BIG IDEA:
PRETENDER DISCIPLES QUICKLY TURN HOSTILE WHEN CHALLENGED REGARDING THEIR BONDAGE TO SIN AND REGARDING THEIR DISHONORING OF CHRIST
INTRODUCTION:
Debate over what group of people is being addressed here. Some commentators want to make an artificial distinction and say that the “They” of vs. 33 is somehow a different group than the normal antecedent of vv.30-31. The problem is that people want to assume that any reference to “belief” always involves saving faith. That is just not the case in the Gospel of John.
(Deffinbaugh Title: Life Father, Like Son)
I. (:31-47) WHO’S YOUR DADDY? ISSUE = VICTORY OVER SIN
EXPOSING THEIR TRUE FAMILY IDENTITY —
CHILDREN OF FAITH (SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM) OR CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL (MERE PHYSICAL SEED OF ABRAHAM)?
A. (:31-32) Test of True Discipleship
1. Administered to Faith Professors
“Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him”
2. Focused Around their Response/Connectivity to Christ’s Word
“If you abide in My word then you are truly disciples of Mine”
3. Graded on the Scale of a Lifestyle of Liberation
“and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
B. (:33-36) False Security Exposed
1. (:33) Radical Denial: Claim to be Spiritual
a. Based on family heritage
“We are Abraham’s offspring”
Doesn’t get any better than that for a pedigree
b. Based on false view of Freedom
“and have never yet been enslaved to anyone”
Always looking at the physical realm instead of the spiritual
c. Based on attitude of Denial
“how is it that You say, ‘You shall become free?’”
self righteous; unwilling to acknowledge their bondage to sin
2. (:34) Reality Check: Insight Into Spiritual Bondage
“everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin”
3. (:35) Relationship Difference
a. Slave – “the slave does not remain in the house forever”
b. Son – “the son does remain forever”
4. (:36) Real Freedom
“If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”
C. (:37-47) Actions are an Accurate Reflection of Family Nature
1. (:37-41a) Children of Abraham or Children of the Devil? (Part 1)
a. (:37a) Issue is Not Physical Heritage
“I know that you are Abraham’s offspring”
b. (:37b) Rejection of Truth Evident from Actions of Evil
“yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.”
c. (:38) Chip Off the Old Block
1) Christ follows after His Father
“I speak the things which I have seen with My Father”
2) They follow after Their Father
“you also do the things which you heard from your father”
d. (:39-41a) Claim to Spirituality Denied By Their Actions
1) (:39a) Adamant Claim to Spirituality
“Abraham is our father”
2) (:39b) Simple Test of Trust and Obey
“If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham”
3) (:40-41a) Proof of Failure
“But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father.”
2. (:41b-47) Children of Abraham or Children of the Devil? (Part 2)
a. (:41b) Defending by Attacking
“We were not born of fornication;”
b. (:41c) Claim to Spirituality and Inclusion in Family of God
“we have one Father, even God”
c. (:42) Test of Love
“If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God; for I have not even come on My own initiative, but he sent Me.”
d. (:43) Problem of Spiritual Blindness
“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.”
e. (:44-47) Problem of Allegiance to Lies Instead of Truth
1) Inclusion in family of Satan
“You are of your father the devil,”
2) Satan marked by wickedness rather than righteousness
“and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning”
3) Satan marked by Lies Rather Than Truth
“does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”
4) (:45-47) Inability to Receive Truth
“But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”
II. (:48-58) WHO’S THE GREATEST? ISSUE = ARE YOU HONORING CHRIST?
EXPOSING THEIR BLASPHEMOUS DISHONORING OF CHRIST —
GREATER THAN ABRAHAM OR DEMON-POSSESSED LIAR?
A. (:48-50) Dishonoring Christ = Dishonoring God
1. (:48) Flippant Blasphemy
“The Jews answered and said to Him, ‘Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?’”
Deffinbaugh: If Jesus is becoming more and more direct in His accusations against His opponents, they are quick to retaliate with ugly accusations. Earlier, they accused Jesus of being an illegitimate child, but the words they speak here have to be their lowest blow ever. Of what greater offense can they accuse Him? They accuse Jesus not only of being an illegitimate child, but also of being the son of a non-Jew, a Gentile, and thus (in their minds) a Samaritan, a demon-possessed Samaritan no less.
2. (:49) Fatal Flaw – Honoring God is not Optional
“I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.”
3. (:50) Final Accountability
“But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges.”
B. (:51-55) Obeying Christ = Obeying God
1. (:51) Obedience to Christ Conquers Death
“if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death”
2. (:52-53) Lofty Claims Disrupt the Organizational Chart
“Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My words, he shall never taste of death.’ Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?”
3. (:54) God the Father Has the Final Say
“If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’”
4. (:55) Christ Knows and Obeys the Father
“and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you, but I do know Him, and keep His word.”
C. (:56-58) Christ Shares Eternal Existence with God the Father
1. (:56) Proof that Christ is Exalted Above Abraham
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”
2. (:57) Perplexion on the Part of the Jews
“The Jews therefore said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’”
3. (:58) Punch line – Clear statement of Deity and Eternal Existence
“I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
(:59) CONCLUSION
“Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.”