False Assurance
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2021 · 11 April 2021
Everybody’s got a family. That’s how the world is divided up. We all also like a little bit of history about our people. And people can learn a lot from your ancestors. But you can reduce the whole discussion down to really two families. Everybody’s in one of two families. You are either in God’s family or in the devil’s family. And that’s exactly what Jesus says in this text.
John 8:37-47, Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. 38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.” 39 “Our father is Abraham!” they declared. “No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example.”
“40 Instead, you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing. 41 No, you are imitating your real father.” They replied, “We aren’t illegitimate children! God himself is our true Father.” 42 Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but He sent Me.”
“43 Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! 44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
“45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! 46 Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.” Almost everybody in the world, if they believe in God, would see themselves as children of God.
The Jews saw themselves as the examples of religious virtue, and the gatekeepers for God’s kingdom. To be told that they are children of the devil would be something they had never ever heard. In fact, were I to say all of this in some public venue where it could be broadcast, we could expect an uproar that would develop as a result of me saying that people are children of the devil.
But that’s exactly what Jesus says. Why is He so blunt? Well, the answer is that Jesus is now six months from the end of his life. He’s been preaching for two and a half years. And He has been in direct confrontation with the Jewish leaders for the whole time of His ministry, starting when He attacked the temple to launch His ministry at the beginning. He has seen the hate of the Jewish leaders.
As the antagonism of these leaders grew, so the directness and severity of Jesus’ statements have increased. The more they show Him hatred, the more He strikes back at their hypocrisy. In John 8:20 - 24, Jesus said, “You will die in your sins, and where I go, you can never come.” Which means, I’m going to heaven; you’re not. He also said that He came from heaven, and would return to heaven.
Now, it’s critical that sin be confronted. And depending on the resistance of the sinner, the confrontation has to be escalated as you would do with anybody on the brink of severe danger. And if they don’t listen to the first call and the second call, you start elevating the extremity of the call, and the severity of the call, because of the imminent reality of the danger of hell.
And that’s exactly what our Lord does, and it’s a good model for us. It’s hard to do that, but this is what the Bible does as well. The apostle Paul in Romans 1, 2, and 3 is talking about how sinful man is. And in Romans 1, it’s the Gentiles, though they knew God, they glorify Him not as God, but make idols, and follow a path that leads to fornication, homosexuality, a reprobate mind, and all kind of wretchedness.
Even though Paul says in Romans 2:15, the law of God is written in their hearts. But they don’t follow that law. Then he also talks about the Jews in Romans, and he says, “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly.” Then he says, “You say we have the law. We are the keepers of the law. We are the guardians of the law.” Then Paul says, “Because of you, the name of God is blasphemed among the nations.”
So it does little good for you to have the law. It doesn’t mean anything. You are not true Jews. A true Jew is one who’s one inwardly. And in Romans 3:23, He just tells us about everybody condition, “There’s none righteous. No, not one.” And He says in Romans 3:19, that “the whole world is guilty.” And Christ proved it with such conviction and power that the sinner couldn’t avoid it.
Paul says that by the deeds of the law, no one will be justified. So, you can’t fix it on your own. There’s no security in religion. There’s no security in good works. There’s no security in your heritage like the Jews believed. Only in Christ can sin be forgiven and escape hell. Only by believing in Christ. And that’s what Jesus had been saying all along: believe, believe.
Jesus said it was necessary to believe in Him. They didn’t want to hear that. He told them they needed to be forgiven. They denied that. He told them they need to repent. They refused that. He told them they didn’t know God. They didn’t buy that. He told them they would die in their sins, and they mocked Him. Religious people in false religions never see themselves the way they really are.
One rabbi put it this way in Jewish literature, “Abraham himself sits beside the gates of hell and does not permit any wicked Israelite to enter.” Really? Is it Abraham’s job to keeps you out of hell? Another Jewish rabbi says, “They who are the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, even if they are sinners and unbelieving and disobedient toward God, will share in the eternal kingdom.”
So, being Jewish was for them a free pass to do anything. When Jesus said ‘you will die in your sins, and where I go, you can’t come’, He was saying in spite of what you believe and have been taught, you aren’t going to heaven where I’m going; you’re going to hell. Jesus dealt a deathblow to these false assurances. Part of being honest with the gospel is shattering false securities.
So, now we come to today’s verses. The Jews have three claims and they are progressive. First, they claim to be the physical seed of Abraham, which is true. Secondly, they claim to be the spiritual seed of Abraham, which is not true. And thirdly, they claim to be the children of God, which is not true. Jesus agrees with the first, and then just devastates the last two false claims.
So, that’s exactly what our Lord does. Number one, they claim to be Abraham’s physical children. In the prior conversation with the same people, our Lord was talking to them about truth and freedom, remember? “The truth shall make you free. If you continue in My word, you’re My true disciples.” So, they say in verse 33, “We are Abraham’s descendants.” That ends the discussion.
They say, we don’t need You and Your message. We are Abraham’s descendants. So, Jesus responds to that claim that they made in verse 33 over in verse 37, “Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham.” And amazingly, even today most of their racial lines are wonderfully pure. As the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12:2 promised, He would have a great nation.
But Jesus says something is wrong here. Verse 37-39 continues, “And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. 38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.” 39, “Our father is Abraham!” they declared. “No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example.”
Jesus is now going to shift them away from thinking Abraham is their father, to thinking somebody else is their father. It’s true, and Paul says in Romans 9, you have the law, the prophets and the covenants. You have all the privileges of being Jewish people who are descendants of Abraham. But it doesn’t do any good because no man can be justified by the deeds of the law.
Do you remember in Genesis 18 when Abraham and Sarah were at home one evening, and some angels showed up? And one of those angels turned out to be God. It’s a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. And what did Abraham do when Christ appeared? He received Him and embraced Him. They made a dinner and had fellowship together.
But you have rejected Me, God who came down to earth. You’re not Abraham’s spiritual children. Abraham only saw a limited shadow of it, a preview. You’ve had the full story for three years, by the time you crucify Him. Furthermore in Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God and was counted unto him for righteousness.” So who are the spiritual sons of Abraham? People who believed God.
And here is where they make the final claim: “We have one true Father: God.” Not only are we the physical children of Abraham, the spiritual children of Abraham, but we are the spiritual children of God. Why? Because we’re not born of fornication which is paganism. And connected with paganism was immorality. We are not involved in the immorality of paganism. We worship God.
Jesus is saying, “I speak the words of God. But you don’t believe. You are not Abraham’s spiritual children.” Verse 40, “Instead, you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing.” Verse 41, No, you are imitating your real father.” They replied, “We aren’t illegitimate children! God himself is our true Father.”
We are spiritual children of Abraham because we believe what Abraham believed. And then Jesus says, “No you are not spiritual children of Abraham. You don’t believe when God speaks because I’ve been speaking the Word of God to you. In verse 42 Jesus says, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but He sent Me.”
God is not your Father, because unlike Abraham, you want to kill the messenger from heaven. This is a complete shattering of all their confidence in their religion. Because as long as they trust in their false hopes, they are lost and damned. You don’t receive the word of God, and you hate the Son of God. You do not belong to God. It has to do with loving the truth and loving Jesus.
Verse 43, Jesus asked, “Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me!” The natural man does not understand not the things of God because to him they are foolishness. You don’t understand because you won’t believe. Once you believe, then everything becomes clear, right? So, you don’t understand what I’m saying because you can’t hear My words.
Then Jesus drops the bomb. Verse 44, “For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” First John 3:1-10, contrasts the children of God and the children of the devil, by the things they do.
How extensive is the power of Satan? Hebrews says he has the power of death, and he exercised it in one act that literally killed the human race in the garden. There’s something in us that’s corrupting us, and we can’t sustain the perfection of that original body. And the devil is a liar, and his lies still go on today. And one of his big lies is that everybody is a child of God.
Verse 45, Jesus said, “So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me!” You don’t believe the truth. You are children of the devil. Here’s the way to diagnose a child of the devil: that person doesn’t believe the truth and doesn’t love Christ. Here’s the way to diagnose a child of God, that person loves the truth and believes everything that Christ tells us in the Bible and loves Him.
Verse 46, “Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me?” Well, nobody did, or they would’ve thrown it at Him. And when it came down to trying to get a reason to execute Him in the end, they had all those mock trials and nobody could come up with anything. Finally, they had to bribe some false witnesses to make up things.
Verse 47, He says, “Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.” Everybody you meet is either of God or of the devil. And the world of Satan, the kingdom of darkness, as Paul calls it, is caught up in hatred, which is simply a manifestation of selfishness, deception, lies, and untruth. This is universal. This isn’t just Jewish people.
The children of the devil have an unbroken pattern of sin, and it shows itself in pride, which manifests itself in hatred and murder. Children of God practice righteousness. It shows itself in the love of the truth, in the love of the Savior, in the love of one another. So, when you think about checking into your ancestry, what matters is not the family in the past, but the family in the present, Amen? Let us pray.