Troy a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who`s child are you? Part 2
Starting off where we left off.
All right, notice claim number one, and we back up to verse 33 for claim number one. "We are Abraham's seed. But Jesus picks up on this one in verse 37, and the first claim is answered in verses 37 and 38. And Jesus picks up on the claim from verse 33. Verse 37, "I know that ye are Abraham's seed," Jesus says. We'll stop there for a minute.
Now they had said, "We are Abraham's seed." Jesus says, "I know that physically in a physical sense you are the offspring of Abraham." That is true. There's no question here. These are genuine Jews. They certainly couldn't be called children of Abraham by faith because they don't believe. They're out to murder Christ. The only sense at all in which they are Abraham's children is the sense of physical birth. But this shows us that the seed of Abraham still existed in the land of Israel at the time of Christ, they're still the same people. He says, "Yes, you are, I know," and the word for "know" there is not ginosko, to come to know, it's the word gnosis, I know it innately because of My omniscience. It's just to know apart from learning. I know, He says, not I've learned that you are, I know it innately, gnosis. You are Abraham's physical descendants. But He's implying that's not all there is to the thing of security. There has to be more. Look at the rest of verse 37, "But ye seek to kill Me because My word hath no place in you." You are physical descendants of Abraham, but you are anything but spiritual descendants of Abraham because you're trying to kill Me and My word has no place in you.
Now just to be a physical child of Abraham is no guarantee of anything. There's no security in that, only responsibility. Over in chapter 9 of Romans, listen to this. Paul talks about the Israelites and he says they have the adoption, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises, whose are the fathers of whom is concerning the flesh, Christ came, etc., etc. Now listen, "Not as though the Word of God hath taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel." Now listen to this, "Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, physically, are they all children, spiritually," see? Just being a descendant of Abraham guarantees nothing but responsibility unless that man is also a child of Abraham inwardly by faith.
And so, these are the half converts who sort of believed back in verse 30 and they're beginning to show their true colors by rejecting Christ's words. They are physical Jews descended from Abraham, but Christ doesn't stop there. He proceeds to show them that this is not enough and He shatters their guarantee of salvation that they would have in their lineage.
Over in Galatians 3 verse 6 Paul says, "Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye therefore...here it comes...that they who are of faith, the same are the sons of Abraham." Very important. Verse 9, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." So it is not just physical, it must be spiritual. Now these Jewish leaders couldn't possibly be true children of Abraham, they couldn't possibly be heirs of salvation, they couldn't possibly be inheritors of the Kingdom because they had completely rejected Christ's words and were trying to murder the Messiah that Abraham had hoped for.
Look at verse 56 in the eighth chapter of John. Here's this contrast. John 8:56, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see...what?...My day and he saw it and was glad." How could you be children of Abraham and want to murder Me, the One that Abraham rejoiced to see? You say, "Well wait a minute now, in what way did Abraham see Christ's day?" Well it's explained for us in Hebrews 11:13, I'll just read it, listen. "These all died in faith," and he's talking about Abraham and Sarah, "not having received the promises." In other words, all the promises to Abraham weren't fulfilled in his lifetime, but listen, "But having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and am embraced them," see? Abraham literally understood a fore-view of the coming of Messiah who would fulfill the promise to him. And Abraham rejoiced in that fore-view. And so Jesus is saying, "How could you possibly be children of Abraham when Abraham rejoiced to see My day and you want to kill Me?"
Spiritually they were not the sons of Abraham. They were going to kill Abraham's messianic seed. They were going to kill the One who could bring about the full blessing of Abraham's promise. They couldn't be Abraham's sons also because of one other thing, they couldn't recognize God's messengers. Remember back in Genesis 18 when those messengers came from God and Abraham recognized them? And he got Sarah to whip up a little food for them and they invited them in. Abraham recognized God's messengers. Abraham welcomed them. These Jews tried to kill the messenger of God.
So Jesus says there's no way that you could possibly be the children of Abraham spiritually. You want to destroy the One that Abraham rejoiced to see. You do not recognize messengers from God. And My Word has no place in you. And certainly God's Word had all the place in Abraham. So there's no way they stack up with Abraham.
Then Jesus explains their inability to recognize Him in verse 38. He says the reason you don't recognize Me is because, "I speak that which I've seen with My Father and ye do that which you've seen with your father." You know, it's a principle that the child speaks the language of his father. And the problem with the Jews was they had a different father than Jesus did and they couldn't understand His language. That's a pretty devastating statement. He says, "I came from God, I know God's mind, I speak God's language, I talk God's truth, I do God's will, I represent God, therefore you don't get it because your father speaks a different language." It's a pretty devastating statement. And He's implying something without really saying it yet.
But Christ spoke from God, Christ wasn't talking on His own. Back in chapter 5 verse 17, I think it is, "Jesus answered them, 'My Father works hitherto and I work.' Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him because He not only had broken the Sabbath but said God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus said, 'Verily, verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do for whatever things He doeth these also doeth the Son in the same manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows all things that He Himself doeth." In other words, Christ does not act independently. He says, "I do what God wants me to do, I speak God's language and because you are not children of God you cannot understand the language of God." A child speaks the language of his father, they are not children of God. You can't recognize Me...Jesus says in effect...because you don't know God and you don't understand His language.
This is again illustrated down in verse 45. "Because I tell you truth, you believe Me not." Verse 47, "He that is of God hears God's words, you don't hear them because you're not of God." And so He is saying to them, you can't recognize Me because you don't know God. Back in verse 19 of chapter 8, "Then said they unto Him, 'Where is Thy Father?' Jesus answered, 'Ye neither know Me, nor My Father.'" You don't know God. If you don't know God you can't speak God's language. They don't understand. And so He says there's a vast gulf between the two of us, we have two different fathers who speak two different languages.
Without really delivering the knockout punch, He has implied that they cannot be the true spiritual children of Abraham and He has implied that the true spiritual children of God know God's language and they don't and so they couldn't be the children of God either. And then He adds, "You must have another father. Spiritually you are neither the children of Abraham, or the children of God because you don't act like Abraham, you don't do the things Abraham did and you don't understand the language of God. You must be somebody else's children."
So Jesus is really saying, "I speak what My Father shows Me and you do what your father tells you." Notice it in verse 38, "You do that which you have seen with your father." And what did their father teach them to do? Murder...murder, that's what He's implying. You can't have the same father as I have for My Father says, "Thou shalt not murder." Your father says "Murder." You've got to have a different father than I do.
I want to add a critical footnote in this place right here. Backing up to verse 37 there's a tremendous truth. The whole passage hinges on it. The last part of verse 37 says, "Because My Word hath no place in you." And the word "hath no place" is choreo and choreomeans to make an advance, or to progress. It means literally to depart from somewhere or to leave there. And what He's saying is this, "It is obvious that you are not true spiritual children of Abraham because My Word makes no advances in you." See? It makes no progress.
You say, "Why is that important?" Go back to verse 31 and I'll show you. It says in verse 30 that many believed, but watch in verse 31, "Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on Him, 'If ye...what?...continue in My Word then are you My disciples truthfully, really.'" In other words, it's not simply the planting of the seed, it's the progress of it, isn't it? It has to be a continuing thing. When the seed is planted on rocky soil, it just withers away. On the dry ground, it withers away. On the fertile soil of Luke 8, it grabs hold and its roots go down and it continues. And so He says your problem, in verse 37, is that the Word makes no progress in you, it does not advance. It stays right where it was when it started...no advance.
That's a tremendous truth. Many people hear the Word of God and a little sparkle of faith arises in their hearts but the Word makes no advance, no progress. And thus their faith is not genuine. Contrast with that, would you please, genuine faith in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 5. First Thessalonians 1:5 says this, "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance." Now verse 6, "And ye became followers of us," mimetes, mimics, "of us and of the Lord." Verse 7, "So that you were an example..." Verse 8, "For from you sounded out the Word of the Lord." Then in verse 13 of chapter 2, "For this cause also we...thank we, God, without ceasing because when ye received the Word of God which you heard of us you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth...watch this...the Word of God which effectually worketh in you that believe." You see, there is the Word that goes in and begins to produce something. It made them mimics of Paul and of Christ. It made them examples. It made them evangelists. It was obvious that it was effectually working within them. And Jesus is saying in verse 37 of John 8, "You heard it but it made no progress, it made no advance."
So here's the test. Proof positive that you cannot possibly be genuine spiritual seed of Abraham. Why? Because you hate Me, the Son of God, the One that Abraham looked for and you want to murder Me. Number two, because the Word makes no advance in you. Number three, verse 38, because I speak a language from God and you don't understand it, that means you've got a different father.
Well, you ask yourself, did they get the message? It's pretty clear. And the answer is no. They never got the message. Verse 39, their second claim comes right after it, and their second claim is the same claim only this time it's with its spiritual implication that Christ has been implying. Verse 39, "They answered and said unto Him, 'Abraham is our father.'" And I can almost read into this the idea that they're saying...Jesus is saying, "Abraham is your physical father, but not your spiritual Father." And they're saying, "Oh yes he is. Abraham is so our spiritual father." In other words, they're moving the step that Christ took them to, to the spiritual concepts and they're saying, "Abraham IS our spiritual father." And again they're holding to their Abrahamic security. You see, they had all their eggs in that basket, that's all they had...that's all they had to hold on to. So they say, "Abraham IS our father." And Jesus has agreed that Abraham is their physical father, but not their spiritual Father and they say yes he is. And they were angry. The implication of the statement is anger.
And so, having made their statement Jesus replies by giving another acid test and saying, "Well, if you're the spiritual children of Abraham, let's check it out." And the answer is almost identical to what it was to the first claim. Verse 39, "They answered and said unto Him, 'Abraham is our father.' Jesus saith unto them...here comes the test..., 'If ye were Abraham's children ye would do the works of Abraham.'" And, you know, the works of Abraham were works of faith, did you know that? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. All through the Bible Abraham and his faith are connected, a man of faith. These were not people of faith but people of works. They were self-righteous workers trying to earn favor with God. And He says to them, "You've got it all backwards, if you were the children of Abraham you would operate on faith, you operate on works." Abraham's children obey God's commands, they don't plot murders. Abraham's children fully trust God's will. Abraham's children know God's messengers, they recognize them. And most of all, Abraham's children rejoice to see the day of Messiah. And you're not qualified in any one of those counts. It's obvious you're not true spiritual children of Abraham.
This is a very sobering thought and I hope the Lord lays it on our hearts to see that there are a lot of people who are counting on some kind of a spiritual heritage for their salvation. There are a lot of young people, there are a lot of children, maybe some of you who are figuring just because you were raised in a Christian family you're secure, or just because you've been in church all your life, you're secure. That's not so. There must be a personal faith in Jesus Christ, there's no such thing as racial...there's no such thing as family, or church, or religious security. And so He says this is the decisive test, if you are Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham and they were works of faith.
You see, just to be the physical child of Abraham is nothing. Over in chapter 6 verse 63 it says this, "It is the spirit that gives life...listen to this...the flesh profits...what?...nothing." I mean, to be the fleshly child of Abraham, what's that mean? Oh certainly there are some wonderful promises that the Jews have received over the years and the guarantee yet of their restoration and the Kingdom of Israel, and all these things that are coming to pass in the future. But in terms of spiritual blessing, the flesh profits nothing and a physical tie to Abraham is only a fleshly tie and it means nothing. The works of Abraham were faith and obedience, a recognition of God's messengers and submission to God.
They were just the opposite and Jesus gets real specific in verse 40. Notice the progression. "Now you seek to kill Me," that's bad enough, "a man that has told you the truth," that's worse, "which I've heard of God," that's infinitely worse. Notice the progression? It's bad enough to want to murder, but to kill One who tells the truth and then to kill One who tells the truth and speaks for God is the absolute ultimate blasphemy. And so you see in verse 40 a progressive indictment. Obvious you're not the children of Abraham, you seek to kill Me. Abraham didn't murder. Not only that, Abraham loved the truth and you want to kill a man who is a messenger of the truth, not only that Abraham served and loved God and you want to destroy the very truth that came from God. No way that you are the children of Abraham, you're blaspheming Abraham's God.
Then Jesus adds a provoking reminder in verse 41. "Ye do the deeds of your father..." Stop right there. And here again He says this and He doesn't say who it is yet, but they must be getting the message by now. It is...it's obvious that their father's not God. He's just told them they're deaf to God's truth and deaf to God's message and they don't give any signs of being true children of Abraham. They have another father. "Ye do the deeds of your father."
Okay we`ve got two (2) down and only one to go, check it out.
Amen
Troy
Who`s child are you? Part 2
Starting off where we left off.
All right, notice claim number one, and we back up to verse 33 for claim number one. "We are Abraham's seed. But Jesus picks up on this one in verse 37, and the first claim is answered in verses 37 and 38. And Jesus picks up on the claim from verse 33. Verse 37, "I know that ye are Abraham's seed," Jesus says. We'll stop there for a minute.
Now they had said, "We are Abraham's seed." Jesus says, "I know that physically in a physical sense you are the offspring of Abraham." That is true. There's no question here. These are genuine Jews. They certainly couldn't be called children of Abraham by faith because they don't believe. They're out to murder Christ. The only sense at all in which they are Abraham's children is the sense of physical birth. But this shows us that the seed of Abraham still existed in the land of Israel at the time of Christ, they're still the same people. He says, "Yes, you are, I know," and the word for "know" there is not ginosko, to come to know, it's the word gnosis, I know it innately because of My omniscience. It's just to know apart from learning. I know, He says, not I've learned that you are, I know it innately, gnosis. You are Abraham's physical descendants. But He's implying that's not all there is to the thing of security. There has to be more. Look at the rest of verse 37, "But ye seek to kill Me because My word hath no place in you." You are physical descendants of Abraham, but you are anything but spiritual descendants of Abraham because you're trying to kill Me and My word has no place in you.
Now just to be a physical child of Abraham is no guarantee of anything. There's no security in that, only responsibility. Over in chapter 9 of Romans, listen to this. Paul talks about the Israelites and he says they have the adoption, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises, whose are the fathers of whom is concerning the flesh, Christ came, etc., etc. Now listen, "Not as though the Word of God hath taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel." Now listen to this, "Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, physically, are they all children, spiritually," see? Just being a descendant of Abraham guarantees nothing but responsibility unless that man is also a child of Abraham inwardly by faith.
And so, these are the half converts who sort of believed back in verse 30 and they're beginning to show their true colors by rejecting Christ's words. They are physical Jews descended from Abraham, but Christ doesn't stop there. He proceeds to show them that this is not enough and He shatters their guarantee of salvation that they would have in their lineage.
Over in Galatians 3 verse 6 Paul says, "Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye therefore...here it comes...that they who are of faith, the same are the sons of Abraham." Very important. Verse 9, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." So it is not just physical, it must be spiritual. Now these Jewish leaders couldn't possibly be true children of Abraham, they couldn't possibly be heirs of salvation, they couldn't possibly be inheritors of the Kingdom because they had completely rejected Christ's words and were trying to murder the Messiah that Abraham had hoped for.
Look at verse 56 in the eighth chapter of John. Here's this contrast. John 8:56, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see...what?...My day and he saw it and was glad." How could you be children of Abraham and want to murder Me, the One that Abraham rejoiced to see? You say, "Well wait a minute now, in what way did Abraham see Christ's day?" Well it's explained for us in Hebrews 11:13, I'll just read it, listen. "These all died in faith," and he's talking about Abraham and Sarah, "not having received the promises." In other words, all the promises to Abraham weren't fulfilled in his lifetime, but listen, "But having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and am embraced them," see? Abraham literally understood a fore-view of the coming of Messiah who would fulfill the promise to him. And Abraham rejoiced in that fore-view. And so Jesus is saying, "How could you possibly be children of Abraham when Abraham rejoiced to see My day and you want to kill Me?"
Spiritually they were not the sons of Abraham. They were going to kill Abraham's messianic seed. They were going to kill the One who could bring about the full blessing of Abraham's promise. They couldn't be Abraham's sons also because of one other thing, they couldn't recognize God's messengers. Remember back in Genesis 18 when those messengers came from God and Abraham recognized them? And he got Sarah to whip up a little food for them and they invited them in. Abraham recognized God's messengers. Abraham welcomed them. These Jews tried to kill the messenger of God.
So Jesus says there's no way that you could possibly be the children of Abraham spiritually. You want to destroy the One that Abraham rejoiced to see. You do not recognize messengers from God. And My Word has no place in you. And certainly God's Word had all the place in Abraham. So there's no way they stack up with Abraham.
Then Jesus explains their inability to recognize Him in verse 38. He says the reason you don't recognize Me is because, "I speak that which I've seen with My Father and ye do that which you've seen with your father." You know, it's a principle that the child speaks the language of his father. And the problem with the Jews was they had a different father than Jesus did and they couldn't understand His language. That's a pretty devastating statement. He says, "I came from God, I know God's mind, I speak God's language, I talk God's truth, I do God's will, I represent God, therefore you don't get it because your father speaks a different language." It's a pretty devastating statement. And He's implying something without really saying it yet.
But Christ spoke from God, Christ wasn't talking on His own. Back in chapter 5 verse 17, I think it is, "Jesus answered them, 'My Father works hitherto and I work.' Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him because He not only had broken the Sabbath but said God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus said, 'Verily, verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do for whatever things He doeth these also doeth the Son in the same manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows all things that He Himself doeth." In other words, Christ does not act independently. He says, "I do what God wants me to do, I speak God's language and because you are not children of God you cannot understand the language of God." A child speaks the language of his father, they are not children of God. You can't recognize Me...Jesus says in effect...because you don't know God and you don't understand His language.
This is again illustrated down in verse 45. "Because I tell you truth, you believe Me not." Verse 47, "He that is of God hears God's words, you don't hear them because you're not of God." And so He is saying to them, you can't recognize Me because you don't know God. Back in verse 19 of chapter 8, "Then said they unto Him, 'Where is Thy Father?' Jesus answered, 'Ye neither know Me, nor My Father.'" You don't know God. If you don't know God you can't speak God's language. They don't understand. And so He says there's a vast gulf between the two of us, we have two different fathers who speak two different languages.
Without really delivering the knockout punch, He has implied that they cannot be the true spiritual children of Abraham and He has implied that the true spiritual children of God know God's language and they don't and so they couldn't be the children of God either. And then He adds, "You must have another father. Spiritually you are neither the children of Abraham, or the children of God because you don't act like Abraham, you don't do the things Abraham did and you don't understand the language of God. You must be somebody else's children."
So Jesus is really saying, "I speak what My Father shows Me and you do what your father tells you." Notice it in verse 38, "You do that which you have seen with your father." And what did their father teach them to do? Murder...murder, that's what He's implying. You can't have the same father as I have for My Father says, "Thou shalt not murder." Your father says "Murder." You've got to have a different father than I do.
I want to add a critical footnote in this place right here. Backing up to verse 37 there's a tremendous truth. The whole passage hinges on it. The last part of verse 37 says, "Because My Word hath no place in you." And the word "hath no place" is choreo and choreomeans to make an advance, or to progress. It means literally to depart from somewhere or to leave there. And what He's saying is this, "It is obvious that you are not true spiritual children of Abraham because My Word makes no advances in you." See? It makes no progress.
You say, "Why is that important?" Go back to verse 31 and I'll show you. It says in verse 30 that many believed, but watch in verse 31, "Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on Him, 'If ye...what?...continue in My Word then are you My disciples truthfully, really.'" In other words, it's not simply the planting of the seed, it's the progress of it, isn't it? It has to be a continuing thing. When the seed is planted on rocky soil, it just withers away. On the dry ground, it withers away. On the fertile soil of Luke 8, it grabs hold and its roots go down and it continues. And so He says your problem, in verse 37, is that the Word makes no progress in you, it does not advance. It stays right where it was when it started...no advance.
That's a tremendous truth. Many people hear the Word of God and a little sparkle of faith arises in their hearts but the Word makes no advance, no progress. And thus their faith is not genuine. Contrast with that, would you please, genuine faith in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 5. First Thessalonians 1:5 says this, "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance." Now verse 6, "And ye became followers of us," mimetes, mimics, "of us and of the Lord." Verse 7, "So that you were an example..." Verse 8, "For from you sounded out the Word of the Lord." Then in verse 13 of chapter 2, "For this cause also we...thank we, God, without ceasing because when ye received the Word of God which you heard of us you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth...watch this...the Word of God which effectually worketh in you that believe." You see, there is the Word that goes in and begins to produce something. It made them mimics of Paul and of Christ. It made them examples. It made them evangelists. It was obvious that it was effectually working within them. And Jesus is saying in verse 37 of John 8, "You heard it but it made no progress, it made no advance."
So here's the test. Proof positive that you cannot possibly be genuine spiritual seed of Abraham. Why? Because you hate Me, the Son of God, the One that Abraham looked for and you want to murder Me. Number two, because the Word makes no advance in you. Number three, verse 38, because I speak a language from God and you don't understand it, that means you've got a different father.
Well, you ask yourself, did they get the message? It's pretty clear. And the answer is no. They never got the message. Verse 39, their second claim comes right after it, and their second claim is the same claim only this time it's with its spiritual implication that Christ has been implying. Verse 39, "They answered and said unto Him, 'Abraham is our father.'" And I can almost read into this the idea that they're saying...Jesus is saying, "Abraham is your physical father, but not your spiritual Father." And they're saying, "Oh yes he is. Abraham is so our spiritual father." In other words, they're moving the step that Christ took them to, to the spiritual concepts and they're saying, "Abraham IS our spiritual father." And again they're holding to their Abrahamic security. You see, they had all their eggs in that basket, that's all they had...that's all they had to hold on to. So they say, "Abraham IS our father." And Jesus has agreed that Abraham is their physical father, but not their spiritual Father and they say yes he is. And they were angry. The implication of the statement is anger.
And so, having made their statement Jesus replies by giving another acid test and saying, "Well, if you're the spiritual children of Abraham, let's check it out." And the answer is almost identical to what it was to the first claim. Verse 39, "They answered and said unto Him, 'Abraham is our father.' Jesus saith unto them...here comes the test..., 'If ye were Abraham's children ye would do the works of Abraham.'" And, you know, the works of Abraham were works of faith, did you know that? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. All through the Bible Abraham and his faith are connected, a man of faith. These were not people of faith but people of works. They were self-righteous workers trying to earn favor with God. And He says to them, "You've got it all backwards, if you were the children of Abraham you would operate on faith, you operate on works." Abraham's children obey God's commands, they don't plot murders. Abraham's children fully trust God's will. Abraham's children know God's messengers, they recognize them. And most of all, Abraham's children rejoice to see the day of Messiah. And you're not qualified in any one of those counts. It's obvious you're not true spiritual children of Abraham.
This is a very sobering thought and I hope the Lord lays it on our hearts to see that there are a lot of people who are counting on some kind of a spiritual heritage for their salvation. There are a lot of young people, there are a lot of children, maybe some of you who are figuring just because you were raised in a Christian family you're secure, or just because you've been in church all your life, you're secure. That's not so. There must be a personal faith in Jesus Christ, there's no such thing as racial...there's no such thing as family, or church, or religious security. And so He says this is the decisive test, if you are Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham and they were works of faith.
You see, just to be the physical child of Abraham is nothing. Over in chapter 6 verse 63 it says this, "It is the spirit that gives life...listen to this...the flesh profits...what?...nothing." I mean, to be the fleshly child of Abraham, what's that mean? Oh certainly there are some wonderful promises that the Jews have received over the years and the guarantee yet of their restoration and the Kingdom of Israel, and all these things that are coming to pass in the future. But in terms of spiritual blessing, the flesh profits nothing and a physical tie to Abraham is only a fleshly tie and it means nothing. The works of Abraham were faith and obedience, a recognition of God's messengers and submission to God.
They were just the opposite and Jesus gets real specific in verse 40. Notice the progression. "Now you seek to kill Me," that's bad enough, "a man that has told you the truth," that's worse, "which I've heard of God," that's infinitely worse. Notice the progression? It's bad enough to want to murder, but to kill One who tells the truth and then to kill One who tells the truth and speaks for God is the absolute ultimate blasphemy. And so you see in verse 40 a progressive indictment. Obvious you're not the children of Abraham, you seek to kill Me. Abraham didn't murder. Not only that, Abraham loved the truth and you want to kill a man who is a messenger of the truth, not only that Abraham served and loved God and you want to destroy the very truth that came from God. No way that you are the children of Abraham, you're blaspheming Abraham's God.
Then Jesus adds a provoking reminder in verse 41. "Ye do the deeds of your father..." Stop right there. And here again He says this and He doesn't say who it is yet, but they must be getting the message by now. It is...it's obvious that their father's not God. He's just told them they're deaf to God's truth and deaf to God's message and they don't give any signs of being true children of Abraham. They have another father. "Ye do the deeds of your father."
Okay we`ve got two (2) down and only one to go, check it out.
Amen
Troy
