57

John 8:37-47  HAVING A SPIRITUAL FATHER

 

Introduction:

 

      Some teach the Fatherhood of God from a point of view

that the Bible does not sustain.  They teach that God is the

spiritual Father of everybody in the world.  They call their

teaching "The Fatherhood of God and The Brotherhood of Man."

They consider all people to be children of God.  The Bible

does not teach this.  Jesus, in the text before us teaches

contrary to this.

 

I.  What the Bible does teach about the Fatherhood of God

 

      The Bible does teach the Fatherhood of God.  It teaches

that the One whom we call "God The Father" is the Father of

Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  In

Scripture He is called "The Only Begotten Son of God." That

is, He is the only fleshly begotten Son of God.  He is the

only Son whom God conceived whom He caused to be born in

human flesh.

      The Bible also teaches that God is the spiritual Father

of all who are saved, all who are genuine believers in Jesus

Christ.  All of the saved are born of God.  That is their

inward spirits were born again by the Holy Spirit of God,

making God their spiritual Father.  They are children of God

or sons of God.  When an individual places his faith in

Jesus for salvation, that person is born again.  He is born

from above.  His inward spirit is reborn by the Holy Spirit

of God.  Spiritually, he is a child of God.  Every saved

person is a child of God and God is his heavenly Father.  He

has an earthly father who conceived him in human flesh, but

he also has a spiritual father, God the Father in heaven,

who caused Him to be born again.

      But the Bible does not teach that all people in the

world are children of God.  The Bible teaches that those who

are unsaved are spiritually the children of the Devil.

Thus, the Bible not only teaches the Fatherhood of God, but

it teaches the fatherhood of the Devil.  It teaches that

those who are unsaved are, from the spiritual point of view,

children of the Devil.  Each one has an earthly father who

conceived him in the flesh and they have a spiritual father,

the Devil.  That is what Jesus teaches in this text which is

before us today.

 

II. Not all of Abraham's descendants in the spiritual family

      of God

 

      V. 37, "I know that ye are Abraham's seed..."  The Jews

had thought that they were acceptable in the sight of God

because they are descendants of Abraham.  They thought they

would go to heaven because they were descendants of Abraham.

Jesus acknowledged that from the fleshly point of view, they

were indeed descendants of Abraham.  But that does not mean

that they were acceptable in the sight of God just because

they are descendants of Abraham.  Nor does it mean that they

would make it to heaven because they are descendants of

Abraham.

      Jesus had pointed out in the text last Sunday that one

who lives a lifestyle of sin is a slave to sin.  This means

that he is not acceptable in the sight of God even if he is

a descendant of Abraham.  It means that he would not make it

to heaven even if he is a descendant of Abraham.  It means

that unless he repents and trusts in the Christ, the Son of

God, he would die in his sin and suffer for his sin in

eternity.

      Jesus had tried to convince those Jews that He is the

Christ, the Son of the Living God, but to no avail.  These

men were bitterly opposed to the idea that Jesus is the

Christ and they would not even consider the possibility that

He might be the Son of God.

      They were so opposed to Him being called "The Christ"

that they set about to kill Him rather than have the people

accept Him as the Christ.  (V. 37), "...but ye seek to kill

me, because my word hath no place in you."

      Now Jesus did not mean that every person in the crowd of

people was unsaved, but He most certainly did mean that many

of them were unsaved.  One of the evidences that they were

unsaved and that they were still in bondage to sin was the

fact that they were trying to kill Him.

      Jesus said that the reason they were trying to kill Him

was because they did not agree with the things He taught

them.  He taught contrary to the scribes and Pharisees and

they hated Him for His teachings.  They had already issued

orders for His arrest.  Their orders had not been carried

out, but, never-the-less, they had already issued those

orders.  They fully intended to put Him to death.

      This was murder which they had planned.  They had

deliberately planned to murder Him and they still desired to

murder Him.  These people were still in bondage to sin.

They were still lost in their sin in spite of the fact that

nationally they were descendants of Abraham.

 

III. The source of the teachings of Jesus

 

      Jesus defended the things which He had said which  had

so offended them.  V. 38, "I speak that which I have seen

with my Father..."  In this statement Jesus didn't say that

He was talking about God, the Heavenly Father.  He just said

"my Father."  But they all knew that He was saying that God

in heaven is His Father.  And He was.  Jesus here was laying

claim that God in heaven is His Heavenly Father and that He

is the Son of God.  He was not claiming to be a "born-again"

child of God.  He was claiming to be the only fleshly

begotten Son of God.  They knew this, even though He did not

specifically say that His Father whom He was talking about

is God in heaven.

      Jesus said that all the things which He had taught the

people which had offended them and caused them to hate Him

and plot His death were things which He had gotten directly

from His Father.  That is, He got those teachings directly

from God the Father in Heaven.

      Neither does Jesus at this point mention God in Heaven

as also being the spiritual Father to those who are saved.

The Bible abundantly teaches that those who are believers in

Christ and who are saved are sons of God or children of God,

but this is not mentioned by Jesus at this time.  They have

their own earthly fathers, but they also have God in Heaven

as their spiritual Father.

 

IV.  An altogether different source for beliefs and actions

of the unbelieving Jews

 

      Jesus does, however, speak of those unsaved Jews having

a spiritual father.  (V. 38), "...and ye do that which ye

have seen with your father."  At this point Jesus does not

say that the spiritual father of those who are unsaved is

the Devil.  He will tell them plainly in verse 44 that the

Devil is their spiritual father, but at this point all He

wants them to see is that they have a spiritual father who

is entirely different to the One whom He has.  His own

Father in Heaven has taught Him certain truths, but their

spiritual father had taught them things which were entirely

contrary to that which His Father has taught Him.  They not

only believed differently, but they acted differently.  They

behaved differently.  They lived differently.  His Father

had taught Him to restore life to men, but their father had

taught them to kill.  It was in keeping with what their

spiritual father had taught them they had plotted to kill

Jesus.

      God in heaven is the spiritual Father to Jesus and Jesus

has spent His ministry teaching the things which God the

Father gave Him to teach and doing the good things for

people which God the Father has told Him to do.  He has

taught nothing but truth and had done nothing but good

toward them.  He has done good for hundreds and thousands of

people and had never done any man wrong.  But the kind of

works which the unbelieving Jews had done were the kind of

works which the Devil, their spiritual father would cause

men to do.  They had deliberately told lies against Him.

They had set about to murder Him.  That is a work which is

from the Devil.   Their spiritual father is evil.

      V. 39, "They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our

father..."  The unsaved Jews once again went back to their

claim that they are descendants of Abraham.  This is what

they were counting on to get them into heaven.  They were

counting on their being descendants of Abraham to get them

into heaven.

      But Jesus again pointed out to them that even though

physically they were descendants of Abraham, yet spiritually

they were not descendants of Abraham.  (V.39), "...Jesus

saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do

the works of Abraham."  If they had descended in the

spiritual family of Abraham they would live the kind of life

that Abraham had lived and they would do the kind of deeds

that Abraham had done.  Abraham was a man of faith in God

and obedience to God.  If these people were spiritual

descendants of Abraham, they would not oppose the message of

God which had been sent to they by the very Son of God.

They most certainly would not be trying to kill the Son of

God.  They would believe God's message and try to do the

will of God.

      V. 40, "But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told

you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not

Abraham."  Abraham did not do the kind of works that these

men were doing.  This is because they were not in the same

spiritual family with Abraham.  They did not have the same

spiritual Father which Abraham had.

      V. 41, "Ye do the deeds of your father.  Then said they

to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father,

even God."  At this point the Jews seemed to understand that

Jesus was talking about a spiritual father and was telling

them that they did not have the same spiritual father which

Abraham had.  This they stoutly denied.  They said, "We be

not born of fornication..."  That is, they claimed to have

the same spiritual father as Abraham.  They said, "We have

one Father, even God."  They were saying, "We have Abraham

as our earthy physical forefather, but spiritually God in

heaven is our Father.  We are not spiritually illegitimate

children.  We are God's children spiritually."

      V. 42, "Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father,

ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God;

neither came I of myself, but he sent me."  Jesus pointed to

their bitter hatred of Him in order to disprove their claim

of being children of God spiritually.  If they were children

of God, they would not hate Him.  They would love Him,

because He came from God and is the very Son of God.

      V. 43, "Why do ye not understand my speech?  even

because ye cannot hear my word."  Why did those men not

believe the things which God in heaven had given Him to

teach?  It was because they were not of God's spiritual

family.  They hated the truths which came from God because

they, themselves, were not of God's family.  If they had

been of God's family they would love the truth of God and

they would love the Son of God who delivered that truth to

them.

 

IV.  The Devil, the spiritual father of the unsaved Jews

 

      V. 44, "Ye are of your father the devil..."  Jesus now

tells them plainly that the Devil is their spiritual father.

They were unsaved and the unsaved are not in the family of

God.  Regardless of who their earthly father is, the unsaved

are in the spiritual family of the Devil.

      The Devil is the one who has the predominant influence

over their thinking.  The Devil is the one who has the

predominant influence over their conduct.  The Devil is the

one who has the predominant influence over their lives.  (V.

44), "...and the lusts of your father ye will do..."  You

will live like the Devil.  You will do like the Devil does.

You will do like Him because your are spiritually in his

family.  You hate the same things which the Devil hates and

you love the same things which the Devil loves.

      (V. 44), "...He was a murderer from the beginning, and

abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a

liar, and the father of it."  Jesus told them that this is

what the Devil is like and this is what they were like.

They hated the truth of God.  They hated the Son of God.

The Devil was a murderer and right at this very time they

were also trying to commit murder.  They were trying to

murder the Son of God.

      Their rejection of truth was from the Devil.  V. 45-47,

"And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.  Which

of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do

ye not believe me?  He that is of God heareth God's words:

ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."

 

V.  The need for the unsaved

 

      Listen, Jesus did not tell these things to these people

to insult them.  Jesus wanted them to know these things

because they needed to wake up to the terrible spiritual

condition that they were in.  Even so, God did not put these

things in the Bible to insult people of our day.  But God

wants every unsaved man, woman, boy and girl to wake up to

the fact that until he repents of his sin and trusts in

Jesus Christ for salvation, he is spiritually in the family

of the Devil.  In order to become a child of God he must

repent of his sin and he must be born again by the Holy

Spirit of God.

      Now this is something that every lost sinner has an

opportunity to do.  If you are lost and on the broad road

that leads to destruction then you can turn to God in

repentance of your sin and trust in the Son of God whom God

has sent to be the Savior.  If you will call upon Jesus and

trust in Jesus to be your Savior, then you will be saved.

You will be born again.  You will be born  a child of God.

You will be in the family of God.  You will have God in

Heaven as your spiritual Father.  You will have a home in

heaven just waiting for you to get there.  And you will get

there because God make sure that you get there.

 

Conclusion:

 

      Will you turn this morning to God and confess to Him

that you are a sinner and that you need to be saved.  Will

you turn to Jesus this morning and ask Him to save your

soul?  Will you trust Him to cleanse you of your sin and

take you to heaven when you die?  If so, will you come

forward and make your profession of faith public?

      If you are already saved and there is some commitment

which the Lord would have you to make, would you make that

commitment now?  If you desire to place your membership here

in this church, then would you come forward and present

yourself to this church for membership?