John 8:37-47 - Homiletics

The spiritual parentage of the faithless Jews.

Jesus does not deny their legitimate descent from Abraham. Truth must be conceded to an adversary.

I. THEIR MORAL PARENTAGE CANNOT BE TRACED TO ABRAHAM . "But ye seek to kill me, because my Word makes no progress in you."

1 . Our Lord concedes that his Word had somehow made an entrance, but national prejudices hindered its thorough acceptance in heart as well as mind.

2 . The explanation of the resistance given to the full power of the truth. "As for me, I speak that which I have seen with the Father: and ye do the things which ye have heard from your father."

(a) perfect and

(b) direct.

(a) The devil is actively engaged in misleading those who have accepted the truth even intellectually.

(b) The unstable nature is very open to evil guidance.

II. THE PERSISTENCY OF THE JEWISH CLAIM TO A PURE ABRAHAMIC DESCENT . "Abraham is our father."

1 . The Jews already claimed an interest in the Abrahamic inheritance. "We be Abraham's seed." They now claimed the dignity and security of a personal relationship.

2 . We are all too prone

(a) to pride ourselves on our external privileges,

(b) and it is a danger to souls to rely upon them.

III. THE PRACTICAL TEST APPLIED TO THIS CLAIM . "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham."

1 . The child is supposed to bear the ethical stamp of the father ' s character. Moral descent is inconsistent with contrariety of action. Abraham was remarkable

2 . The Jews practically repudiated their Abrahamic relationship by their conduct. "But now ye seek to kill me, a Man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard from God?" There was an evil gradation in their conduct.

IV. OUR LORD ASSERTS A DIFFERENT PARENTAGE FOR THE JEWS . "Ye do the deeds of your father." The Jews begin to discern that a spiritual father is meant, and accordingly shift their ground to meet the new contention of our Lord.

1 . The Jews claim a, Divine fatherhood. "We are not born of fornication; we have but one Father, God."

2 . Our Lord manifests the groundlessness of their claim. "If God were your Father, ye would love me."

(a) of Christ's Divine Sonship and his incarnation—"For I proceeded forth and came from God;" and

(b) of his mission as Mediator—"Neither came I of myself, but he sent me." Had the Jews loved Christ, they would have recognized the Divine character of his Person and his work.

3 . Our Lord expiators their ignorance of his language. "Why do ye not recognize my language? Because ye cannot understand my Word."

V. OUR LORD ASSERTS THE TRUE PARENTAGE OF THE JEWS WITHOUT DISGUISE . "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye desire to do."

1 . It was an act of courage as well as faithfulness to make such an assertion.

2 . It was an assertion founded on truth, for it was justified by a right interpretation of their conduct. The Jews manifested the two traits of the devil's character—hatred of man and aversion. to the truth. Let men pretend what they will, their conduct must be taken as the test of their character.

3 . The character here assigned to the Jews is not due to the parent, but to the children ; for they "desired to do the lusts of their father."

VI. THE PORTRAIT OF THE DEVIL . "He has been a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, because there is no truth in him."

1 . The words imply that the devil is an evil spirit, and not a mere personification of evil.

2 . The existence of the devil is no more inconsistent with the holiness or goodness of God then the existence of evil men on earth.

3 . There are two characteristics of the devil.

(a) He brought death into the world by his subtlety and falsehood ( 2 Corinthians 11:3 ).

(b) He has had a long history as a murderer. His first act was in Paradise. He instigated Cain's murder of his brother. He prompted the act of Judas Iscariot to secure the death of Christ. He still tempts sinners to their destruction.

(a) Because he fell from the truth himself, and from that holiness that marks the realm of truth.

(b) The reason of his fall is his utter falseness. "There is no truth in him." He does not dwell in the sphere of truth, because he is subjectively out of all sympathy and relation to it.

(c) The effect of his falseness. "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh from his own resources: for he is a liar, and the father of the liar."

( α ) The devil, in contrast with the Holy Spirit, who speaketh not of himself, but of the things given him of God. elaborates his lies out of the immense storehouse of his own creative ingenuity.

( β ) He was the first liar, as he was the first murderer; he was a liar first, because by his lies he deceived our first parents to their destruction. He was the first author of a lie. The first lie, "Thou shalt not surely die," was uttered by the devil.

( γ ) He is the father of a large family—he is "the father of the liar"—a character

(i) full of deceit,

(ii) odious to God and man,

(iii) doomed to feel the bitterness of distrust in this life,

(iv) and to be "cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone" ( Revelation 20:10 ).

VII. THE PROOF OF THE DEVIL 'S INFLUENCE OVER THE JEWISH MIND . "And as for me, because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not."

1 . As the opposition between Christ and the devil is the opposition between truth and falsehood, it manifests itself in the children of the two respectively.

2 . If Jesus had spoken falsehood, the Jews would have believed him.

3 . The unbelief of the Jews had a moral ground. It is true psychologically to speak of "the evil heart of unbelief."

4 . Christ ' s moral conduct afforded no suggestion unfavourable to the truth of his doctrine. "Which of you convinceth me of sin?"

5 . The unreasonableness of continued unbelief. "And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?' If I am no sinner, and nothing in my conduct injures the purity of my testimony to the truth, you are still more obstinately unreasonable in refusing to believe me.

6 . The final explanation of Jewish unbelief. "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."