Sermon Tone Analysis

It's been said that the worst kind of prison is the one where you don't know you're in prison.

The worst bondage is the bondage of a person who thinks they're free to live an entire life bound and yet not thinking there is anything holding you back.

I believe that attests well to many today, and it was the mindset in the days when our Lord and Savior came to earth, it was the mindset of the religious in Jerusalem who thought as descendants of Abraham they were free, even though they were really in deep, spiritual bondage.

There may be many even in this room who feel that they're free, that they have no bondage to break free from who look to their heritage, who look to their status as a sign of their being unshackled when in fact, they're bound by the gravest of chains.

I want to speak to you today.

I want us to look into the Gospel of John today.

I want us to look forward into what Jesus has to say as an adult, but in so doing, I want us to also draw back to that Christmas story, to the time of His birth because I want you to see that there are parallels there.

There are many truths that transcend those days and even come into our day as well.

I've titled this…Whose Child Is This?

Because I think, the correct answer to that question is going to go a long way to deciding whether you're bound or unbound, whether you're truly free, or whether you're actually in shackles.

Not just whose child is Mary's child, but really whose child are you?

Who do you truly belong to?

That was the confrontation that Jesus would bring in His adult ministry with us in John, chapter 8.

We want to pick up there this morning as we do compare these two.

He's in the middle of a dialogue with the Jews.

He has told them that the truth will make them free.

They've said, "We are the children of Abraham and have never been in bondage to anyone."

Jesus wants to confront that notion, that notion of heritage, that notion of physical descent and show them that yes, though they are the descendants of Abraham, that doesn't mean they are in God's good standing.

They are not correct with God.

Though you may be in a Christian family, though you may have a Bible on your coffee table, though your name may be on a church roll, the question is…Whose child are you this morning.

Join with me in John, chapter 8, beginning in verse 37.

It says, /"'I know you are Abraham's descendants.'"/

This is Jesus speaking to those Pharisees.

/"'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.'"/

Jesus is countering their argument that they're the descendants of Abraham and therefore there is nothing wrong.

They are in God's good standing by saying, "Yes, you are His descendants, but you don't live like Abraham's descendants should live.

You seek to kill Me."

Now what was the condition in the days of Christ's birth?

Well I would say they were no different.

When the truth came, when the truth was manifested before us in the presence of this child whom the wise men came sometime later to say, "This is the newborn King," was it not Herod who said, "Let's kill him"?

What an evil character Herod is in the Christmas story, and yet as we come to the adult life of Christ, we see that desire to murder has not changed.

The truth comes incarnate and there are those who want to kill the truth.

So it was in His adult life.

He says, "You are the descendants of Abraham, but you're not listening to Abraham.

You're not living like Abraham.

As a result, you want to kill Me because you don't like the things I have to say."

Verse 38, /"I speak what I have seen with My Father./

I speak the truth.

I am telling you that which My Father has told Me to say.

I'm giving you the words of God, but you are not listening to them.

Instead of obeying them, you're obeying what you have seen."

Literally, that word is heard, from your father.

Well the Pharisees pick up on this just as you would pick up on it this morning of…whose child are you?

Whose child is this, this morning?

So they respond in 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.

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.

You do the deeds of your father.'"/

He says, "You are indeed Abraham's descendants, but you're not Abraham's children.

You certainly have descended physically from Abraham.

He is your forefather, but you're not his child.

If you were his child, then you would do the works of God.

You would do the works that Abraham did.

Abraham, the father of all Israel, is a man who did the works of God.

If you were his children, you would do those works.

But by your actions, it tells that you're from a different descent."

You know how it is.

Sometimes mothers will look at their children and they'll see them act up in some way.

They'll see them misbehave in some way.

They'll see them act out and do something wrong, and the mom will look at that child and say, "I know you're your daddy's child."

You can tell by their actions.

In their actions is the DNA of that father.

Really, those with us spiritually as well.

If you are a child of God, and a child of Abraham obviously means a child of the Father here, of the Heavenly Father, then your spiritual DNA takes over and you act like a child of God.

You don't become a child of God in name only.

See you are born again.

You're not just adopting a philosophy.

You're not just signing your name to something.

You're not just mentally accenting to something.

The Bible is very clear that we spiritually are changed.

We are transformed in our spiritual DNA.

The children of God do the works of God.

We tend to act like our Father.

In fact, people should be able to look at you, see your actions, see your reactions to the things of life, see your choices, see your walk and say, "He acts just like his Father.

That's what his Father would do."

But you see Jesus looks at these Pharisees and says, "Well, you're doing the works of your father, but not your father Abraham.

Oh no.

No, that's not your father.

You're not the child of God based on your reactions and your actions."

Notice what He says, continuing in verse 41.

They responded to Him by, /"Then they said to Him, 'We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.'"/

Now they're kind of picking up on this.

They realize that Abraham and God are equivalent in Jesus' discussion here, so they substitute Abraham with God the Father.

They're saying, "Listen, we're not the result of adultery.

No, no, no.

We have one Father…God.

You're accusing us of not being legitimate children.

We're not illegitimate.

We have one Father…God."

How many times…how many times do people respond to the conviction of God by saying, "I'm not illegitimate"?

"No, there is nothing wrong with me.

I'm okay.

I have everything in order."

Just like these Pharisees, whose child are they?

They're saying, "Well, we're God's child."

Then Jesus lays out a litmus test.

It is this litmus test we all need to look at this morning to see whether or not we are the child of God, whether or not we belong to Him.

In 42, Jesus said to them, /"If God were your Father, you would love Me."/ See the first test, the first test of whether or not you are truly a child of God, is whether or not you love Christ.

Here we are at Christmas time, and you just analyze this in your own heart because this is so crucial for you to figure this out.