Arguing with the devil’s crowd John 8:36-47
We begin by looking at Jesus’ statement in verse 36 where He says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Jesus was talking to a few believers in the crowd about spiritual freedom when the Pharisees who were listening and keeping an eye on Him totally misunderstood what He was saying because they respond as though He was referring to political freedom. And the very mention of any kind of slavery moves them to make a declaration that they were the free sons of Abraham when in reality Jesus was trying to point out that they were slaves to sin. And He refers to Himself as the Son who can and will set the slaves free from sin. And He says that those He frees are free indeed.
Listen, He’s not talking about political freedom. This goes way beyond time or any social movement. I mean, there have been those who have enjoyed the freedom of the Lord while still enslaved in prison camps or by totalitarian regimes and all kinds of other horrible situations. But they were free nonetheless. They were free from sin. And sin is why Jesus came from heaven to earth.
They object to what He’s saying, mostly because they don’t understand the freedom He’s offering and they do this by claiming that they had never been the slaves of anyone. Now, the Jews had a hard time even understanding the concept of slavery being applied to them for the simple reason that they never even recognized it when they were slaves. And as I pointed out last week there were several times in their history when they were captured and enslaved and yet, they don’t even acknowledge that it happened.
And what we pick up in this passage is that they relate their spiritual freedom or salvation with their relationship to Abraham. And for the Jew Abraham was the greatest figure in religious history and so they considered themselves safe and secure in the sight of God because they could all trace their heritage back to him. You see, they actually believed that any Jew would be welcomed into heaven because Abraham was their forefather.
Their admiration for Abraham was commendable because he was a giant in Jewish history but their faith in him was somewhat misguided. You see, they believed that he had gained such favor with God that they could somehow piggyback on the rewards that he had earned. It’s like the idea that some people have of their parents having served God and now they’re going to ride on their coat tails all the way to heaven.
The Jews taught that they received part of Abraham’s rewards for being faithful. And this promise of reward made their prayers acceptable, helped them in times of war, took away their sins, appeased the wrath of God and assured them a place in the eternal kingdom. And it’s only when you understand all this that this passage really makes sense.
And their reasoning went like this, if Abraham was the friend of God and we are his children, then it stands to reason that we too are acceptable in the sight of God. I mean, God is not going to bless Abraham and let him into heaven and then say, I’m sorry but your children aren’t welcome here. And in the conversation that follows they keep referring to Abraham as the authority for their faith while totally rejecting not only Jesus Christ but the very teachings of God’s word.
In verse 37 He said, “I know you are Abraham’s offspring; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.” He didn’t dispute that they were the physical dependants of Abraham but because of their unbelief He said they certainly weren’t his spiritual descendents because they had no faith.
Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children you would do the works of Abraham.” And the works Jesus was referring to are found in Genesis 14 and 18 and they include not only being obedient to the word of God but also paying honor to those who spoke in the name of God. And of course we remember Abraham was obedient even when God told him to sacrifice his son. And later on we see him honoring Melchizedek who appeared to him in chapter 14 and then the Lord Himself who also appeared in chapter 18.
By claiming the fatherhood of Abraham they were saying, his salvation is our salvation and not because we’ve trusted God but because we’ve inherited it. And there are Baptists and people from every other denomination who think the same way. They’re members of a church, they’re baptized, they take part in the Lord’s table and they might even tithe but that’s the end of their faith. They do all of these things but they have never repented of their sin and come to know the Lord. It’s like someone said, “The devil has the immoral and drug addicted people of the streets and I’m sure he has a few of the deacons and pastors of evangelical churches as well.”
I used to go to the Moody Bible Conferences held for pastors in Chicago. And it seemed like every year they’d have some fantastic speaker that would really challenge your heart and then the next year you’d hear that he had been caught in immorality.
It makes you wonder. Were these people who just messed up in their Christian life or were they the false believers that Jesus warned us about? I guess the big question is, how many more are like those who get caught that we don’t know about? Remember where Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone that sayeth unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” And what it all boils down to is; it’s not what we say but what we say backed up by what we do.
The Pharisees said, don’t worry about us, we’re alright. After all, we’re descended from the line of Abraham. We have nothing to worry about spiritually because whatever happens to him happens to us. And Jesus points out the inconsistency between them and Abraham. Abraham was a man approved by God, the Bible says he not only walked with God but he was also praised by God. And they were saying that everything that applied to Abraham applied to them because they were his descendants but Jesus points out that they were looking to kill Him. And did you notice that when He said that, no one shouted out, no we’re not. And the reason they didn’t do this was they were and they knew it. They had been planning to kill Him in chapter 5 when He healed the man on the Sabbath and again in chapter 7 when they sent the guards to arrest Him at the temple.
And then He goes on to explain the cause of their inconsistency. And He pointed out their problem was that their descent from Abraham was only physical. And Jesus points out that their spiritual ancestry was actually demonic. He said they were the children of their father the devil.
We have a tendency to sum of the world’s population by saying that everyone is serving either God or the devil and in a sense this is true but most people are just serving themselves. But, these men were actually Satan’s tools in a way that most people wouldn’t be. And they proved it not only by their attitude toward Jesus but also by their vicious efforts to kill Him.
On the other hand there is a sense in which all that is not of God can be traced back to Satan, for it was through Satan that sin first entered the human race. So, if anyone sins and we all do then we are demonstrating a demonic ancestry in the sense that we are following Satan’s path.
Jesus then makes a statement here in verse 39 where He says, “If you are Abraham’s children” and the construction of this statement indicates that mere physical lineage wasn’t good enough to save them. And the apostle Paul agrees with this. Look over in Philippians 3:4-9. And there Paul writes, “Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews: as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
So, Paul says, all my religion was a waste of time as far as gaining salvation was concerned. And let’s face it, he spent his life in religious training and service but his conclusion was, it did nothing to save his soul. Now listen, a person who is exposed to the word of God has a greater chance of believing it than the one who isn’t but the exposure in itself is no guarantee.
The last couple of weeks I’ve been reading and thinking about men who were in the forefront of Christianity but lost their children. I was thinking of Billy Sunday who they say was used by God to reach over two million people for Jesus. He had had eight children and his wife said that none of them responded to his message and followed his faith. Or think of the evangelist and song writer Charles Weigle who wrote the hymn, “No one ever cared for me like Jesus.” They say he only had one son and he died an alcoholic. And I’m sure if we went through the rolls of the church in general we’d find there were many more because every one of us must make their own decision to follow the Lord. My mum or dad didn’t do it for me and I can’t do it for my kids. Salvation is an individual choice. Jesus said, “You must be born again.” And the word you is single.
But the sense of what Jesus is saying to them is; if you were Abraham’s children you would have followed Abraham’s example. And basically He declares that the real descendant of Abraham is the one who acts like Abraham acted. And that was the same message that John the Baptist had given. He warned the people in Matthew 3:8 and 9 that they had better bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance and then he warned them to repent because it was no good pleading that they were the descendants of Abraham because if God wanted to, He could raise up descendants to Abraham from the very stones of the ground. And the apostle Paul made the same argument. He said it wasn’t flesh and blood that made one a descendant of Abraham but one who had the same moral and spiritual nature.
And then Jesus pointed out the real difference between them and Abraham when He said they were trying to kill Him which was the opposite of what Abraham did. And He could have been referring to how Abraham received Him back in Genesis 18. It says, “And the Lord appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground, and said, my Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, so do as thou hast said.”
So, what He was saying was; how could they call themselves the descendants of Abraham when their conduct was so contrary to his. The conduct of the unbelieving Jews was so diametrically opposed to Abraham who had lived a life of obedience in all that God commanded. And Jesus was telling them that they lived in such a way that it was evident that they were no relationship to either Abraham or God. And they took the argument a step further by saying, “God is our father.” And Jesus’ response to this was to say, that if that were true then they would have loved and welcomed Him. And here is one of John’s key thoughts in the gospel. The true test of a man’s faith is His reaction to Jesus.
And here we see here the natural self-righteousness of the common man. When He said they were angry and intending to kill Him in verse 40 we notice that they don’t even deny it, so obviously this was in the back of their mind and yet here they are arguing about their spiritual qualifications. Years ago when I was pastoring in Guelph one of the people told me the story of a former pastor who had been arrested for homosexual activity in Toronto. On the night he was arrested and he said to the officer, “You can’t arrest me. I’m a Baptist minister.” And the police officer said, “Well, I guess that this isn’t your lucky day because I’m a Baptist too and for that very reason I’m going to arrest you.” You see, just like the Pharisees in Jesus day this man thought that he had some kind of qualification that let him get away with his sin.
Not only do we see the self-righteousness of these men but we also see the true marks of a child of God. These people said, “We have Abraham to our father” but Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children you would do the works of Abraham.” And then they said, “We have one Father, even God.” And Jesus said, “If God were your Father you would love Me.”
We hear so many absurd statements about the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man but in this passage Jesus is telling us that a child of God is like Abraham and as Paul says in Romans 4 that Abraham believed God and his belief was counted as righteousness. And this simply means that he recognized that he could not save himself so he put his full and complete trust in God.
And then He says, “If God were your father then you would love Me.” And here’s the real indication if someone is saved. It’s not whether you believe in a particular version of the Bible or what interpretation you have of the book of Revelation. It’s simply, do you love Jesus Christ? If we can’t say we love Him then we can’t claim to have a relationship with God.
Then Jesus said to them in verse 41, “You do the deeds of your father” and if you go down to verse 44 we see where He tells them that the devil is their father but look how they respond here in verse 41 where they say, “We are not born of fornication.” And this isn’t an explanation of their origin but it’s a snide dig at what they heard about Jesus birth.
From ancient times this form of expression has been interpreted as a sneer, it was like saying, “We are not illegitimate children but you are.” And the reason they did this was to try and embarrass Jesus and keep Him quiet. They’ve resorted to making accusations about His mother’s morality which of course had nothing to do with His statement. But, it’s like they used to say in Cape Breton. “If you can’t argue with someone just hit him with a rock.” And the rock they tried to use was His virgin birth.
And you have to keep in mind that Jesus was about thirty years old. And this tells us that the only thing they had to say about Jesus that was negative in their minds was what they had heard about the manner of His birth. And you can imagine what it was like back in the time when Jesus was born because He was from a small town where everybody knew everyone else’s business. And people in Jesus’ day were very much like the people in ours, they can be very forgiving but that doesn’t mean that they ever forget.
It might have been similar to the town of Sackville. I remember when I first came here someone said, “Almost everything you hear on the street is true; you just have to wait until Wednesday morning to get confirmation from the Tribune.”
Jesus makes an unusual statement in verse 42 when He says, “If God were your father you would love Me.” What He does here is stress that the fact that one is a child of God is proven by their love for His Son. After all, if we accept His testimony that He and the Father are one then it’s impossible to love one without loving the other.
And then in verse 43 Jesus asked them, “Why do you not understand what I am saying?” And then He answers His own question by saying, “It is because you cannot hear My word.” You see, the problem wasn’t that they were intellectually stupid, they were spiritually deaf. It wasn’t a matter of intellectual capacity but inner response. They couldn’t hear because they wouldn’t hear. And let’s face it; if you tune something out long enough, after a while you just won’t hear it anymore.
When I was about thirteen my aunt used to get me to watch her kids while she went to the card game. This was when color television first came out and she was one of the first to have one so I was more than willing. I’d sit there with all the kids and we’d watch Bonanza and you could actually tell the color of little Joe’s horse. (Those were exciting days.) The only problem was my aunt lived directly across the street from the railroad tracks and her house was about a block from the crossing. So, every night when that train came through it blew those great big diesel horns right by her front door. Needless to say, when that horn went off you almost jumped out of your skin. But after a few weeks of going up their every Sunday night, it got to the point where the train would go by and you wouldn’t even notice it. Why not? You just psychologically blocked it out. And these people had done the same. They had tuned out the word of God for so long that they didn’t even know what it said.
I often wonder if that ever happens to us. You know, we go to church, sing the hymns and listen to the message but when we get home someone asks us what was the message all about? And we say, the same old thing. And the reason we say that is because we haven’t got a clue what was said. Or am I the only one this happens to?
So, Jesus said, their conduct was proof that their father was really Satan and not Abraham when He said, “You do the works of your father.” And the evidence of this is the attitude and actions they have toward Him. He knew what was in their heart. He could trace their actions right to their source and His conclusion in verse 44 was that they were of their father the devil. And by saying this, He wasn’t just using a common expression from the culture.
When I lived down home in Cape Breton and someone’s kid did something really destructive they’d say, “That child belongs to the devil himself.” Now, that wasn’t a very nice thing to say but it was just a saying. And the same child could do something nice for them the next day, like mow their lawn or run to the store and they’d say, “He’s just like an angel of God.” And these were meaningless but common expressions.
But when Jesus says to the Pharisees that they were of their father the devil He goes on to explain why they were like him. And He specifically says that they were either doing or were about to do the very same things that the devil had done since the beginning of time.
And He’s very specific. He points out that Satan had been a murderer from the beginning. And I’m sure you remember how Satan had first tempted Eve in the garden of Eden and through this temptation came the first sin and then through that sin came both spiritual and eventually physical death. Now listen, if there had been no temptation, there would have been no sin, and if there had been no sin, there would have been no death. Therefore, the devil is the murderer of the whole human race. And not only that but the devil murders goodness, morality, honesty, honor, beauty, and everything that makes life attractive. He murders peace of mind, happiness and every form of love. We wonder why he does that and the answer is simple. It’s because he hates God and everything God loves.
And then Jesus says of Satan, “He does not stand in the truth because there’s no truth in him.” And then He gives an illustration of what He means when He says, “Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Did you ever meet someone who lies so easily that it’s seems like a natural ability? I went to work one time selling carpet and floor tiles and they had a salesman there who could lie about anything. When a customer said they liked a certain tile or carpet he’d say that’s a very wise choice, it’s the same thing my wife put in our bedroom. When I first heard him say that I thought, “Well, that was a lucky break for him.” And then the third time I heard him said this about different flooring in the same room I thought, this guy is a liar. And he lied all day long about anything. It got to the point where I wouldn’t even ask him the time because I wouldn’t believe him if he told me. He came by it honestly, after all, he was just like his father who was the father of lies.
My wife told me her grandmother had an unusual way of dealing with the Jehovah Witnesses when they came to the door on Saturday mornings. She’d say, “I don’t have time to talk to you now but here’s a verse of scripture for you to think about.” And she gave them John 8:44 and closed the door. They would walk away and look up the verse as they went and of course the verse said, “You are of your father the devil.” I thought that was a good way of getting your point across and it sure beat spending an hour arguing with them.
This passage tells us that the devil is a real personal being. Jesus refers to him as a he and He calls him by name. Of course most of society thinks the devil is just a joke. You know, he’s the little red guy with the horns and the curly tail. He can’t hurt you, don’t worry about him. He’s just a bother nothing more. And because of this view of the devil nobody ever thinks about him and that’s exactly what he wants you to do.
The apostle Paul wrote that we were not ignorant of Satan’s devices. The word device means a trick, plot, scheme or strategy. So, the point is that we should know about Satan’s tricks to blind men’s minds and hold them captive for hell. And the best strategy he has is to make people think he doesn’t exist. But Jesus not only acknowledges his existence but in Matthew 6:13 tells His disciples to pray, “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.”
So, Jesus was saying that just as it’s natural for a son to manifest his father’s characteristics and since the Jews displayed the patterns of Satan in their hostility toward Him and their failure to believe in Him then Jesus said their claim to belong to God was false. And what Jesus was saying to them He could have said to the whole unsaved world because all unsaved men everywhere are in bondage to the evil one.
He ends in verse 45 by saying, “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak the 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.”
Listen, He made a tremendous challenge here. He said,” Is there anyone here who can point a finger at any sin in My life?” And it’s like He scans the crowd and waits for a response but no one said a word. So, we could say they testify to Jesus’ sinlessness by their silence. Not only do they have nothing to say but there’s a sense here that He put His whole life up for examination when He said, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” It’s interesting to see that even when He is brought before the Sanhedrin they had to get a couple of guys that were called the sons of Belial which is another way of saying they were the town drunks to come and make something up. And even they couldn’t agree.
None of us, I hope, would or could ever make a statement that we were sinless. All of us are either conscious of our sins and imperfections or we know someone else that is. But Jesus said this and keep in mind that not only was He known by these religious leaders, I mean, it was a small community and I’m sure that not only would He have been in their Sabbath school but a few of His brothers were in the crowd and if there was any sin to report they would or could have said something. But everyone was quiet. Why? They had nothing to say because Jesus was the sinless Son of God.
As the scripture says in verse 46 they could find no sin in Jesus but still they rejected Him. If they had been of God, they would have believed but their unbelief demonstrated where they were at. And after He gave them a chance to respond He continued by saying, “If what I say is true, then why don’t you believe Me?” And then He said in verse 47, “He that is of God hears God’s words; you hear them not because you are not of God.” Anyone who has no love for the truth of God’s word is not of God.
Here’s the difference between the true believer and the one who is trusting in religion. The believer works out of gratitude for his salvation but the religious person works for his salvation. A poet wrote,
I will not work my soul to save,
For that my Lord hath done,
But I will work like any slave
For love of God’s dear Son.
