Untitled Sermon (2)

Jesus explained that the difference between spiritual freedom and bondage is a matter of whether one is a son or a servant.

The servant may live in the house, but he is not a part of the family; and he cannot be guaranteed a future. (Jesus may have had Isaac and Ishmael in mind here; see Gen. 21.)

"Whosoever keeps on practicing sin [literal translation] is the servant of sin."

These religious leaders would not only die in their sins (John 8:21, 24), but they were right then living in bondage to sin!

How can slaves of sin be set free? Only by the Son. How does He do it? Through the power of His Word.

Note the emphasis on the Word in John 8:38-47, and He had already told them,

"The truth shall make you free" John 8:32). They would not "make room" for His Word in their hearts.

In the rest of this section, you see the debate centering around the word father. Jesus identified Himself with the Father in heaven,

but He identified them with the father from hell, Satan.

Of course, the Jews claimed Abraham "as their father (Luke 3:8ff), but Jesus made a careful distinction between "Abraham's seed" (physical descendants) and "Abraham's children" (spiritual descendants because of personal faith; Gal. 3:6-14).

These Jewish leaders, who claimed to belong to Abraham, were very unlike Abraham.

For one thing, they wanted to kill Jesus;

Abraham was the "friend of God" and fellowshipped with Him in love

(Isa. 41:8Isaiah 41:8 (KJV) 8But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.

Isaiah 41:8 (MSG) 8"But you, Israel, are my servant. You're Jacob, my first choice, descendants of my good friend Abraham.

Abraham listened to God's truth and obeyed it, but these religious leaders rejected the truth.

Nature is determined by birth,

and birth is determined by paternity.

If God is your Father, then you share God's nature (2 Peter 1:1-4);

but if Satan is your father, then you share in his evil nature.

Our Lord did not say that every lost sinner is a "child of the devil," though every lost sinner is certainly a child of wrath and disobedience (Eph. 2:1-3).

Ephesians 2:1-6 (KJV) 1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 2:1-6 (MSG) 1 It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. 2 You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. 3 We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. 4 Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, 5 he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! 6 Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

Both here and in the Parable of the Tares (24, 36-43),

Jesus said that the Pharisees and other "counterfeit" believers were the children of the devil.

Satan is an imitator (2 Cor. 11:13-15), and he gives his children a false righteousness that can never gain them entrance into heaven (Rom. 10:1-4).

What were the characteristics of these religious leaders who belonged to the devil?

For one thing, they rejected the truth (John 8:40)

and tried to kill Jesus because He spoke the truth.

They did not love God (John 8:42)

nor could they understand what Jesus taught (John 8:43, 47). Satan's children may be well versed in their religious traditions, but they have no understanding of the Word of God.

Satan is a liar and a murderer. He lied to our first parents ("Yea, hath God said?")

and engineered their deaths.

Cain was a child of the devil (1 John 3:12),

for he was both a liar and a murderer.

He killed his brother Abel

and then lied about it (Gen. 4).

Is it any wonder that these religious leaders

lied about Jesus, hired false witnesses, and then had Him killed?

The worst bondage is the kind that the prisoner himself does not recognize. He thinks he is free, yet he is really a slave.

The Pharisees and other religious leaders thought that they were free,

but they were actually enslaved in terrible spiritual bondage to sin and Satan.

They would not face the truth, and yet it was the truth alone that could set them free.

The truth is the same yesterday today and forever It is never situational nor is its Ethics Never here today and gone tomorrow, It will love you today and tomorrow, It will love you when you can’t love yourself, when others love you or don’t!

Forgive you when others won’t

Truth is!!!!

Set you free and never enslave you

Encourage you and never run you away or off Or have you feel sorry that you told it or owned it.!

The truth has done more good things than we have time to write down or time enough to tell you It’s like the prospector who found it, melted it and filled all the pages of his books in his library with it, it was hidden in plain sight and unless you know how to receive it then you will never receive the real value of it It will save you and make your whole life richer and fuller and your life will be better It will add life to your years and years to your life!!!!

Every where you turn and every way you turn,it will be there to help you!!!

I am happy that I found it or happy that it or He found me I am better since I have Him!

It is better and more fulfilling than the best meal that you ever had and it will last you longer and do more for you!

Help every situation and never run out own you! NO WONDER DAVID AND THE SONG WRITER SAID NO NEVER ALONE!!!

It is not a Sceevite GIFT, Evangelical or Trumphite, who want to use the word but not in truthful way.

Just for others to use and be poor not for them to love walk in or live so that we are all equal and have equal access to all of God’s gifts and rights to include power, RICHES and office holding.

Acts 19:13-16 (KJV) 13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. 14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Acts 19:13-16 (MSG) 13 Some itinerant Jewish exorcists who happened to be in town at the time tried their hand at what they assumed to be Paul's "game." They pronounced the name of the Master Jesus over victims of evil spirits, saying, "I command you by the Jesus preached by Paul!" 14 The seven sons of a certain Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were trying to do this on a man 15 when the evil spirit talked back: "I know Jesus and I've heard of Paul, but who are you?" 16 Then the possessed man went berserk—jumped the exorcists, beat them up, and tore off their clothes. Naked and bloody, they got away as best they could.

Whose child are you? Is God your Father because you have received Jesus Christ into your life? (John 1:12-13) Or is Satan your father because you are depending on a counterfeit righteousness, a "works righteousness," not the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ?

If God is your Father, then heaven is your home.

If He is not your Father, then hell is your destiny.

It is truly a matter of life or death!

2 Corinthians 5:8 (KJV) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8 (MSG) 8 Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.

Honor and Dishonor (John 8:48-59)

The leaders could not refute our Lord's statements, so they attacked His person. Some students think that the leaders' statement in John 8:41—"We are not born of fornication"—was a slur on our Lord's own birth and character. After all, Mary was with child before she and Joseph were married. But the personal attacks in John 8:48 are quite obvious. For a Jew to be called a Samaritan was the grossest of insults, and then to be called a demon-possessed person only added further insult.

Note that Jesus did not even dignify the racial slur with an answer. (No doubt there was also in this the suggestion that, like the Samaritans, Jesus was a heretic.) They were dishonoring Him, but He was honoring the Father. You will recall that He made it clear that it was impossible to honor the Father without honoring the Son (John 5:23). They were seeking their own glory (see John 5:41-44), but He was seeking the glory that belongs to God alone. Tradition-centered religion, without Christ, is often a "mutual admiration society" for people who want the praise of men.

Jesus had warned them that they would die in their sins because of their unbelief, and now He invited them to trust His Word and "never see death" (John 8:51). He had said this before in His synagogue sermon (John 6:39-40, 44, 54). Once again, the leaders lacked the spiritual insight to understand what He was saying. Abraham was dead, yet he was a godly man; and the faithful prophets were also dead. This kind of talk only convinced them the more that He had a demon! (John 7:20)

By claiming to be the Lord of death, He was claiming to be God (John 5:21-29). This was not an honor He made for Himself; the Father gave it to Him. In fact, Abraham (whom they claimed as their father) saw His day and rejoiced! Instead of rejoicing, they were revolting and trying to kill Him.

How did Abraham "see" our Lord's day, that is, His life and ministry on earth? The same way he saw the future city: by faith (Heb. 11:10, 13-16). God did not give Abraham some special vision of our Lord's life and ministry, but He did give him the spiritual perception to "see" these future events. Certainly Abraham saw the birth of the Messiah in the miraculous birth of his own son, Isaac. He certainly saw Calvary when he offered Isaac to God (22). In the priestly ministry of Melchizedek (Gen. 14:17-24), Abraham could see the heavenly priesthood of the Lord. In the marriage of Isaac, Abraham could see a picture of the marriage of the Lamb (Gen. 24).

His statement found in John 8:58 can be translated, "Before Abraham came into being, I AM." Again, this was another affirmation of His divine son ship; and the Jewish leaders received it as such. He had once again made Himself equal with God (John 5:18), and this was the sin of blasphemy, worthy of death (Lev. 24:16). Jesus was divinely protected and simply walked away. His hour had not yet come. We cannot help but admire His courage as He presented the truth and invited blind religious men to trust Him and be set free.

The most difficult people to win to the Saviour are those who do not realize that they have a need. They are under the condemnation of God, yet they trust their religion to save them. They are walking in the darkness and not following the light of life. They are sharing a "living death" because of their bondage to sin; and, in spite of their religious deeds, they are dishonoring the Father and the Son. These are the people who crucified Jesus Christ, and Jesus called them the children of the devil.

Genesis 4:7 (KJV) 7If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Genesis 4:7 (MSG) 7If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it."

Exodus 19:5-6 (KJV) 5Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

Exodus 19:5-6 (MSG) 5If you will listen obediently to what I say and keep my covenant, out of all peoples you'll be my special treasure. The whole Earth is mine to choose from, 6but you're special: a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.' "This is what I want you to tell the People of Israel."