Be seated, please. Well, as you've heard, brethren, we're at the gospel quorum to John, and we are making our way back to chapter 8 again this morning. Beginning in verse 37, John 8, 37. Our text for this morning will run to verse 47, so John 8, 37 to 47, if you would now hear and follow along as I read to you from John 8. Our Lord says, I know that you're Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have seen with your father.' They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father. Then 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 came from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin and if I tell you the truth, why do you not believe me? He was of God, hears God's words, therefore you do not hear because you are not of God. That's the word of the Lord, brethren. Let's go to him again in prayer together. Heavenly Father, what a lofty passage for us to look at this morning. And without the help of your Holy Spirit, Father, we will all have used this next moment of time in vain. So we ask it not be in vain for anyone in here. that, Lord, for sinner and saint, that it would be comprehended. And for those who know not the Lord, that it would be comprehended fully and savingly, and that everyone would follow you and walk unto you, and that you'd be glorified in the sanctifying of your people. In Jesus' name, amen. There's an old hymn, a children's hymn, actually, that many of you have probably heard through the years. A song about children and vacation Bible schools or other events where children, Christian children or churches and churches like that will use it. And it's the song called Father Abraham. Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham. I'm one of them and so are you. So let's just praise the Lord. And that's a very cute song, but I want to know from the guy who wrote it, how he knew that the people he was singing to were all children of Abraham. The fact of the matter is, the song, I think, needs some clarification to keep it from communicating universalism. Not everyone is a child of Abraham. And the passage before us today, I think, does a superb job of clarifying for all of us in here today just who does have Abraham as their spiritual father and who has actually the devil himself for their father. The last time, our previous text contrasted those who were free from the bondage of sin and those who were still in the bondage of sin. In the same way today, brethren, as we move further into chapter 8, our Lord will be contrasting for us those who have God as their father and those who have the devil for their father. And make no mistake, brethren, there is no third option. Everyone in the world throughout the history of the known world will die, live and die with either as God as their father or the devil himself. So those who have been with us in this study, you know that we are in this ongoing conversation and indeed debate between Jesus Christ and the Jews who were in Jerusalem. This was after the Feast of Tabernacles at six months before he goes to the cross. And the most recent back and forth came under this concern of freedom and bondage, the matter of whether they were in sin or not, or in bondage or not. And the Jews heard this. And they, like Nicodemus, couldn't understand what he meant by being born again and the woman at the well about drinking water, this everlasting life. Again, we see this coming up over and over. Spiritual language is being used, but unspiritual, unsaved people can't comprehend it. So they hear this word about bondage and so they immediately think that Jesus is accusing them of being in national bondage or in physical bondage. And so this provokes them, if you will. Their minds could only conceive of some kind of political thing, a worldly thing of bondage. Spiritual bondage never even entered their mind. So they push back and say in verse 33, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone. After this, our Lord will spell it out to them plainly. It won't matter to them. They still won't pick it up because Jesus is still speaking in spiritual language. But after explaining it, He then turns back to their claim about them being Abraham's descendants. And so, long discussion begins to ensue between Jesus and these Jews about Abraham and the backdrop of Abraham, and it goes on all the way to the end of the chapter. It's a long chapter and our Lord will conclude it by saying, before Abraham was, I am. He would say that Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was glad. So Abraham is in the backdrop of our text. Now, the focus of being on Abraham in the remaining section of John 8 here, quite a few verses actually. could be divided up into sections. The second half, which God willing, we'll look at next Lord's Day. Verses 48 to 49, Abraham, who is seen as one who has faith and has recognized the Lord Jesus in his own day. By faith, of course, not physically so much, but by faith. But this morning, verses 37 to 47, Abraham is being shown to us as the true spiritual father of all who believe like Abraham. Kind of like Paul would speak to Timothy, his son in the faith kind of thing. We're Abraham's son in the faith if we have faith of Abraham. Romans 4.11, Paul writes, Abraham received the sign of circumcision, the seal of righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised. So it wasn't circumcision that saved him. That he might be the father of all those who believe. There it is. Abraham, the father of all those who believe. And so if we believe like Abraham, then he is our spiritual father in the sense that we descend from him in a spiritual ancestry, if you will. And all who have faith like Abraham are saved and have God himself as their father. But in contrast to this, brethren, our Lord's going to teach us here today that if anyone does not believe like Abraham believed, then we must automatically so have the very devil himself as our father. Horrendous thought. Now, he's not the father of unbelievers by physical regeneration, but because unbelievers mimic the ways of the devil, Well, then they are seen as the sons of the devil. Just like we who are the children of God are to mimic the ways of God, like father, like son. 1 John 2.6, John says, he who says he abides in him, that is God, ought himself to walk just as he walked. There's your evidence. If you're a true Christian in here today, there's something in your life that mimics the life of the Lord Jesus himself. And so, likewise, brethren, if the devil is your father, then you will do things that will mimic the devil. And so, with that, brethren, we begin with the question, which is the title of the sermon. I looked at it, I looked over the passage, I have to come up with the title by Wednesday, even though I haven't studied the text very much, as much as I'd like. And I thought, well, it'd be a good title to call...the title simply be, Who is Your Father? And I wondered whether or not that was a good title. And I went on Sermon Audio and it seems that I have joined a bunch of other pastors who had this as their title. And so that is the question of the hour, brethren. Who is your father? Well, this is what the passage will answer for us this morning if we can receive the teaching of it. So first of all, here is our first point. The first way we determine who really is our father is by our relationship to the Word of God. It is by our relationship to the Word of God. You see it in verse 37. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me. Why? Because my word has no place in you. Jump down to verse 43. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. Now, they could hear it physically, but again, the truth is coming out. But the truth cannot be absorbed, it cannot be conceived and received in the heart of an unbeliever, apart from the work and the miracle of regeneration of the Holy Spirit. And he knew, Christ knew, these Jews were not his people. He knew always who those were truly his own and who were not. So the Lord Jesus granted to these Jews that, yes, you are physical descendants of Abraham, you're right about that. But you have just proved to everyone that you're not spiritual descendants because there's no room in your hearts for the word of God. None. In other words, their hearts were full of carnal faults. No room at all for the possibility that they were wrong and that Christ was right. They could not allow God's word to correct them, to affect them. The word had no impact upon them except for their own carnal use. And that's how unbelievers use it. The waters of their own iniquity had gone over their heads, and so the ears were all plugged up, incapable of hearing the truth. I don't know how many of you have ever tried to take a deep breath and float on top of the water, whether you're in the ocean or maybe you're in a pool somewhere. And you're doing that, and all of a sudden, as you go under the water, you feel like you're in your own little world. You can't hear a thing. All you can do is see the sky or if you're in the indoor pool, the ceiling. And this is what it was like for these Jews. The Word of God couldn't get in. It was already clogged up, filled up. Christ had been preaching the saving doctrine of who God is, He Himself, and the doctrine of salvation, but there were no rooms. There was no room in themselves to hear it, to consider that what He was saying was actually true. And this is true of every unbeliever. Again, unless the Holy Spirit intervenes and opens the ears of unbelievers, there's no room in their hearts for the Word of God. You can preach till you're blue in the face, and it's just like they cannot get it. I think gospel, according to John, can be conceived, can be thought of, so much of it is under 1 Corinthians 2.14. I've quoted it so many times. The natural man does not receive the things of God. For the things of God are foolishness to him. They are...can they know them? They are to be spiritually discerned. You have to be born again to know them. It's like preaching to a corpse. But yet, as I said last week, it is the preaching of the gospel of the Word of God that actually raises the corpse. You never know when it's going to do its work. The Lord Jesus tells them plainly as possible in verse 43, could not be clearer, why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. This is the truth of every unbeliever without being born again. These people, these Jews, they had ears. They could hear the sounds coming out of our Lord's mouth. They understood the natural language in which He was speaking. His words had life in them and heavenly meaning, but they could not and they did not have the ability, the capacity to understand what He meant. And they didn't want to. They didn't want to. It's not just an inability, but there's also an issue of the heart. They don't want to. Unbelievers don't want Christ. They don't want the gospel. They don't want the Word of God. And it's just the reality of it. And so, thus, this meant that they were the children of the devil. They had no ability to discern the truth of God. And to top it off, they had no ability or desire to want to know the truth. And this is who the devil is. This is who the devil is. He does not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. It is his nature to not want to hear the truth, to live in and to bear in, bear up the truth. This is why today people talk about having their own truth. Of course, this is nothing new under the sun. I'm sure this has been around since Adam and Eve. But it is because the children of the devil hate the truth. They don't mind some of it as long as they can You know, some of it make them look good, but when you press them with the whole truth and nothing but the truth of who Christ is, what Christ expects of them, they cannot bear it. Likewise, their spiritual father, what was the reason for his fall? It was because of his pride. Pride is what guides him now. It is hatred of the truth that motivates the devil, and it is the same that motivates the children of the devil. He is the father of lies. It's his nature to lie and to purposely avoid the truth and the light. And this is the way of his spiritual children. They cannot be corrected by God's Word because it has no place in them. Someone's in sin and you show them what the Bible says and what they must do to get rid of that sin and they will not accept it. You tell them, that they were born sinners and will perish in hell forever unless they believe Jesus Christ alone, and He's the only way, the truth, and the life, that without Him, they cannot get to the Father? And they think it's foolishness? Unless, again, the Spirit of the Lord opens up their hearts. It's all folly to them. To come and sit in here and listen to some preacher explain and expose the Word of God, the truth to your heart, Sunday after Sunday. It is hard to bear without the Spirit. And it's impossible to believe without the Spirit. Notice in verse 41, just how absolutely plain our Lord states the contrast. He who is of God, what? Hears God's words. Therefore, you do not hear because you are what? Not of God. You could place the doctrine of reprobation here. You are not of God. And I know you're not of God because you cannot hear my word. It is obvious that our Lord here is speaking of being able to spiritually hear it. So you know God is your Father when you can spiritually understand in such a way that it affects you. When it confronts your pride and your sin and your conscience is convicted and it leads you to sincere confession before God, not just man. The child of God longs to be like His Father, like God. And it breaks their heart when they sin against His grace and against His love. But the child of the devil is unbreakable. They will not be broken. In other words, they're never truly broken before God because of their sin. They'll only own so much for personal gain. Judas went out and wept after he betrayed Jesus, but it wasn't because he loved Him. It was because he loved himself. His remorse was a shame without a desire for the mercy and the forgiveness of what he had done to the one he offended. Because to seek forgiveness, brethren, we know would mean he'd have to humble himself. and believe God's Word, but there was no room in his heart for God's Word. And there's no room in your heart today for God's Word at all. It's impossible if you're not born again. This now leads me to my second point. Not only do we determine who really is our Father by our relation to the Word of God, but secondly, by our relationship to Christ Himself. By our relationship to Christ Himself. You notice it in verse 42 again. If God were your father, amazing statement brethren, you would love me. What? You would love me? Can you imagine some man walking up to you and telling you this? Means you could see the inspiration of scripture in such powerful words as these. These Jews had proven they were the children of the devil because they were seeking to kill the very one Abraham believed in and trusted, the one they thought and claimed was their father. Do you want to know if God is really your Father here this morning? Here's your question. Do you really love His Son? Do you have real affections for the biblical Jesus in here this morning? Many would think they do, but when you press down upon them, it's just an affection for Jesus of their own imagination. The Jesus who just told us this morning in Luke, to come after me, you must deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me. You can't go your own way anymore, that every time you're confronted with the truth, you have to bow to it every single time whether you like it or not. This is what it is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Real abiding affections for the biblical Jesus is one of the most glorious ways to increase your assurance that you're truly a child of God. Because the fact is, brethren, that no unbeliever has ever had any love for Jesus, not one, the true Jesus, the biblical Jesus. It is impossible for them to have any true real affections for Christ. The Bible teaches this, brethren. 1 Corinthians 16, 22, if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. No one can call him Lord, says Paul, except by the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 16. Recently, I heard R.C. Sproul speak on this as he's trying to help people to understand assurance. How do I know, Pastor Sproul, if I'm saved? And he says, I always ask them three questions to give them assurance or to help them discover whether they're truly saved or not. He says, my first question is, I ask him, do you love Christ perfectly? And of course, they always say, no. His second question would be, do you love Christ as much as you ought to? Well, no one does. If you answered no to the first, you would have to say no to the second. And then he asks them the third question, do you love him at all? He goes on to point out that if you have a real, sincere, heartfelt affection for the biblical Jesus, that's strong evidence that you're truly saved because no one can have any affection for Christ unless they've been raised from the dead. You are a child of the devil. You hate Christ, the true Christ. You hate God. You're under the wrath of God. You're subject to his wrath. And only believers, those who have been born from above, can ever have any affections of Christ. And they're the only ones who will want to obey all his commandments. Isn't that what he says in John 14? If you love me, you will obey my commandments. Hey, brethren, none of us obey them perfectly, but don't we want to? One of the glories of the new heavens and new earth is that I won't have to keep asking for forgiveness for things that, like Paul says in Romans 7, the things I want to do, I don't end up doing. What I end up doing are things that I don't want to do. And the Lord Jesus sought to restore the apostle Peter for his betrayal of Christ. How did he restore him? How did he give him his insurance back, brethren? I'll tell you how he did it. He looked at Peter and said it three times. Peter, do you love me? Or Simon, Simon, do you love me? Do you love me? Because Peter, the only way you have any love for me, and he says this, Lord, you know, the only way you have any love for me is because I've called you as one of my own. That's the only way. We are a child of God if we have true living affections for Christ. But in relation to him, secondly, you must also believe some things about the biblical Christ. First of all, you must believe he is truly a man, verse 40. It's interesting here because I don't think this might be the only place he says this, but now you seek to kill me a man. Usually his main title is what? Son of man. But here he just simply says, you seek to kill me a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father. They said to him, we were not born of fornication, we have one father of God. Could be a backhanded comment about the situation in which he came into the world without Joseph. Scholars aren't agreed on that, but the issue here is he truly was born of a woman. It's very, very important that we confess this. The biblical Jesus, 1 John 4, 2, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. He's not a ghost. He's not just divine. He is that. He is divine. We'll see this in a minute as well, but we must confess the humanity of Christ. Not only that he was truly a man, truly human, but that he was a sinless one. Verse 46, which of you, he says, convicts me of sin? And if I tell you the truth, why don't you believe me? Our Lord was calling these Jews to look at his life, take a look at his words, take a look at his actions. Where do you see any sin? And who would be foolish enough to do this? It wouldn't take these Jews hanging out with you and me a couple of hours before they discovered something in which to point to. But they could not find any fault in our Lord. And the reason is that Christ lived a sinless life in order to be the sinless sacrifice for sinners. You do not believe he's a sinless man. You're a child of the devil and you're still in your sin. Thirdly, not only must we believe Jesus was truly a man who was sinless, but as I said just a moment ago, thirdly, we must believe he's truly God. Verse 42, Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Going back earlier to some of the times when we've had to bring up the doctrine of the Trinity, let us never forget, brethren, we cannot divide up the Godhead. The reason Jesus tells these Jews that if God were their Father, they would love Him because He Himself is God. That's deep. It's true. God is one. The Lord thy God is one God. The language of proceeding from God is that it's an eternal procession. The language of the Father sending the Son cannot be that the second Son of the Godhead physically left glory somehow because the triune God is omnipresent. He cannot be divided up. His essence cannot be divided. I came across something Pastor Tom Hicks posted on Twitter. He says, the Son of God came down from heaven, but in such a way that He never left heaven. Similarly, the Son of God ascended into heaven in such a way that He never left earth. I know it's deep. I know it's complicated. But that's the truth. And God's children will not deny that truth. Again, brethren, what has been the hatred, the hatred, root hatred of these Jews? Why are they so set on wanting to kill him? And you see this throughout John. We've seen it many times now. And they wanted to kill him. They sought to kill him. It's like it's almost in every other chapter. Well, it is because Jesus has been claiming to be God, and this they could not bear, a man who is God. Therefore, if anyone does not truly believe that Jesus is God, the second person of the triune Godhead has the devil as their father. Verse 24, going back to verse 24, remember what he said there? Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sin. A believer may not be able to adequately explain the doctrine of the Trinity, but they will never deny the doctrine of the Trinity. Thirdly, so you know who your Father is by your relationship to God's word, by your relationship to Christ himself, but now thirdly, your relationship to your own works and deeds. Your relationship to your own works and deeds. Look at verse 38, again, let us follow through. Verse 41, I speak what I have seen with my father, and you do, notice the difference, what you have seen with your father. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father. So you see the contrast that the type of works, the type of deeds make manifest whether God is your father and you're a child of Abraham, a descendant, spiritual descendant, or if the devil is your father. Now, Christ is very clearly pointing out to us because of the deeds of these Jews, it was very clearly manifest they were the children of the devil. That's why they couldn't speak. He couldn't use the same language. I speak the words, verse 38, what I've seen. They couldn't tell the truth. They had no truth to explain. All they could do is do what they see their father do, the devil. Verse 44, if God were your father, you would love me. For I've receded forth from him and came from God, nor I have come of myself, but he sent me. Oh, that's verse 42, excuse me, 44. You're of your father, the devil, and the desire of your father you want to do. This is the manifest deeds of these Jews that are being exposed here. And so true spiritual children of Abraham mimic works of Abraham. Unbelievers mimic the works of their father, the devil. There's no way around it. You can't change that. It's the solemn reality of every human being on the face of the earth. What were the works of Abraham? Simply put, brethren, they were the works of faith. They were the works of faith, but the children of the devil live according to the works of merit. These Jews were depending on their own merit to be justified before God. Remember what they said earlier, we have never been in bondage. They wouldn't own their sin because they didn't need a savior. They're doing it on their own. They're okay. I'm a good person. I try to do the right things. Of course, they weren't, but there are a lot of unbelievers who think that way. Here they are, you as both of I know. If you want to learn anything about the Pharisees, particularly the Jews here, is that they think they have merit before God. These Jews think they have merit because they are simply the physical descendants of Abraham. The Apostle Paul would say, he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly. Circumcision of the heart by a work of a miracle of God. Turn with me, brethren, quickly to Romans 4. I think it's important. I quoted one of the verses earlier, but I want you to see it with your own eyes. It's very clear, if you can follow what Paul's thought is here, verses 9 to 12. These are the works of Abraham versus the merits of unbelievers. Paul writes, Romans 4, beginning in verse 9 to 12, Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, meaning the Jews, or upon the uncircumcised also, Gentiles, or even Jews who are uncircumcised? He says, for we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Boy, he's making them think. Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. He was born again before he's baptized, we could say, in our new covenant day. Verse 11, and he received the sign of the circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had while still uncircumcised. That he might be the father of all those who believe, we quoted it earlier, though they are uncircumcised. That righteousness might be imputed to them also. and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised." Abraham believed God. He had trust in God forgiving him. He did not live to please God in a sense to earn eternal life. These Jews here back in John 8, they had been circumcised. They had the right spiritual, I mean, the right physical pedigree. And they trusted in these things rather than putting their place and faith in the Messiah that God had sent them to save them. No one could ever have spoken so clear to these Jews. I mean, as preachers up here, we don't get everything perfect in our sermon. But these Jews are accountable for such greater light because the truth was speaking to them for a long time. There was probably a lot of things going back and forth that were not even recorded for us. Romans 9.31, Israel pursuing the law of righteousness has not attained the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. Same thing in the book of Galatians, as many are the works of the law are under the curse of the law. You know you're a child of God when you live by faith. You obey God by faith. You long to be faithful to God by faith. You don't walk around with a guilty conscience thinking you're going to get kicked out of heaven or that you're going to lose your salvation because you're just not everything that the law says it is. You labor because you believe. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness because he trusted and rejoiced to see our Lord's day. What was Abraham's faith really like? Well, it was like it was said in Hebrews 11. First of all, in verse 8, it says that, by faith, Abraham obeyed God when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. He just believed God and he just did it. This is how you live by faith. You're in the scripture, you're in the truth, you hear preaching, and you want to hear truth, you want to be corrected, you want to walk in the truth, you want to walk in the light, so you allow your heart to be corrected by the truth. This Abraham did. And then verse 9 says, by faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob. I realize Jacob was 15 years old when Abraham died. The heirs with him of the same promise. For he waited for the city whose foundations, whose builder and maker is God." We learn two things about Abraham's faith. Number one, you know you're a child of God when you obey God's word by faith not to earn God's favor. Is that how you're walking, brethren? So easy for the devil to convince us, isn't it? Oh, I've got to straighten things up. I've got to get my act together. You've got to love God. He who loves me will obey my command. You have the duty. We are accountable. But brethren, you do it by faith. Paul got on the Galatians for this very thing. You who began by faith, are you going to continue on now by the works of the law? Secondly, you know you're a child of God and not the devil when you live for the glory which is to come, like Abraham did, and not for the temporal pleasures of the world. These Jews were living for the only thing It was in this world, their desire to kill Jesus, think about this, their desire to kill Jesus was simply to make their lives easier in this life. That was their motive. Jesus had shined a spotlight on their true colors, and it was all black. They were proud people. They enjoyed the praise of men. They enjoyed the honor that others gave them, and it was what they lived for. And Jesus was threatening that. That's what it is with unbelievers. The gospel threatens what they really want in this temporal life, and they're willing to give it up to live for what Abraham lived for, the city whose maker and foundation is God. The Lord Jesus forced their sin out in their shadows, and they didn't like it, and so they're trying to snuff out the light, the candle is lit, and let's go put it out, let's kill it. And they were doing the deeds of their father, the devil. who's been trying to kill Jesus since the beginning without any success. Now he's been dealt himself a fatal wound. Brethren, the devil has no desire for heaven. He hates the very presence of God. He hates the truth. He hates the light. Therefore, he refuses, and those who follow him refuse to believe and trust Jesus Christ. The devil is your father if your relationship to your works and your deeds is based on your own merit. Jesus said, I speak what I've seen with my father, and you do what you've seen with your father. You can't help it because you refuse to bow to me. You refuse to believe what I've said to you. You don't have any cause to say what I've said is wrong, and yet you do not want to believe. Jesus teaches the truth. He proclaims the truth, but since they rejected it, All they can do is mimic the works of their father, the devil, who was a liar and the father of them. And this is also true of those who refuse to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And it goes on up to even today, and will go on to the end of time. Here I am with you this morning, just a man, fallen, a weak man, telling the truth to anyone in here today that's still not saved, that Christ has come into the world to save you. If you repent and believe upon Him, He will give you everlasting life. It's a free gift. All your sins will be cleansed and washed away. You'll stand before God perfectly, no condemnation. What a wonderful gift. And yet, there are some in here today who have not yet believed this. To tell you the truth, we understand it, don't we? to come in here and tell all of you that we're all born sinners under the wrath, and believers understand what I'm saying, but unbelievers do not. Do you believe it? The whole reason that God has had me preaching through the gospel according to John is because so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him, you may have life in His name. And some of you young people, you still need this. Maybe others too, I don't know. But if you will reach out to the Lord by faith, you will humble yourself. That is where it begins. I've never seen anyone get through the narrow door with their heads lifted up in pride. None. I don't know how you all came in, but I know that's how I came. I was broken, flat on my back spiritually, with no place to go but to Christ. And He, by faith, when I turned to Him, received me. My Father loves me now. Your father, the devil, will never love you. He hates you. He only desires your destruction. But God will love you with an everlasting love if you would, by faith, simply place your faith in His beloved Son, whom He sent." Again, going through this entire text and seeking to explain it to you who are not saved yet, but so that no one in this place today would need to leave as the devil is their father. What is your relationship to the Word of God, unbeliever? Have you heard me this morning? Because now God has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. Jesus did it himself when he was here, but now he has passed this down to those whom he's chosen to continue on the method of preaching the gospel. So it is the same with you. Have you believed and heard this message this morning? What about your relationship to Christ? Do you really love Him? Do you have any affection at all for the blessed Savior? Are you willing to do whatever He says for you to do? What is your relationship to your own works and your own deeds? Do you think you're okay without having to humble yourself to come to Jesus? You know, Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons said, Father Abraham, I am one of them, but how about you? To those of us who've professed to believe in here today, does the Word of God have place in your heart? You get something from it. Does God continue to change you? Is He sanctifying you by the truth? We'll get to that. John 17, thy word is truth. Lord, Father, sanctify them by thy truth. You hear a preacher preach and you say, oh, preacher, you stepped on my toes, and it was the whole time the Father trying to clean you up, sanctify you. Own that sin, brother. Own that sin, sister. Get right with God. Walk in the light. It's free. For whom the Son sets free, he's free indeed. Do you have affections for the Lord? Do you really live by faith? Are you adoring the works of Abraham? I close with this. I was listening this past week to R.C. Sproul's mentor, John Gerstner. He was talking about what it's going to be like, brethren, as we as Christians are going to stand before the Lord and have to give an account for our sin. And I have thought about this for years. I've asked other preachers through the years their opinion on it, and I never got such help as I did from John Gerstner this week. He says, make no mistake, you and I as Christians will stand before God and every single one of our works will be manifest on the day of judgment. What a scary thought. There are ugly, horrible, wicked things that every one of you and myself have done. You would hate to be seen put up on that wall. It's going to be put up on the wall in heaven. What? But here's where Gerstner gives me so much hope and help. He says that they will be manifest in order to show that they've all been forgiven. to glorify God's grace. And he goes on to say, he says, you know, I don't know whether or not that in that moment we'll all face just a little bit of shame. I don't know, he says. He says, but it will be overcome so quickly by the glory which is in Christ as we stand there to receive our reward. Anybody that gave a cup of cold water in his name, who visited the city in his name, who gave in his name, who walked two miles, who turned the other cheek. It's all being recorded. And then that too will bring glory to God. What a wonderful thing it is, brethren, to have God as our Father. Let us pray. Our Lord, our God, we do thank you. Thank you for adopting us into your family. How safe we are, even though we often feel fearful like a little child who's done something wrong and knows he shouldn't. That like a father who loves, you chasten with sweet and wonderful and good disciplines. Lord, to not harm us, but to do us good. To conform us to the image of your beloved son, that we might walk even as he walked. Father, I pray for those here today who have not yet believed on the Lord Jesus. Lord, You alone have the power to open up their ears that they might hear the truth and receive it. Glorify Yourself today, O God, in allowing all in this place to be saved and to leave this place as You as their Father and not the devil. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.