Children Of Abraham Or Children Of The Devil?

John 8:31-47 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” 39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” INTRODUCTION Our vacation was fast-paced, but good. Big fish, big families, lots of miles. It was good to go and it’s good to be back. Thanks to Mike and John for filling in, in various ways while I was out. It was encouraging to listen to John’s sermon and consider the parallels he was able to draw between his passage in Exodus and John 8. As you’ll soon notice, those parallels will continue this morning. Let’s pray. BACKGROUND Genesis 1 and 2 record God’s very good creation and ordering of the universe. By Genesis 3, however, as John mentioned last week, mankind had already rejected God as God and His ordering. The result, as God promised it would be, was curse and death. Therefore, God said to the serpent who’d tempted Adam and Eve to sin, Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Embedded in this single verse are what’s been called “the first gospel” and the promise of a great war between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman. The “first gospel” is the promise that one of Eve’s offspring would eventually, fatally stomp on the head of the serpent, even at great cost to Himself. This was fulfilled at the cross of Jesus. And the great war has been raging ever since those words were spoken by God in the garden. The victory of the woman’s offspring, Jesus, was decisively won at the cross, but the battle has continued and will continue until Jesus returns. One of the keys to understanding the OT specifically, and the Bible generally, is in recognizing that in large measure, the point of the Bible is to follow and describe both of those things; the line of the serpent-stomper from Eve to J