt some. He made a phone call to his son, who would function as the adoption agent. The son's job at the adoption, as the adoption lawyer, was to make sure all the legal paperwork was filled out so that there would be no challenge to the father's claim on these children. The son signed all the paperwork in his own blood to authenticate the deal. Then the father and the son turned to the other member of the family, we call him the Holy Spirit, and he said, it's your job to bring the children home once all the paperwork is filed in the court of heaven.
[34:57] The spirit then would travel to any land, any ethnic group, any language, to make sure that he brought home to the father's house all the children the father had chosen and the son had signed for.
[35:13] He would clean them up on the way, give them new clothes, whisper to them how much the father and the son loved him. Since this was actually a family enterprise, he wanted to make sure that they knew both loved him. Lastly, he would bring, he would begin helping them to learn and live in the father's house. New manners, new privileges, new future, because God is their father now. They are no longer in the orphanage of sin. They're no longer, the daddy is no longer the devil. They have been adopted into the family of God. That's you, y'all. That's me. So in God as our father, we love Jesus. Here's the thing, saints, here's the thing. The more you know God as your father, the more you will love the son who made it possible. Do you understand the whole trinities at work here? Do you, do you understand that God wants you to rejoice and revel in the fact that he's your father? See, some people have said it's hard for people to understand God as their father if they didn't have good fathers themselves.
[36:27] Poppycock. It's by way of comparison, saints. It's a comparison. You're going to compare your messed up father to this perfect father. That's what God is calling us to do. And you find out when you compare them, there's no comparison. Some of you may have had great fathers, great family experiences. You got a family legacy that you're proud of. Rejoice. Praise the Lord for that. But don't get crazy.
[36:55] Don't idolize your family heritage. Don't do it. It happens too often. I've seen it. Don't idolize your family heritage. Because listen, your heavenly father and his son are much better than they are. You can't even compare. I don't care how wonderful your family is. They are nothing compared to what you have. You have a perfect love, a perfect relationship, a perfect hope, perfect security. Hollow, a perfect home. Your family ain't that. I don't care how good you think it is. It ain't that. You have something that transcends all allegiances. You have a father, a heavenly father, who whispers every day into your ear, I love you. You have an elder brother who made you family by signing your adoption certificate with his life's blood. Ain't nobody ever done that for you. You can't even compare.
[38:04] Jesus J.I. Packer again said, if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child and having God as his father.
[38:17] If that is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.
[38:29] Father is the Christian name for God. Full stop. That's the New Testament gospel. That's different from the Old Testament. Father is the Christian name for God. And we are children of God because Jesus, the great son, the greatest son, the true son, has made it possible that we could be brought into the family. And we are safe. You may be ashamed of your earthly family. You may have reason to be ashamed. But don't be ashamed of your heavenly family. You are safe. You are a new creation. You are part of our huge family of believers. Yeah, sometimes the children of God let you down. But listen, your father and your elder brother never will. Who's your daddy now? Who's your daddy?
[39:20] Who's your daddy? Father? Father? Wow. To think a sinner like me can call you father.
[39:36] Father? I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips. And by grace, father, you allow us to call you father. And it's true. Hear our cry. Help us to walk with you, to know you more and more as our heavenly father, who is glorious and good. Help us to know you because we know your son, the one you sent. Because Jesus has made it all possible. Him we give praise.
[40:06] To him we give love. To him we give worship. Thank you for Jesus, father. In his name we pray. Amen.