In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia continues examining John 8:31-59, Jesus’ final public discussion with the Jews at the Feast of the Booths. John reports this discussion in his Gospel so that you will recognize your true spiritual state and turn to Jesus with perseverant faith.
In the second part of Jesus’ discussion, John 8:37-47, Jesus raises the question: are you demonstrating devilish parentage or divine parentage?
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Summary
John 8:37-47 teaches that every person has one of two spiritual fathers: God or the devil. Spiritual parentage is not merely influential but determinative—it shapes how we live, what we love, and especially how we respond to Jesus Christ. We are challenged to examine our own lives honestly: Do our deeds, desires, and response to Christ reveal that we are children of God or children of the devil?
Key Lessons:
- Spiritual descent matters far more than physical heritage—being religiously affiliated or ethnically connected to God’s people does not make someone a child of God.
- Our deeds reveal our true spiritual parentage; those who belong to the devil reflect his murderous, truth-hating character, while those who belong to God reflect His love and obedience.
- How we respond to the biblical Jesus is the definitive test of spiritual parentage—children of God love, welcome, and obey Christ, while children of the devil reject, twist, or ignore His word.
- There is no middle ground—every person is either a child of God or a child of the devil, and this reality explains everything about how they live.
Application: We are called to honestly assess our spiritual state by examining our deeds, desires, and response to the real Jesus of Scripture. If we find ourselves resistant to God’s word and living in sin, we must repent and turn to Christ in persevering faith rather than hiding behind religious identity or past spiritual experiences.
Discussion Questions:
- How does the distinction between physical and spiritual descent challenge the way we think about religious identity and church membership?
- Jesus says that children of the devil cannot hear God’s word because of contradicting desires in their hearts. What are some ways people today demonstrate an inability or unwillingness to hear God’s truth?
- How can we take both the warning and the comfort of this passage seriously—examining ourselves honestly while also resting in the assurance that comes from genuinely following Christ?
Scripture Focus: John 8:37-47 — Jesus declares that spiritual parentage is revealed by one’s deeds and response to Him; those who hear and obey God’s word are God’s children, while those who reject truth and desire sin are children of the devil. 1 John 3:1-10 is also referenced as a parallel passage providing both sobriety and assurance about spiritual identity.
Outline
- Introduction
- Children Take After Their Parents
- The Case of Spiritual Parentage
- Scripture Reading: John 8:31-59
- Context and Main Idea
- Spiritual Descent Matters More Than Physical
- Abraham’s Descendants Wanting to Kill Jesus
- Jesus’ Word Has No Place in Them
- Jesus Knows Their Hearts
- Doing What They Learned from Their Father
- Your Deeds Show Your True Parentage
- Your Response to Jesus Shows Your True Parentage
- Your True Spiritual Parentage Explains Everything
- The Devil: Murderer and Liar from the Beginning
- Preferring Lies Over Truth
- Jesus’ Sinless Challenge
- He Who Is of God Hears God’s Words
- The Jews’ Response: Hatred and Contempt
- Application: Assess Your Spiritual State
- Closing Prayer
Introduction
That’s an answer to prayer and congratulations to them. All right, well, let’s pray as we look to hear from the Lord.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Lord, the passage before us is meant to help us understand where we are with you. God, I pray for those that don’t know you, that they’d see that and they’d see their need to turn to you. But I pray for those who do know you, they would see that too and they’d find comfort and encouragement to keep on after you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Children Take After Their Parents
Well, something that I’ve always found fascinating is how often children take after their parents. How often children look like, talk like, and even act just like their moms and dads.
For example, though my son Benjamin is just over a year old, I can already see this reality in him. His face seems to be truly a combination of my own and my wife’s faces. He’s already getting tall, just like his dad, and he loves eating bread, just like his dad has always loved eating carbs.
Growing up, I basically subsisted on Cinnamon Toast. So when I see Benjamin happily munching on a waffle or a pancake, I say, “That’s my boy!”
He also likes eating pickles, though, which he definitely did not get from me. I’ve always despised pickles and would never taste briny. So I think he got that from his mother.
But surely all of us can testify that, to some degree, children take after their parents, even when the children or the parents don’t mean to make that happen.
“Children take after their parents, even when the children or the parents don’t mean to make that happen.”
To give another example, my dad has a Christian ministry in which he produces audio recordings of great old sermons—like 1700s, 1800s old—and he does this by re-preaching these sermons in his own voice.
The first time I heard one of these re-preached sermons, I was completely shocked at how much my dad sounds like me when he preaches, or rather, how much I sound like him. I never consciously tried to imitate the way my father talks. It just happened regardless.
But to give an example on the other side, I remember once talking with a Christian parent who was trying to be careful to train up his young daughter in proper behavior and speech. And he told me how dismayed he was one day to find out that she had learned and had begun to use some unclean words.
And he thought to himself, “Where did she learn to talk like that? We don’t have any movies with that kind of language. She doesn’t have any friends that she’s been hanging around who speak that way. Where’d it come from?”
And then he thought a little bit longer, and he realized, “Oh wait, that’s the way that I sometimes talk. I didn’t mean to teach her those words, but she nonetheless learned them from my own example.”
It’s amazing what kids will pick up from their parents. Though surely parents wish kids would pick up more of the good things rather than the bad things.
Parents can have a significant influence on their children by simple genetics, by the example they live, by purposeful discipline, and communication with their children. It’s not true that a parent can make their child turn out a certain way—good or bad.
Ultimately, a child will himself choose how to respond to his parents’ influence. As my biblical counseling professor used to say in seminary, “Parenting is influential but not determinative.”
The Case of Spiritual Parentage
Except in one case. One very important case: the case of spiritual parentage.
As we’ll see today in our next passage in the Gospel of John, the Bible makes clear that spiritually speaking, every person ultimately has one of two fathers: God or the devil.
Spiritual fatherhood isn’t merely influential. It is determinative. It will make you act a certain way, make you live a certain way, so much so that based on how a person speaks and acts, and especially on how a person responds to Jesus Christ, you can know a person’s spiritual paternity. You can know who his father is.
“Spiritually speaking, every person ultimately has one of two fathers: God or the devil.”
After all, as people say, “Like father, like son.”
The consequent startling truth is that when assessed this way, many religious people—many even professing Christians—demonstrate that their spiritual father is not God. It’s the devil.
The question for us is: What about me? What about you who are listening? What does your life show about your spiritual paternity?
That’s the central question of our next passage. That’s what we want to look at together today.
Please take your Bibles and turn to John 8:37-47.
The title of the message is “A Tale of Two Fathers.” John 8:37-47 is our passage, but I’d like to read the full section with you again so you can appreciate how it all fits together.
Scripture Reading: John 8:31-59
Follow along with me as I read John 8:31-59.
Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free?”
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son does remain forever. So if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with my father. Therefore, you also do the things which you have heard from your father.”
They answered and said to him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father.”
They said to him, “We were not born of fornication. We have one father: God.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God. For I have not even come on my own initiative, but he sent me.
Why do you not understand what I’m saying? It is because you cannot hear my word.
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.
Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me.
Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I speak 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.”
The Jews answered and said to him, “Do we not rightly say, or do we not say rightly, that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my father, and you dishonor me. But I do not seek my glory. There is one who seeks and judges.
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also, and you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’ Surely you are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too. Whom do you make yourself out to be?”
Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’ and you have not come to know him. But I know him, and if I say that I do not know him, I will be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”
The Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and have you seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
John 8:58: “Before Abraham was born, I am.”
Therefore, they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Context and Main Idea
We’ve returned to this unexpected bonus round of argument between Jesus and the Jews during the last day of the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem. Jesus is still in the temple courts, as we saw last time, which should have been, on the surface, merely a final exhortation from Jesus to those Jews who had newly believed in him to persevere in following and obeying his teaching.
It turns into a debate of escalating hostility until these believers try to kill Jesus on the spot.
Now, while this demonstrated fickle faith may be surprising to us, it was not surprising to Jesus. In fact, in John 6:1, Jesus specifically speaks words to expose his new disciples’ incomplete, ultimately false faith—to show them, to show the world, their true spiritual state as enemies of God and in desperate need of God’s salvation, which is only found in Jesus, his son.
Now, our author John records these words from Jesus with a similar purpose for his original audience. He was speaking to Hellenized Jews in the first century, but these words are also relevant for us today. The Spirit of God wants us to see them.
I gave you the main idea of this whole section last time. Here it is again: In John 8:31-59, John reports Jesus’ final public discussion at the Feast of Booths so that you will recognize your true spiritual state and turn to Jesus with perseverant faith.
“John reports Jesus’ final public discussion so that you will recognize your true spiritual state and turn to Jesus with perseverant faith.”
Now, again, to remind you, this climactic conversation between Jesus and the Jews proceeds in three parts, each part focusing on a certain question to get his listeners—to get us—to see our true spiritual state.
We saw the first part last time in verses 31-36, focused on this question: Number one, are you experiencing spiritual slavery or spiritual freedom?
Jesus says that he offers spiritual freedom and life to any who will persevere in his teaching. But only those who first recognize that they need such freedom and life—that they are, without Jesus, spiritual slaves bound to their sins and bound to an eternity apart from God—only such will take Jesus up on his offer.
The Jewish believers at this feast prove unwilling to see themselves that way—unwilling to see themselves as anything but spiritual royalty, as descendants of Abraham. They totally miss out, therefore, on Jesus’ generous invitation.
In response, Jesus proceeds to the second part of the discussion, in which he uses another overarching metaphor to get his original listeners and us to see where we really stand with God. This is the part we’re looking at today, in verses 37-47, which is focused on a second question: Number two, are you demonstrating devilish parentage or divine parentage?
We’re going to explore these words of Jesus under four subheadings, each capturing a main assertion from Jesus under this overarching question. I’ll give you those subheadings as we go along.
Spiritual Descent Matters More Than Physical
And the first one covers verses 37 to 38, and that’s this: 2A. Spiritual descent matters more than physical.
Spiritual descent matters more than physical.
Look at those two verses again, verses 37 to 38: “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak the things which I’ve seen with my father. Therefore, you also do the things which you heard from your father.”
John 8:37: “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you.”
In some ways, these words are a transition from the thought Jesus just expressed in John 8:31-36. There, Jesus made his plain exhortation and offer unto true spiritual freedom. However, based on Jesus’ supernatural knowledge and based on the Jews’ initial reply to Jesus—insisting that they, as Abraham’s descendants, have essentially never been enslaved to anyone or anything—Jesus acknowledges here that these disciples are not true disciples and thus really not true descendants of Abraham.
These Jews instead are living out the results of an entirely different and more profound spiritual descent.
Notice Jesus does admit in the beginning of verse 37 what the Jews asserted back in verse 33. Jesus says, “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. I know that you are Abraham’s seed.”
Abraham’s Descendants Wanting to Kill Jesus
And calling his people’s attention to their dire spiritual state, he’s not disputing their ethnicity. Yet Jesus says in the middle of verse 37, “Yet you seek to kill me.”
Now, the Greek word translated “yet” is “alla.” It’s a word that’s used in Greek to set up a strong contrast. But what’s being contrasted here? Being a descendant of Abraham and wanting to kill Jesus. Why the contrast?
Well, Jesus is pointing out that these items shouldn’t go together. After all, think about Abraham. Abraham knew God. He believed God. He loved God. He obeyed God’s word. He was not a murderer, or, as far as we know from the content of scripture, he never even desired to murder.
Yet his physical descendants—these Jews—they do want to murder. And not just murder a random person. They want to murder the very Messiah and Son of God. This is not what one would expect from the blessed, even righteous, seed of Abraham.
“They want to murder the very Messiah and Son of God. This is not what one would expect from the seed of Abraham.”
Jesus’ Word Has No Place in Them
And why do they want to kill Jesus? Jesus actually clarifies: “Because my word has no place in you.”
We could alternatively translate this phrase: “Because my word makes no headway among you.”
Commentators debate which one is more accurate, but either way, we get the idea. Though Jesus has freely taught these Jews the life-giving truth of God, they not only refuse to believe this truth in any meaningful or lasting way, but they also desire to punish Jesus for telling them that truth by killing him.
That also is not what one would expect from the seed of Abraham.
Indeed, how could righteous Abraham’s own seed act in such a heinously evil way? The answer must be: there is something more determinative than physical descent at work.
“There is something more determinative than physical descent at work.”
Jesus Knows Their Hearts
By the way, is it fair what Jesus asserts here—that these Jews, his nominal disciples, seek to kill him? We know by now in John that some Jews, especially the religious leaders, seek to kill Jesus because of Jesus healing on the Sabbath and breaking man-made tradition, and also Jesus calling God his own father. We saw that starting in John 5:1.
But surely those who believe in Jesus don’t seek to kill him. That doesn’t make any sense, right?
Are Jesus’ words here, then, an example of what we sometimes see happen in human arguments? When one person says, “Why are you getting angry with me?” the other person says, “I wasn’t getting angry until you accuse me of getting angry with you.”
Is Jesus simply provoking his disciples to want to kill him by telling them that they want to kill him?
No. Jesus is not so oblivious.
Rather, Jesus knows all men, which we heard expressed directly in John 2:24-25. Even if these Jews have never breathed the word about murdering him to anyone, even if these Jews have never even fully articulated the thought of murder in their own minds, Jesus knows their hearts. He knows their core loves and commitments—even the kind that will manifest in murder if these Jews do not receive from Jesus what they want from him.
In other words, the attempted murder at the end of this section—verse 59—it’s not some tragic, random happening that they were just provoked into. It is the manifestation of an evil, murderous heart that was already present, even at the beginning of this discussion. It’s just external confirmation of what Jesus declares is already there internally.
“Jesus knows their hearts—their core loves and commitments—even the kind that will manifest in murder.”
But how could this be? How could this be true of the descendants of Abraham?
Doing What They Learned from Their Father
Jesus alludes to the answer in verse 38. Jesus essentially says that both he and these Jews are just doing what they’ve learned from their true fathers.
Jesus speaks what he does. He even declares what religious people like the Jews will often consider offensive, because Jesus saw it or learned it directly from his father.
In response to these words, note that “therefore” in the middle of verse 38. In response to these words, the supposedly religious Jews do what they heard or learned from their father.
“Saw” and “heard” are basically used as synonyms for the idea of “learn” here. Jesus does what he saw from his father. They do what they heard from their father.
“Both Jesus and these Jews are just doing what they’ve learned from their true fathers.”
But who’s the Jews’ true father? Who has so instructed them in the way that they should act?
Your Deeds Show Your True Parentage
This brings us to our second subheading, which covers verses 39 to 41A: 2B. Your deeds show your true parentage.
Look at the first part of verse 39: “They answered and said to him, ‘Abraham is our father.’”
Likely not quite catching on to what Jesus is getting at in verse 38, the Jews go right back to insisting that they are and demonstrate themselves to be sons and inheritors of blessed Abraham.
But this does not fit with what Jesus just said in verse 38. So Jesus points out the discrepancy for them.
Look at the rest of verse 39 down to verse 40: “Jesus said to them, ‘If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do.’”
You see here that Jesus speaks more plainly about what he only alluded to before. Even though Jesus has admitted that the Jews are the physical seed of Abraham, they could not be the true spiritual seed of Abraham. And why not?
Because they don’t do father Abraham’s deeds. Despite whatever they think of themselves, or whatever rituals and rules they keep on the outside or in particular contexts, these Jews are not faith-filled people and are not obedient to God. They are quite the opposite.
“They could not be the true spiritual seed of Abraham because they don’t do father Abraham’s deeds.”
As Jesus says in verse 40, they are presently seeking to kill Jesus when all he did was tell them the truth given to him by God to speak.
Emphatically, Jesus declares, “This Abraham did not do.”
Abraham was not a murderer of God’s messengers. Rather, according to scripture, Abraham received, he believed, and he obeyed the messengers of God. Even in Genesis 18, when Abraham incredibly showed hospitality to Yahweh himself—to God, even to the pre-incarnate Son of God—when God told Abraham that amazing word, old Abraham would have his promised son by the next year. Abraham believed. He received. He responded in faith.
See the contrast between the righteous deeds of Abraham and his physical descendants? It’s too great. There’s no way that these Jews are true spiritual sons of Abraham.
Thus, Jesus says again at the first part of verse 41: “You are doing the deeds of your father.”
By disputing their essential heritage from Abraham, Jesus was not contradicting what he said before. “Oh, you Jews are doing the deeds of your father.”
All right, but it’s not Abraham. So who’s their father?
Your Response to Jesus Shows Your True Parentage
The Jews have another answer, which will take us into our third subheading. This time, covering verses 41B to 42:2C. Your response shows your true parentage.
Your response—and that is, your response to Jesus—shows your true parentage.
“Your response to Jesus shows your true parentage.”
Look at the second part of verse 41: “They said to him, ‘We were not born of fornication. We have one father: God.’”
The Jews’ Claim to Have God as Father
This reply from the Jews might strike you as a little bit odd. Why did they start off by denying that they’re the products of immorality?
There are a few possibilities. One: the Jews could be misunderstanding and misinterpreting Jesus’ words and think that Jesus is alleging that these Jews, while being physical descendants of Abraham, are not pure physical descendants and thus are not qualified to inherit Abraham’s blessing.
Perhaps they think that Jesus is alleging they are descendants of Abraham by Ishmael rather than Isaac, or worse, that these Jews are the products of the union of Jewish mothers with Gentile fathers, which should make these Jews just like the unclean and hated Samaritans. So they definitely want to dispute that. Perhaps they say this to Jesus to dispute any alleged illegitimacy in their own bloodline. That’s one possibility.
A second would be: the Jews could be using these words to once again mock Jesus for his own mysterious bloodline. As I noted to you before, the Jews apparently had some knowledge of the unusual circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth—circumstances that could be easily misinterpreted as suggesting that Jesus was born from an immoral union by Mary with some unknown man.
Therefore, when Jesus starts saying words that appear to these Jews to question the Jews’ legitimate inheritance of Abraham’s blessing, these Jews feel compelled to bring up their own qualms about Jesus’ origins. “Jesus, you’re one to talk about us not being true descendants of Abraham. Are you sure that you’re a true descendant of Abraham? We ourselves were not born from immorality, but we don’t know about you.” That’s a second possibility.
A third is that the Jews could actually be catching on to Jesus’ true meaning about spiritual parentage, and then they use the same metaphor to insist that they are not disqualified from blessing as products of any spiritual adultery. After all, notice the Jews follow up their protest by saying, “We were not born from immorality. We have one father: God.”
If you study the Old Testament, you see one of Israel’s main problems is not so much totally abandoning God, but trying to serve Yahweh alongside other gods at the same time. It was syncretism, or in other words, spiritual adultery.
Yet something changed after Israel’s exile experience. Once the Jews returned to the land from Babylon and other places, they generally did not worship false gods or set up idols alongside Yahweh. Their bad habit of syncretism had been broken. That’s good, right?
Well, yes. But Malachi and the New Testament show us that the Jews exchanged one form of false worship for another. They simply exchanged outward idols for inward ones and exchanged syncretism for going through the motions and holding to man-made traditions.
Nevertheless, in the minds of the Jews, they were not only in God’s good books because the Jews were physical descendants of Abraham, but because they served, at least outwardly, the one true God. There were no longer any false gods or idols.
“The Jews exchanged one form of false worship for another—outward idols for inward ones, syncretism for going through the motions.”
Therefore, they say, “We are not children of spiritual immorality. We have one father: God.”
Which one of these possibilities is behind their words? It’s hard to say for sure. I lean towards this third one, though the Jews may be trying to hit multiple birds with one stone here.
Ultimately, the Jews tell Jesus, “We are not only the physical seed of Abraham. We also have the one true God as our spiritual father.” But Jesus quickly disputes that reply.
If God Were Your Father, You Would Love Jesus
Notice verse 42: “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God. For I have not even come on my own initiative, but he sent me.’”
Notice to what Jesus points to contradict the assertion that God is their true spiritual father: lack of love, lack of acceptance of God’s specially sent one.
Isn’t this the truth that we’ve already seen in this gospel? Because God so loves and is so intimately united with his son, it is not possible for someone to truly love God and reject or be apathetic to Jesus.
“It is not possible for someone to truly love God and reject or be apathetic to Jesus.”
The Jesus a person must love and accept must be the Jesus of the Bible, not some made-up Jesus of a person’s own mind. After all, these Jews already love their own made-up Jesus. That’s why they’ve become believers in him.
Their made-up Jesus doesn’t condemn them for their sins but rather pats them on the back for all their hard effort and keeping God’s law according to human tradition. Their made-up Jesus will soon deliver them political independence and temporal prosperity and the banishing of all diseases that they so want and crave.
But as this conversation goes on, the made-up Jesus of their own minds that they love and the Jesus who actually exists are starting to clash more and more. This is what is causing their faith to start crumbling, their love to start turning into hate, and their discipleship to start turning into murder.
Yet, as Jesus says, such would not happen if these Jews were truly sons of God. If they were truly spiritual sons of God, they would love God and consequently they would love the special one who came forth and is now present from God.
After all, Jesus says, “I have not even come on my own initiative, but he sent me.”
What Jesus is speaking and doing on the earth is not even his own words and works. It’s his father’s. So how could anyone who truly belongs to the father not love Jesus and receive Jesus’ words?
If you love one, you’ve got to love the other.
These Jews say they love God, but they cannot hear one simple exhortation from Jesus to persevere in his word and experience true freedom without arguing with Jesus and perhaps even mocking Jesus over the circumstances of his birth.
Abraham can’t be these Jews’ true spiritual father, and neither can God. So who is it really?
Your True Spiritual Parentage Explains Everything
We come now to our fourth and last subheading, which covers verses 43 to 47: 2D. Your true spiritual parentage explains everything.
Your true spiritual parentage explains everything.
“Your true spiritual parentage explains everything.”
Verse 43: “Why do you not understand what I’m saying? It is because you cannot hear my word.”
Jesus says here what probably some of you have been thinking since the beginning of the feast in John 7: Why is it that these Jews so frequently misunderstand Jesus? They don’t get it, or they just offer up all these objections to what he says.
Are they just slow in their minds? Has Jesus simply not tapped into their best learning style? Is Jesus a poor communicator?
No. The problem is not Jesus’ mode of communication, nor is it the mental ability of his hearers. The real issue is that spiritually, they cannot hear or accept what Jesus has to say. There is no room in their hearts for it. God’s word cannot make any forward progress.
Why can’t they accept God’s word? Because of contradicting fundamental desires in their hearts, inherited from their true spiritual father.
In the next verse, Jesus finally makes plain what he’s been hinting at since verse 38.
Verse 44, beginning part: “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.”
What a thing for Jesus to say to a bunch of religious people who are at a feast to God and at least in their own hearts profess to believe in Jesus!
“You are of your father the devil, and you desire to do your father’s desires.”
Yet such finally makes sense of everything that both Jesus and we have observed in this passage. The reason you sin, Jesus says, the reason you reject God’s genuine sent one, and the reason you ultimately cannot accept that sent one’s teaching is because you are the spiritual offspring of the devil.
Devil—by the way, Greek “diabos”—it means “slanderer” or “accuser.” You are spiritual sons of the devil, Jesus says. You are offspring of that created but fallen angel who set himself up as the arch-enemy of God.
And like any child, you take after your father, whether you mean to or not. You learn his ways. You love what he loves. What he desires to do, you desire to do.
Like father, like son.
Verses 44B to 45: Jesus applies this diagnosis to make perfect sense of even the specific things that Jews are doing with Jesus.
The Devil: Murderer and Liar from the Beginning
Jesus says, “He was a murderer from the beginning.”
“That one was a murderer from the beginning.”
This statement most likely refers to how the devil, or Satan, or the serpent—they’re all different names for the same being—led the human race in the beginning of the world, in the garden, led the human race into sin, death, and separation from God.
He didn’t put a knife in Adam and Eve, but essentially, he did. He murdered the human race by bringing the whole human race into sin. And soon after those beginning days, the devil’s continual intent to murder and destroy it was seen again in how the devil led Cain to literally kill his brother Abel, who was righteous.
Now, how is noting the devil’s constant and even ancient murderous streak relevant for Jesus’ talk with the Jews?
Well, what did Jesus already say? The Jews seek to kill him. They seek to murder him. That’s not taking after God. Whom is that taking after? The one who is a murderer from the beginning.
“The Jews seek to kill Jesus. That’s not taking after God. That’s taking after the one who is a murderer from the beginning.”
And again, why do they want to kill Jesus? For telling them the truth of God. This also fits with devilish parentage.
For Jesus says next of the devil, “He does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.”
Satan hates the truth. He does not tell the truth, nor can he stand to listen to the truth, because truth is the opposite of his own essential being.
The devil, therefore, the slanderer, he is about the business of destroying truth, distorting truth, and destroying those who speak the truth.
And if you find yourself doing the same—like these Jews do—guess what? You are showing devilish parentage.
Preferring Lies Over Truth
Jesus goes on in the end of verse 44 into verse 45: “Whenever he, the devil, speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me.”
Notice here Jesus gives the corresponding opposite to the devil’s relationship with truth. The devil hates God’s truth, but the devil loves lies.
To tell a lie isn’t second nature to the devil. It’s first nature. He is fundamentally a liar and a spiritual father to all those who love and speak lies.
“To tell a lie isn’t second nature to the devil. It’s first nature. He is fundamentally a liar and father of all who love lies.”
Now, notice Jesus connects the devil’s nature to the nature of these supposed disciples: “Because I speak the truth, Jesus says, not in spite of my speaking the truth, because I speak the truth, you do not believe me.”
What kind of person does that? What kind of person is completely averse to the truth—even the truth of God?
What kind of person doesn’t believe the truth just because it’s the truth? “Oh, is that the truth? I don’t believe it.”
Only a child of the devil. Only a child who loves lies as much as his spiritual father does reacts that way.
Jesus’ Sinless Challenge
Jesus presses the point further on his listeners in verse 46: “Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe me?”
“I’m sorry, if I speak truth,” he says.
Notice here Jesus invites the Jews to try to prove that Jesus has committed some kind of sin.
Jesus’ enemies have multiple times before accused Jesus of committing sin. “This fellow blasphemes. He doesn’t keep the law. He doesn’t keep the Sabbath.”
But they can never prove that to be true of Jesus, nor would they be able to, even at the sham trial before his crucifixion.
As the sinless Son of God, Jesus knows that he hasn’t and he doesn’t commit sin ever.
“They can never prove sin to be true of Jesus. As the sinless Son of God, Jesus knows he doesn’t commit sin ever.”
Which one of us could ever say this? “Which one of you can convict me of sin?” I can. I can.
Jesus is different. It’s because he’s the Son of God.
Jesus wants that fundamental difference—that spotless record of his as the divine son—to weigh on his opponents’ hearts.
If you can’t prove that Jesus has committed any sins, then what must that mean? That means that he is truly from God and he’s telling you the truth.
If Jesus is telling you God’s truth, you have no legitimate excuse for not believing him and for not believing in him. He’s the one. He’s not the one who is wrong. You are.
If you have no legitimate excuse for not believing, yet you still do not believe, what’s the implication? What are you demonstrating?
That you are a child of the devil. Like your father, you prefer lies over the truth. There’s no other explanation. This is the only way to make sense of that situation.
He Who Is of God Hears God’s Words
Jesus cements the indictment with the final statement in verse 47: “He who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason, you do not hear them because you are not of God.”
This is another version—just for emphasis—of what Jesus has already said.
Anyone who truly belongs to God, who truly is God’s spiritual child, hears, loves, believes, and obeys the word of God.
John 8:47: “Anyone who truly belongs to God hears, loves, believes, and obeys the word of God.”
If you do that—if that’s what marks you, even you who are listening this morning—and the scripture says you’re a child of God, that God’s truth, that God’s own son has set you free, and you are free indeed. What a wonderful place to be!
But if you do not hear God’s word—that is, if you are not willing to listen to, to accept, to obey what God has spoken through his son and unique revelator, Jesus Christ—there’s only one explanation: you are not of God.
Even if you claim to be, you are an illegitimate child. Your true father, your true spiritual father, is the devil.
What amazingly bold and powerful words from our Lord to a group of supposed disciples!
The Jews’ Response: Hatred and Contempt
You’d think that with such a piercing word, there’d be some serious soul searching, right?
But what is the result of these words? Let’s take a peek at next week’s passage.
Verse 48: “The Jews answered and said to him, ‘Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?’”
What’s the result of Jesus’ words to them? It’s hatred and contempt in ugly arrogance.
When the perfect Son of God mercifully exposes the people’s wickedness so that they can own it and repent, these disciples—these supposedly religious Jews—they only insult him in reply and suggest that he, not they, is the one under the determinative influence of the devil.
“We’re not sons of the devil. You are.”
These Jews thus only prove further that they really are the children of the devil who prefer Satan’s damning lies to God’s humble but saving truth.
“These Jews only prove further that they really are children of the devil who prefer Satan’s damning lies to God’s saving truth.”
Application: Assess Your Spiritual State
But as I said last time, we here have the opportunity to respond differently to Jesus’ merciful word than the original audience did.
This passage has been given to us so that we might recognize our own true spiritual states before God and then turn to Jesus with perseverant faith.
So, my dear listeners, assess yourself according to the words and categories that Jesus gives in this passage.
Spiritual descent matters much more than physical. What kind of spiritual parentage are you showing?
Look at your deeds. Look at the way you live your life. Look at your thoughts, your speech, your behavior, your relationships. Do these demonstrate? Do they show? Do they cause—would they cause someone to think that you resemble a child of God or rather a child of the devil?
Do you have, and are you fulfilling by obedience, God’s desires in your life? Or do you have, or are you fulfilling by your sin, the devil’s desires in your life?
Furthermore, look at your relationship—or the lack thereof—with the biblical Jesus. Do you love? Do you accept? Do you embrace Jesus as the Son of God, even as the only Lord of your life, the only one who can save you from your sins?
Or do you care little for Jesus? Do you even regard him with contempt and hatred? Do you constantly ignore, twist, argue with the word of Jesus? Or do you instead welcome it and abide in it?
Friends, it may be that the fundamental reality that explains everything in your life—especially your lack of remaining and persevering in Jesus’ teaching—is that you are not of God. You also are a child of the devil.
Consider that as a real possibility. Don’t merely say to yourself, “But I’m so religious. Surely I’m not a child of the devil.”
The Jews of this passage were religious too. They even believed in Jesus. But Jesus told them in no uncertain terms who their real spiritual father was.
So, brethren, I tell you on the authority of God’s breathed scripture that no matter how outwardly religious a person is, no matter what right theological doctrines he affirms, no matter if that person once prayed a prayer to receive salvation or not—if that same person lives a life of sin, or if that person does not love and believe in the genuine Jesus of scriptures, then that person is not definitively—is not—a child of God, but a child of Satan.
“No matter how outwardly religious a person is, if they do not love the genuine Jesus, they are not a child of God.”
And that person is headed for the place reserved for Satan and his fallen angels to be punished and tormented forever.
Truly, based on Jesus’ own simple criteria from this passage, do you realize how many religious, even monotheistic, people in this world are really devilish children on the road to hell right now? And how many have died that way—died in their sins, died without Christ, died as children of the devil?
Turn to Jesus Today
But that does not have to be true for any of you, because this word, as I said, was given so that you might see your true spiritual state and so that you would then turn to Christ and persevere in following his word.
Turn today. Don’t live another day as a child of the devil. He’s not a good father. He’s cruel, and all the ways you will learn from him are poison.
“Don’t live another day as a child of the devil. He’s not a good father. He’s cruel, and all his ways are poison.”
Turn to Jesus. Let go of your sins. Let go of all your efforts to earn righteousness before God. Let go of your own will for your life. Give it over to God and say, “Lord, I take you up on your word that you will offer mercy to any who come to you in Jesus Christ only.
He has the righteous life that can make me acceptable to you. I therefore ask that you apply his life on my behalf. I take him to be my savior. I take him to be my Lord. What he commands, where he says to go, how he lives—that’s the direction I’m going now.
It’s the end of me in control of my life, and Lord God, now you are in control.”
As Jesus said earlier in this chapter, “If you will persevere in loving and knowing and following Jesus, then you will know the truth that will set you free.”
But now we can say, in addition to that, you will also know for certain that you are a child of God.
Comfort and Assurance for God’s Children
We read 1 John 3:1-10 earlier in our service. If you’ve gone through the book of First John before, it’s pretty sobering. John is pretty black and white, both in this book and the other one, about what it means to be a child of God versus a child of the devil.
To know God, not know God. But don’t forget: the letter of First John is written to provide comfort. It’s written to provide assurance. Actually, that’s stated in the book: “These things have been written so that you will know—know—that you have eternal life.”
So it’s really a side application in that letter to say, “You will know that you don’t yet know God and you need to repent.”
No. Those words were written to give comfort. He says, “We know who the children of God and the children of the devil are. Therefore, you who are actually resembling children of God, take comfort. You are children of God. Let the Holy Spirit’s assurance wash over you.”
And so that ought to be an application to this passage as well.
I know it’s the beautiful testimony of many in this church that they are children of God because they fulfilled the criteria that Jesus is talking about in this passage. They have responded to Jesus’ word with welcome. They do love Jesus, and now they are walking in—not perfect, but in fundamental and increasing—obedience to Jesus.
To be a child of God, to be under the heavenly Father’s care, is a wonderful thing, a wonderful reality.
“To be a child of God, to be under the heavenly Father’s care, is a wonderful thing, a wonderful reality.”
For any of you who are not experiencing that, you could if you will repent and believe. Jesus is giving you another invitation today. He’s been patient with you. Don’t let that patience be put to waste.
For those who are children of God, you not only get to experience the comfort of knowing God in this life, but you will go into the kingdom of God. That’s not true of children of the devil.
As we said, this has been a tale of two fathers. Who is your spiritual father? Let it be God and not the devil.
Closing Prayer
Let’s close in prayer.
Lord, we thank you for your word. I pray, Lord, you’d apply it in the ways that it needs to be in the hearts of those who’ve heard it today.
This is another passage that makes clear there’s no middle ground. You either are a slave of sin or you’re a slave of Christ. You’re either a child of the devil or you’re a child of God. There’s no other category. You’re either an enemy of God or you’re a friend of God.
Lord, I pray for those who think or who dally as if there were some middle category, that they’d see the urgency of getting out of that place because they are yet still children of wrath, which is another way to describe sons of the devil.
Lord, I pray that you would be pleased to use your word to transform, to open the eyes of those who don’t know you, so that they may believe and be saved and be reborn as children of God.
And for those who already are children, I pray, God, that you would provide encouragement, assurance, joy: “Yes, I am a child of God. I know the Father. I know his Son. I’m going to him.”
Lord, I thank you, God, that you not only made us individual children, but you made us children together. That’s what this church is: an assembly of the children of God.
I pray, God, as we go towards the Lord’s table now, that this be a reality that sobers us but also causes us to rejoice.