John 08(30–44)

Introduction

Last week’s passage was about many things, but the main thing was what the Lord Jesus said about being the light of the world. As the Eternal Son of God, he has been shining continually ever since the creation of the world, giving to every living person the light of the knowledge of God through what he has made. But now he has come into the world in a new way, because he has come into the world as one of us. And he came to make known to us the overflowing goodness and love and the grace and mercy of God the Father who sent him to save us from our sin and misery and to give us eternal life in his presence. He is the light of the world and whoever follows him by believing in him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life, because he gives eternal life to all who believe in his name.

Today we’re studying the verses we read a moment ago. And remember: this is all part of the Lord’s speech to the people during the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles was one of the great religious festivals which was held in Jerusalem each year. And at this particular festival, the people lived for a week in little booths or huts to remember the time when they lived in tents as they made their way from Egypt through the wilderness and into the Promised Land in the days of Moses.

And so, they remembered and gave thanks to God for the ways he provided for them in the wilderness and how he continued to provide for them ever since. In the wilderness, he gave them manna from heaven and water from a rock. And since they arrived in the Promised Land, he provided for them by causing the sun to shine and the rain to fall and their crops to grow. And so, the Feast of Tabernacles was an occasion to remember and to give thanks to God for his kindness to them.

And during that Feast, the Lord Jesus taught them many things. And we can divide what he said to them in today’s passage into two parts. Firstly, he teaches them about freedom. That’s in verses 30 to 36. And secondly, he makes clear that there are really only two families on the earth, because the whole human race can be divided into those who belong to the devil and those who belong to God. That’s in verses 37 to 44.

Verses 30 to 36

Let’s focus first on verses 30 to 36. Verse 30 is really the last verse of last week’s passage, where John told us that while the Lord was speaking, many put their faith in him. And so it is in every generation. The Lord Jesus comes to us through the reading and preaching of his word. And as he speaks to us through the reading and preaching of his word, he enables many to believe in his name for salvation.

And then, according to verse 31, the Lord said to those ones who believed in him: ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.’ When he refers to holding to his teaching, he means believers need to have a firm faith. We’re to hold tightly to the good news of the gospel about Jesus Christ. Someone is handed a plate to hold, but she lets it slip through her fingers and it crashes to the ground. That’s no good. Or one rugby player passes the ball to his team-mate and his team-mate needs to catch it and hold on to it firmly. And he can’t let someone from the other side snatch it from his hands. And we need to hold on firmly to what we have heard and believed about the Saviour. We’re not to be like those who believe one day and not the next. We’re to keep believing. And we’re to persevere in the faith. We’re to grasp the good news of the gospel and we’re to hold on to it tightly.

And all who believe with a firm faith will know the truth and the truth will set us free. But free in what sense? A prisoner in jail wants his freedom. He wants to be allowed to walk out of his cell for good. Other people want political freedom. Maybe they live somewhere where they’re governed by an oppressive ruler and their every move is monitored closely and if they don’t conform to what is expected they’re penalised in many ways. Someone else wants to be set free from a difficult job. They dread going into work each day and they long for the day when they’ll be able to leave or retire. And perhaps someone else wants to be freed from a bad marriage. Her relationship with her husband has become sour and their love has grown cold and she wants to be freed from this man to start a new life for herself. Or ungrateful children want their parents to stop bothering them. Why must my parents keep interfering in my life? Why won’t they let me do what I want? When will I be free of them? And someone else wants to be free from all the bills that keep growing. They want to be free of debt. And a harassed and burdened man wants to be freed from all his responsibilities. He wants to go back to the days when he was young and could do what he liked and no one was counting on him for anything.

And in each case, there’s a person who believes that their life would be so much better if they could free themselves from whatever is trapping them. But will it? People think that if they are set free from prison, then they’ll be happy. But there are lots of people who have never been in prison and they’re not happy. People think that if they move from one country to another, then they’ll be happy. But people are unhappy everywhere. Someone thinks that if she gets out of a bad marriage, then she’ll be happy. But lots of single people are unhappy. A teenager thinks he’ll be happy once he leaves home and he no longer has to do what his parents say. But lots of people who don’t live with their parents are unhappy. People think that if they are free of debt, they’ll be happy. But lots of debt-free people are unhappy too.

We tend to fixate on this one thing in our life which we think is the source of all our unhappiness. But usually it’s not the source of our unhappiness. It’s just a symptom of a deeper problem. And the Lord identifies what our deeper problem is in verse 34. In verse 34 he says that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. And so, that’s the deeper problem which we all face. The deeper problem we all face is sin.

And the Lord refers here to being slaves to sin. In the Bible, sin is not just something we do. Sin is also something which enslaves us. Sin is sometimes depicted as our master. And it’s a cruel master. So, think of the time when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. And their Egyptian slave-masters made their lives miserable. And sin is our master and it makes our lives miserable, because it makes us do things which we know are wrong. And afterwards, we suffer because of a guilty conscience. Or it makes us do things which are bad for us and which harm us. Or sin makes us do things which are mean and unkind to other people and we make them miserable. And so long as we remain in our sins, then we are justly liable to punishment from God in this life and the next. Sin bosses us around and it causes misery.

I was listening to a podcast this week and was reminded of the four states of humanity. This goes back to Augustine, who was one of the greatest theologians of all time. What are the four states of humanity? The first is posse peccare, posse non peccare. That’s Latin and it means ‘able to sin, able not to sin.’ That’s the way Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden before the fall. They were able to sin, but they were also able not to sin. And we know what happened. They freely chose to sin against God.

The second state is non posse non peccare and that’s the state of unbelievers and it means ‘not able not to sin’. Did you catch that? Unbelieving men and women and children are not able not to sin. In other words, they sin all the time and even their best deeds are spoiled by sin, because even when they do something good, they’re not doing it out of love for God. And when they sin, they sin freely. No one is forcing them. And they’re always sinning against God.

The third state is the state of the believer who has been born again of the Spirit of God and who has the help of the Spirit to do what is right. And it’s posse non peccare which means ‘able not to sin’. We’re still sinners and we still sin against God in this life. But with the help of the Spirit of God, we’re able not to sin. The Spirit helps us to do what is right and good and pleasing in God’s sight.

And the final state is non posse peccare which means ‘not able to sin’ and this is the way we’ll be in the life to come when God’s people are made perfect in the presence of God.

And so, until someone believes in the Lord Jesus, they are in that second state: they’re not able not to sin. They are so enslaved to sin that they can’t help themselves. They sin against God continually in thought and word and deed. Even their best deeds are spoiled by sin. And their sin leads to all kinds of misery for themselves and for others.

But look now at verse 36, where the Lord says that if the Son sets you free, then you will free indeed. So, everyone — before they’re converted to faith in Christ — is enslaved by sin. Sin is their master and they’re not able not to sin. And they can’t save themselves. They can’t release themselves from their enslavement to sin, because sin is too powerful. People who try to resist sin using only their own will-power know this is true, because even if we’re able to tame our bodies, all kinds of sinful thoughts and desires rise up unbidden within us. We can’t free ourselves from our enslavement.

But the Son is able to free us. And when the Lord refers to ‘the Son’, he’s talking about himself, isn’t he? He’s the Eternal Son of God. He’s God the Father’s only begotten Son. And he came into the world as one of us to be our Saviour and to set us free from sin. He set us free from the penalty of sin, because he suffered the penalty we deserve in our place. He took the blame for us and he bore the punishment we deserve in body and soul when he suffered and died on the cross. On the cross, God poured out his wrath on him instead of on us. And so, when we believe in him, we receive forgiveness from God instead of the penalty we deserve for our sins.

And the Son frees us from the power of sin, because he gives us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit works in us from the inside out and he enables us more and more to know and to do God’s will. He helps us to resist temptation from without and our own sinful desires within. So, people tempt us to do evil and the Holy Spirit enables us to say no to them, because he reminds us of God’s will and he gives us the desire to obey God’s will. And then we have our own sinful desires within us and he enables us to resist them and he enables us to desire what is good instead. And the Holy Spirit helps us to do what is right and good more and more.

And then one day, when we’re brought into the presence of God in the new and better world to come, the Lord Jesus will transform us completely and he’ll take from us every desire to sin and to do wrong. And instead, our every desire will be to love and obey God. The Son of God will glorify us in God’s presence in such a way that in the life to come we’ll not be able to sin. In the life to come, sinning against God will become impossible for us. And the Son our Saviour will keep us in that state for ever.

And so, since the Son is the one who sets us free from the penalty and power of sin, then we must look to him continually for the forgiveness we need and for the help and strength we need to resist sin and to do what is good and right and pleasing to God. We must hold on to him and to his teaching with a firm faith, believing all his promises and relying on him for his help.

Verses 37 to 44

So, that’s the first thing for us to consider this evening. The second thing for us to think about is how there are really only two families on the earth: there are all those who belong to the devil and there are all those who belong to Christ the Saviour.

Back in verse 33 the Jews said to the Lord that there were descendants of Abraham. And, of course, they were descended from Abraham, because Abraham was the father of Isaac and Isaac was the father of Jacob and Jacob was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. They all came from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. And in verse 37, the Lord agrees that they are indeed descendants of Abraham.

However, look now at verse 39 where the Lord says that if they were Abraham’s children, then they would do the things Abraham did. And, of course, he means that they are not children of Abraham, because they’re not doing the things Abraham did.

So, they are Abraham’s descendants, but they’re not Abraham’s children. What does the Lord mean by distinguishing between descendants and children? He means that they are descended from Abraham physically. However, they’re don’t bear any likeness to Abraham in terms of what they do and in how they behave. We say ‘like father, like son’ when a son resembles his father in some way. The father is known for being generous and so is his son. The father is known for enjoying some hobby and so is his son. Fathers and sons can be similar to one another. Mothers and daughters can be similar too. And what the Lord means is that the Jews are not the same as Abraham. They don’t resemble him in the way they behave.

And they don’t resemble Abraham because they want to kill him. Now, I think we have to take that the Lord is no longer speaking to those Jews who believed in him, but to the rest of the Jews in Jerusalem who did not believe in him. And the Lord says about them in verse 37 that they’re ready to kill him, because they have no room for his word. In other words, because they don’t believe what he’s been telling them about himself, they want to kill him. And in verse 40, he says that they’re determined to kill him, even though he’s a man who has told them the truth that he heard from God.

So, he’s come from God with a message from God. He’s come as a prophet of the Lord. And instead of receiving his message and believing his word, they want to kill him. Abraham did not do such things. And the one thing Abraham is famous for is believing God’s word. When God promised Abraham that he would make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, Abraham believed what God said. So Abraham believed God, whereas the Jews did not believe the Lord Jesus when he brought them a message from God. So, they might be descended from Abraham physically, but they’re not a bit like Abraham, because they don’t possess Abraham’s faith. Abraham is not their true father.

It seems they thought the Lord was questioning their parentage by saying Abraham was not their father. And so, they responded in verse 31 by saying they are not illegitimate children. And then they insisted that God is their Father. They insisted that they are God’s faithful people.

And the Lord answers them in verse 42 by saying that if God really were their Father, then they would love the Lord Jesus. They would love the Lord Jesus because he has come from God the Father. God the Father sent the Lord Jesus into the world. And so, if they really were God’s children, then they would love him, because he has come from God.

And so, Abraham is not their father, because if he were, they would listen to the Lord Jesus. And God is not their Father, because if he were, they would love the Lord Jesus. But instead of loving him and listening to him, they want to kill him.

And that leaves us with a question. If Abraham is not their father and if God is not their Father, who is their father? For the answer, we need to turn to verse 44, where the Lord says that they belong to their father and their father is the devil. And when he says that their father is the devil, he means they are like the devil. They resemble him. They resemble the devil because the devil was a murderer from the beginning. The devil was a murderer from the beginning because he tempted Adam and Eve to do something which led to their death. The devil was a murderer and they are like him in that they want to murder the Lord Jesus. And they resemble the devil because the devil is the father of lies. The first lie originated with him when he lied to Eve about what God had said about the forbidden fruit. The devil is the father of lies and they are like him because they prefer his lies to the truth of the Lord Jesus.

And by saying their father is the devil, the Lord is referring to something which takes us right back to the beginning of the Bible. In the beginning, Adam and Eve rejected God and his purpose for them when they ate the forbidden fruit. God’s purpose for them was for him to bring them into his presence where they would live with him for ever and where they would know him and where they would know his love for them for ever. But by eating the forbidden fruit, they rejected God’s purpose for them and instead of receiving eternal life they would die.

And at that time, Adam and Eve appeared before God and admitted what they had done. And the Lord spoke to them about how, from that time on, there would be these two seeds or families in the world: the seed or family of the serpent and the seed or family of the woman. In other words, there will be one family associated with the devil; and there will be another family associated with the woman. And God said that from the seed of the woman there will come the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, who will crush the serpent’s head and destroy him.

And so, God said in the beginning that there will always be these two seeds or these two families in the world. And these two seeds or these two families appear in the Bible again and again in different forms. And they always oppose one another and they’re always in conflict with one another.

So, we see the two seeds or these two families in the story of Cain and Abel. Yes, they were brothers and so, physically or biologically, they belonged to the same family. But by their actions, they demonstrated that belonged to different spiritual families. So, there was godly Abel who was killed by his ungodly brother Cain. Or think of Moses and the Israelites who were persecuted and oppressed by the Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Or think of Goliath and the Philistines who wanted to kill David and the Israelites. Or, think of King Herod who wanted to kill the infant Lord Jesus. And throughout his life on earth, there were those who loved the Lord Jesus and there were those who hated him and who wanted to kill him.

Throughout the Bible, we see these two seeds or these two spiritual families who are implacably opposed to one another and who are always in conflict with one another. There are all those who belong to the Lord and there all those who belong to the devil. It’s the church and the world. Believers and unbelievers. Those who love the Lord and who want to serve him and those who do not love the Lord and who willingly disobey him every day.

And here’s the Lord Jesus saying to the people in Jerusalem that although they are descended physically from Abraham, they actually belong spiritually to the devil. They are the seed of the serpent. And it’s clear to him that they belong to the devil, because they want to kill him and they won’t accept his word.

And we know from elsewhere in the Bible that one day the Lord Jesus is going to crush the devil and he’s going to crush all those who remain part of the devil’s family. He’s going to come to earth in power and with glory to overthrow the devil and all who belong to him and who do his will and he’s going to drive them from the presence of God and his goodness to be punished for ever and for ever. That’s what will happen ultimately to the devil and to his spiritual offspring who do his will.

But then there’s the seed of the woman. They are all the ones who belong to the Lord Jesus. They trust in him as their Saviour and they want to do his will and to be like him. And when the Lord Jesus comes again in power and with glory, he will gather them together and he will bring them into the presence of God and his goodness, where they will be made perfectly happy for ever and for ever as they behold God’s glory.

Conclusion

And so, there really are only two families in the world. There’s the seed of the serpent and there’s the seed of the woman. There are those who belong to the devil and there those who belong to the Saviour. And the good news of the gospel is that God is able to take those who belong to the devil and give them to his Son for salvation. He’s able to set us free from the devil and he makes us part of Christ’s spiritual family. Though we all belong by nature to the devil, God adds us to Christ by grace. In other words, because of God’s wonderful grace and mercy and abounding love, he delivers us from satan’s tyranny and he brings us to Christ for salvation. He enables us to trust in his Son with a firm faith. And all who trust in his Son with a firm faith are not only set free from our slavery to sin, but we’re set free from our slavery to the devil.

And if you’re a believer, if you’re trusting in the Son for salvation, then you should rejoice and give thanks to God for his kindness to you, because when you were born, you belonged to the devil. But God poured out his love on you and he rescued you from the devil and he made you a member of Christ’s family and he gave you the hope of everlasting life.

And those who do not yet believe in the Saviour should consider that you actually belong to the devil. But the good news is that if you believe in the Saviour, trusting in him for forgiveness and eternal life, then God will take hold of you and he’ll bring you out of the devil’s family and he’ll adopt you into his own family. All you have to do is trust in the Saviour for salvation.