Whose Child Am I?

Intro

Title: Whose Child Are We?

Text:

John 8:37–38 NKJV

37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”

John 8.37-38

1 John 3:10–13 NKJV

10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.

Background:

The Jews were arguing with Jesus about their origin.

they claimed to be children of Abraham

then they claimed to be children of God

The human race is very diversified.

But in the eyes of God, there are only 2 types of people on earth:

the children of God

the children of the devil

1 John 3.

Questions:

If God created man in his own image, how come there are children of the devil?

how did the devil produce his own children?

How do we know whether we are God’s children, or the devil’s?

Cain and Abel

Common knowledge:

Cain and Abel were both children of Adam and Even

Cain was not Adam’s child

- he belonged to the “wicked one” - the devil

- he was registered in the genealogy of Adam’s family

Seth replaced Abel in Adam’s family -

Cain and Abel had different origins in the natural birth.

Abel belonged to God through Adam

cain belonged to the devil - through the serpent

The Fall of Man

Common knowledge:

The serpent was a snake who talked Eve into eating an apple, a natural fruit.

The Serpent was not originally a “snake”

he was a smart animal

he was a beast of the field (animals with foot)

he could talk

The fruit of the tree of knowledge of God and evil was not a natural fruit.

Therefore, eating the fruit of this kind of tree is not literal, but symbolic of an action

The first sin committed by man was not eating an apple, but an forbidden sexual act

they covered their sexual parts -

the serpent’s body was cursed -

the woman’s reproductive system was cursed -

Notice - the man was NOT cursed but the ground -

Human race BEFORE the Flood

There were two human races on earth

the Sethites -

the Cainites -

All godly men during this time came out only in the line of Seth

Seth

Enoch

Methuselah

Noah

This generation was destroyed because intermarriage between the two race corrupted the world and filled it with wickedness.

Human race AFTER the Flood

All humans came from one family - Noah’s

- one blood (one man, NASB, ESV)

the children of God and the children of the devil can no longer by identified by race or nationality

All humans are “children of wrath” by natural birth

Whose child are we?

How are the children of God and the children of the devil distinguished?

By birth

natural birth

new birth - born again; born from above; born of God

- flesh is flesh…

- the carnal and the spiritual

By their response to the Word

By their actions

righteous acts - acording to God’s standard of right and wrong

love - according God’s standard of love

Conclusion

Whose child am I?

how would I have responded If I was there when Jesus preached and taught?

how is my response to God’s word? Am I attracted to it? Do I reject/ignore it?

how is my standard of right and wrong?

how are my actions judged by God’s standard? Are they righteous acts? sinful acts?

have i been born again?

have I been born again? do I recognize my need to be born again?