Right Relationship With the Father

Salvation is Not In the Lineage

The Jews believed that they were okay in God’s sight because they were in the bloodline of Abraham. They believed that the promises that God made to him passed down to them. They believed by virtue of lineage that they were favored by God.

Jesus pointed out that just because they were of the lineage of Abraham that they were not okay with God. He pointed it out by calling them on the carpet for wanting to kill him. He told them that they were not favored by God because they were rejecting Him. He was sent from God and the Jews did not believe Him.

Jesus claims that He is speaking everything that He has seen with the Father. They were not receiving His words as the words of God. Therefore, His words had no place in them.

It’s not in the lineage today

Some people believe that they are in a right relationship with God based on the things they have done in the past or by their own lineage. Some believe that because their dad or granddad was a deacon or a pastor that they are favored by God. Others believe that because they were brought up in a christian home that they are alright with God. Still others believe that because they went to church when they were a kid and learned the Bible stories that they are okay with God. All these are wrong

One must believe the Words of Christ and have them in them in order to be right with God. This means we have to have a personal relationship with God.

Children of the Devil

Jesus consistently told the Jews that He is the Son of God. They refused to listen to Him or believe Him because they were children of the devil. He pointed out three factor that demonstrated that they were children of the devil: They could not receive His word, they sought to destroy Him, and they are liars by nature.

Could not receive his word.

Satan had blinded them from receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ. They did not want to admit their need for a Savior, so they will perish in their sins. This happens today. Paul says:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Cor.4:3-4

Paul says people that refuse the gospel have been blinded and are unbelieving and refuse to see the light of Christ.

People that refuse to learn and live by the Bible demonstrate that they are ruled by the world and hence children of the devil. You cannot know Jesus and have no understanding of His word.

Lifeway did a study that revealed only 20% of Americans have read the Bible all the way through. They also discovered that only 22% of Americans read the Bible on a regular basis. This reveals that most of America is biblically illiterate. This would cause me to wonder about the salvation of most Americans that claim to be Christians.

They Sought to Destroy Jesus

They wanted to kill Jesus and ultimately would. This demonstrates the murderous nature of Satan. He has always wanted to destroy God’s creation.

We see this in Genesis 2 & 3.

15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not [n]eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Gen. 2:15-17

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from [a]any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! Gen. 3:1-4

God told Adam that if He ate of the tree he would surely die. Satan knew this and deceived Eve into eating the forbidden fruit so that she would die. I find it interesting that Satan knew that Adam and Eve would die if they ate. So the question is why would he do this? Because he has a murderous nature.

One may say I would never do that. How about that person that has hurt you or one of your loved ones? I have often heard people say that if they ever hurt my children or my spouse I will kill them. This is the very nature of Satan. He has a murderous nature.

Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 5:21-22

Matthew 5:21–22 NASB95

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

Anger is the gateway to murder. We must control our anger and not let it morph into murder.

They Believed a Lie

The Jews were so prideful that they didn’t think they needed to be saved. They believed that they could earn it on their own. They believed if they followed the law and the fact that they were Abraham’s descendants that they were okay with God.

They failed to realize that they were enslaved to sin. Their enslavement is what separated them from God. Jesus says Matthew 7:13-14

Matthew 7:13–14 NASB95

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Many people are enslaved to sin today. They live passively in their relationship with God. They believe they are okay because they haven’t done anything significantly bad. They haven’t killed anyone. This is a lie! No one is good before the Father.

Romans 3:9–20 NASB95

What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; “Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Child of God

A child of God Hears the words of God, believes the truth, and is free from sin.

Hears the Word of God

Jesus said that He who hears the word of God is a Child of God. This because the Holy Spirit enables us to hear the word of God.

16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another [b]Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 14: 16-17.

When a person receives Jesus as their Personal Lord and Savior they are immediately given the Holy Spirit. The Spirit enables us to hear the words of God.

12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. John 16:12-15.

Believes Truth

Jesus told them that they would know the truth and the truth would set them free.

we must believe the truth. This means that Jesus is the Son of God. He died a substitutionary death on the cross for us. He rose from the dead demonstrating His power over sin and death. He is returning again where we will have eternal life with Him in heaven.

Children of God are Freed from Sin

4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or [b]knows Him. 7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil [c]has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is [d]born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is [e]born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: [f]anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:4-10.

A child of God does not practice sin, but practices righteousness.