The Divine Paternity Test

Hopewell Baptist Church

October 27, 2019

Opening Illustration – There is a young woman named Emily who for years and years, starting as a teenager, lived a life in steeped in sin. She believed in the gospel, that Jesus came to die for sin, but she also believed that because he died for sin, sin must not be a big deal. She had the head knowledge, but she never really knew the Gospel. It was never real to her, and she felt that her lifestyle of sin was compatible with Christianity.

It wasn’t until she attended a Bible study that a co-worker invited her to, learning about the attributes of God, did she realize the goodness, grace, and mercy of God. And the seriousness, the dangerousness, the deadliness of sin. Her sin. And that it wasn’t her sin that would send her to hell, it was not turning from it and towards the Savior, Jesus Christ.

In the same way that Emily knew about God and knew about Jesus and the Gospel, she eventually had the realization that just knowing the Gospel was not good enough.

Our Big Idea for today is that to some, the Word of God is a joy-bringing, fragrant aroma of life to life; to others, it is a hate-bringing, putrid stench of death to death.

I. Who is your father? –

a. Not Abraham – 37-41a

i. - Jesus recognizes that they are Abraham’s “offspring”, meaning descendant in this case.

1. Difference between children and descendants.

a. Children act like their fathers, descendants not necessarily (All children are descendants, not all descendants are children).

b. , -> Not all descendants of Abraham are children of Abraham, but those of the promise

2. They want to kill him because His word “finds no place in” them.

ii. - Jesus’ Father versus their father – John

1. Jesus does and says of what He hears from His Father

a. , etc.

2. The Jews here do what they have heard from their father, whom we will talk about here in a few.

iii. - But Abraham is our father!

1. Jesus refutes this in verse 39-41a – If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did!

a. What did Abraham do? -> Faith in Jesus, from a distance (Looking forward to the promise of what was to come, Jesus). He had faith and it was counted Him as righteousness.

b. What are they doing? They are trying to kill Jesus (, , etc.). This is NOT what Abraham did.

2. v.41a – “you are doing the works your father did” (see v.44).

b. Not God – 41b-43

i. We aren’t born from sexual immorality, we have one Father, God!

1. Allusion to the spiritual adultery/idolatry of the nation of Israel. They are saying they have been faithful, not intermingling with other peoples and worshipping other gods.

2. – Israel is God’s firstborn son

3. – We are God’s sons, His treasured possessions

ii. Nope, it’s not God either.

1. If God were your father, you would love me, for I am from Him, sent by Him ( – Witnesses to Jesus – John the Baptist, Scripture, God the Father, Jesus’ works, Moses, etc.).

iii. They don’t understand what He is saying regarding all of this, and so much more, because, “you cannot bear to hear my word.”

1. Those who are not saved or have not had the drawing of God (6:44) in their lives are naturally inclined to not like nor listen to the true Word of God.

iv. So, if Abraham is not their father, and God is not their Father, then who IS there father?!?!?!

II. The Devil is your father!

a. When Jesus told them that they are doing the works their father did (v.41a), THIS is what He was talking about. When he says His word finds no place in them and they cannot bear to hear it (v.37, 43), here is where we find out why!

b. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.

i. He was a murderer from the Beginning – – original sin, the fall of man

1. The Jews are murderers – They are wanting Jesus dead (, )

ii. He does not stand in the truth…he is a liar and the father of lies” – ().

1. The Jews are liars – (woman caught in the act of adultery), (got people to lie about Stephen).

iii. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character –

1. The devil gravitates towards lying in all of the various facades lies wear. (Lies, deceit, cheating, etc.).

c. Jesus goes in this direction with their Spiritual Parentage because, had they truly loved God, they would not only know and acknowledge who Jesus is, but they would love Jesus as well.

III. You Can’t Handle The Truth!

a. – I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

i. Of course they cannot believe Jesus because they find the truth so offensive, that they hate it. It’s a putrid stench to them of death, and they think that because it smells bad, they must stay away from it, when in all reality, the Word of God is God’s power unto salvation ().

b. – Which one of you convicts me of sin?...

i. Everyone there THINKS that he is sinning or has sinned, but no one can PROVE it.

1. The best theological minds of the time could not thwart or unravel the teachings of Jesus.

ii. Why don’t you believe me?

1. Because they can’t. , , , …

a. – Above Versus Below

c. – Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.

i. If you are of God, you have been drawn (6:44), given to the Son (6:37), taught by God (6:45), and chosen by Jesus (6:70).

ii. If you are not of God, then not only will the gospel sound foolish to you, but repulsive to you.

IV. Application – So What? ()

a. Change is possible.

i. Just like Emily from the beginning, it is possible for one to go from hating that stench of God’s Word to loving its beautiful fragrance. From being a child of the devil to a child of God.

1. The change is worked by God the Father through the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit and is paid-in-full by Jesus, God the Son, on the cross!

ii. The Christian (child of God) will be naturally inclined towards obedience, even if they disagree with something that is from the Word of God, like being called a sinner.

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iii. The non-Christian (child of the Devil) will be naturally inclined to completely despise the Word of God, especially because it calls them sinners.

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b. One of the many differences between a Christian and a non-Christian is that a Christian knows they are a sinner and have been saved by the grace of God. A non-Christian doesn’t think they are that bad and that they don’t need saving.

V. Invitation

a. If you’re here and you’re not a child of God, but the idea of being a child of the devil is repulsive to you, I have Good News! That good news is the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He died on the cross to pay the price for your adoption into the family of God!

b. If you are a child of God but have never taken that first step of obedience in Believer’s Baptism, I encourage you to do so, respond to this calling of the Gospel on your life!

c. If you’re a baptized believer and you feel the call to ministry in your life, I encourage you to surrender your life to ministry.

d. However it is you are called by the Gospel: to ministry, to serve within the local church, towards obedience in believer’s baptism, or responding for the first time as a newly adopted Child of God, I would love to talk with you, to pray with you. I will be up front here in just a moment while they sing the final hymn.