I feel like I should be going to sit down now. If you will, please turn your Bibles to John chapter 8. We're going to be looking at the second half of this chapter, verses 31 to 59. Genetics. Genetics are just a truth that none of us can deny. Now guys, it's probably not smart to tell your wife that she's acting like her mom, but she does have her mom's genes. But don't bring that up. Those of you who know Isaac, my oldest son, he looks more like me, but he acts more like his mom. I've always had the joke in our house that I lived with two sets of twins. Isaac and his mom were another set of twins. Genetics can do really fun and really inconsistent things. But the one constant that we can always expect from genetics is that as parents, God has designed the process for us to pass on part of who we are, features and personalities, to our children. And Adam is the ultimate parent. He's the first parent. But what did he pass to us? Something that we don't really like that much. He passed the curse and sin down to us. We're born with sinful desires. We love ourselves. We don't love our God. And we might not like that truth, but it is a fact that we cannot deny. But thankfully, the Bible says there's more than one Adam, right? There's a second Adam, Jesus Christ. And those who place their faith in Jesus receive not DNA genetics, but they receive some of the spiritual traits of Jesus Christ. Instead of remaining in bondage to sin, you inherit freedom. Instead of hating God's Word, you actually love His Word and you hear His Word. Instead of recoiling in His presence or running from His coming, we rejoice in His coming. Well, in John chapter 8, we're going to enter into a conversation that Jesus is having with some Jews who are the physical offspring of Abraham. So these people are Abraham's descendants, they have his traits, they look like him, they act like him, but Jesus is gonna tell these people that they aren't really Abraham's children. The traits that they are presenting in this conversation are the traits of their true father, the devil. If you look at the end of your bulletin there, you can see the outline. I'm not gonna go through that, but that's there. It's kind of like a stop sign for you, like if you fall asleep in point one, catch back up in point two, and so on. Yes. All right, so let's read. I'm gonna start by reading John chapter eight, just verses 31 to 38. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are Abraham's offspring and have never 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 practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father. Now, it's been months since I preached the beginning of this chapter. But in verses 1 to 30, Jesus has this very difficult dialogue with the Pharisees. And basically in that dialogue, the Pharisees keep condemning Jesus because they actually understand that he's saying, I'm the Messiah. And they do not like that. Well, in spite of all this tension and all this conflict, Verse 30 ends with a happy note. It says, many who were there hearing this argument believed in him. And man, I'd love it if the chapter just ended there and then we just jump to chapter nine and we get to that fun story of the blind man. But that's not what John has for us. He wants us to see that belief doesn't always mean you are a true child of God. The Jews who believed in verse 30 are going to enter into a dialogue with Jesus, and Jesus is going to sift their hearts. He's going to open up what's in their hearts from the things he says, from the questions he asks. And the person that they claim to believe in verse 30, they're going to want to kill by the end of this chapter. Jesus begins this sifting process in verse 32. He says, if you are a true disciple, now, true disciple, what are the implications there? That there are false disciples. If you are a true disciple, you will be set free. And it's so funny, I mean, why is that so confrontational? The Jews, it's like they're irritated by that. And they say to Jesus, they say, hey, we're Abraham's kids. We've never been enslaved. Now, if you know your Bible, you probably know how ridiculous that is, don't you? I mean, slavery is a major portion of their history. They were enslaved in Egypt. They were enslaved in Babylon. And the ones who are saying this right now, They're not really free either. They're under the government of the Roman Empire. So physical inheritance of Abraham's seed has not kept them from physical slavery. But that's not even Jesus' point here. He explains in verse 34. He's talking about the slavery that Adam placed us all under. Slavery to sin. He says everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. Now just in case you're thinking that Jesus is saying if you ever sin, you're a slave to sin. He's not raising the bar here to like some kind of sinless perfection. This is actually a phrase that I'm guessing John adopted from Jesus, practicing sin. He uses it a lot in his epistle in 1 John. And in 1 John, he makes it clear that practicing sin is basically just like living a lifestyle of sin. And to make it clear that practicing sin doesn't mean you never sin. In 1 John, John also says, if you say you have no sin, then what? You're a liar, yeah. So he can't mean sinless perfection. So imagine this like, this practicing sin and practicing righteousness. Imagine that you are at the top of Linville Falls. Anybody here not know what Linville Falls is? It's the big attraction around here in this area. So you're at the top of Linville Falls and you're holding on to a branch. You're in the water and imagine that the water is like the sin that's trying to pull you down over the edge and Jesus is that branch. You are tightly clinging to that branch. You're trying to work your way up that branch but If you don't trust in the branch, you're just gonna give up. And you're gonna say, this is too hard. I don't want to keep practicing branch clinging. I'm gonna let go. And you go down and fall into destruction. Practicing sin is like going with the flow of the water. You just let go of Jesus and you keep going. And our clinging efforts, they're not perfect, are they? I mean, you have to imagine a hand holding onto you, too, in that branch. God is pleased with our imperfect attempts. Think of it this way. Those of you who have small children, teaching them how to ride a bike, they have training wheels on, okay, they're riding the bike with their training wheels, If you are an encouraging parent, you're going to say, you did it, right? You're not going to stand there with your arms folded and say, I'm not pleased with you because your bike riding is not perfect. Jesus is the training wheels that we have to have. God is pleased with our pitiful attempts to live righteously. because he sees those attempts through the lens of his perfect son. And it's because he is pleased with his son that you are set free. Look at verses 35 to 36. Jesus says the slave does not remain in the house forever. Now when he starts into this little analogy, he's not just pulling this out of thin air. The Jews have already invoked the name of Abraham. So he's pulling this illustration out of the story of Abraham. You guys remember Ishmael. Ishmael was the older son. Ishmael was the older son of Abraham and Isaac was the younger. Ishmael was the son, as we read in Galatians 4, the son of the slave woman. And Isaac was the son of the free woman, and he was the child of promise. So you have two sons. You have Ishmael, who enjoys the blessings of the father's house, but as a slave. And so those blessings are not eternal, because slaves don't inherit. But the sons of the home, they inherit. And from a physical standpoint, the sons live forever in the home. It's just like you're passing the inheritance on to your son, and then his son, and then so forth. In Genesis 21.10, Sarah tells Abraham, cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. And Paul interprets those words from Sarah and says, the scriptures said. So there are slaves and there are free people in the visible church of God. If you are abiding in Jesus' words, you are a free child of Abraham. But if you're acting like these Jews here in John chapter 8, You could just be a slave temporarily enjoying the benefits of the house of the Son. So Jesus teaches that Abraham's offspring are free, and if you've fallen asleep you can catch back up now. This brings us to our second point. Jesus talks about how Abraham's offspring hear the truth. Beginning in verse 39, they answered him. Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me. For I came... Excuse me. For I came from God, and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. I guess I'm about to preach with a mint in my mouth. Sorry about that. I must have sang too much. Okay. In verse 39, the Jews protest again saying, Abraham is our father. Jesus says, If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works of Abraham, but you're not. You ever heard your wife say, your child has been acting up? What are the implications there? Your wife is telling you that he or she, whichever child it is, is acting in a way similar to your moral imperfections. And this is what Jesus tells the Jews in verse 41. He says, you are doing the works your father did. And these Jews, who seem to love making Jesus point, they ignore what he says about who their father is, and they just slander him, like the devil would do. In verse 40, they say, We were not born of sexual immorality. Our Father is God. What's the implication there? Well, this is an insult in reference to Jesus' mysterious birth that we would say is the virgin birth. It's like they're saying, do you really want to give us a paternity test, Jesus, son of illegitimacy? And Jesus is really devastated by this, right? No, He does what He always does. He just ignores this and He keeps pushing the truth. There's three things that He says in verses 42 to 47. First, He says, I am sent by God the Father. He sent me. It's impossible for you to claim to be the sons of God the Father while hating the one that God sent to you. In verse 44, he tells them, you are children of your father, the devil. You are not acting like God's children. You are portraying the characteristics of Satan's children. And then the third thing he says is that those characteristics are lies and murder And they flow just naturally out of Satan. And they flow naturally out of you. And we're gonna see that at the end of this passage. They're gonna wanna murder Jesus. But the true offspring of Abraham, they hear the truth. And the truth, you might not realize this, the truth isn't necessarily a set of facts. The truth is a person, and it's Jesus Christ. And because Jesus is the truth, he cannot sin. And so in verse 46, he says, which one of you convicts me of sin? Here Jesus is saying, it's not my fault that you cannot and will not believe me. I can't sin. I can only tell the truth. I speak, speak truth, and it bounces off of you like bullets off of Superman. You can't hear it. You don't want to hear it. They're like somebody who has been locked up in a cellar all their life. Dark, damp, kind of blinded by the darkness. And you go and you jimmy open the lock, You open up, you have to imagine that you're somewhere in the Midwest where they have tornadoes. You open the doors up, you lead them out by the hand, and they try to open their eyes for a second, and then they just push your hand away, they run back down in the cellar, and they close it up and lock themselves in. They are both unable to open their eyes, and they're unwilling to believe that if they try, their eyes will adjust to the light. They have had a taste of light, but what do they prefer? They prefer darkness. Just like these Jews have had a taste of Jesus, but they prefer the lies of their father, the devil. But Jesus says, Abraham's sons not only embraced the light, they rejoice in it. And that brings us to our last point. Abraham's offspring rejoice in the day of Christ. Let's start in verse 48. Then Jesus answered him, are we not right in saying 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. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 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, as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died, and the prophets who died? Who 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. But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. These Jews make kind of a strange comparison that we might not fully understand. They say, Jesus, you're like a Samaritan and a devil. Now, the Samaritans, if you don't know, they're basically the mixed people in the north, in the northern part of Israel. And they are within the borders of Israel. But they're the ten tribes that were taken captive by the Assyrians. And their bloodline was basically mixed with all those pagan nations up there. And so the holy Jews in the South, they saw those mixed people as like the enemy within our borders. So you can kind of see the comparison there, you know, a demon that possesses you as an enemy within. In John chapter four, you probably know the story of the woman at the well. She was a Samaritan. And through her conversion, she went back and told the city that was a Samaritan city, and most of that city believed. And so, these Jews might have known about that revival in Samaria, and they're probably thinking, if the Samaritans love you, then you are definitely of the devil. And this is so juvenile. Jesus tells them something true, and they call him a devil. It's kind of like somebody standing, looking off the edge of a cliff, and you say, be careful. And they say, I know you are, but what am I? You guys never watch Pee Wee Herman. They don't even consider the truth of Jesus' words. They just name call. And in verse 41, Jesus shares something else that seems to like just completely confuse them. He says, if anyone keeps my words, he will never see death. And the Jews respond by saying, hey, wait a minute. Are you saying that you are greater than Abraham and the prophets who have died? Who do you think you are? Jesus says in verse 56, your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. And the Jews are even more confused, and they say, how old are you again? Are you 2,000 or 3,000 years old? But Abraham did see Jesus. He saw him in the types, like Melchizedek, the priest, king, who came from Salem, and we don't really know his origins. And Father Abraham paid tribute to him as though he was somebody who was superior to Abraham. We also see Jesus in the promises to Abraham that he would have offspring. And Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of that promise of a seed. But for some reason Jesus doesn't appeal to these ways of seeing him in the Old Testament. Maybe they would have actually accepted those, and Jesus doesn't seem to care whether they accept him or not. He just simply says, before Abraham was, I am. Thank you. He knew I needed more. Jesus says, oh, sorry. Jesus saying, I am, is the ultimate answer to the question that the Jews ask in verse 53 when they say, who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus says, I am. I am the one who's always been. I am the one who always is. I am Yahweh. I'm the very one who spoke the promises to Abraham. And as Abraham rejoiced in his God and he rejoiced in the promises, He was rejoicing to see Jesus Day, the God-man. And these Jews, who don't seem to like truth, they understand this truth. They understand who he's claiming to be. So they pick up rocks to stone him, but he hides himself and escapes from the temple. Now, what kind of things should we take away from this interaction between Jesus and these false sons of Abraham? Well, first, it's healthy for us to understand there's two paths. There's one path of being Jesus' true disciple, following him, trusting in him, that path leads to his presence and eternity. The other path is pretending to follow him, not caring about what your father thinks, and that path leads to hell and destruction. Jesus calls it the two paths. And as Presbyterians, we need to be reminded of this. Baptists might not like the fact that we baptize our kids, that's fine. But at this church at least, we make sure that you understand that the waters of baptism is not what saves you. You need to engage what your baptism tells you by true faith, through discipleship. We believe that our baptized members, even even infants, the one that was baptized last week, Henry, right? I'm not sure I got the name right. We believe that he has a real relationship with Jesus, but that doesn't mean it's a saving relationship yet. In God's church, there's a mixture of those who are true disciples and those who have just made some kind of initial kind of confession of faith. And I want to end this sermon with a warning because this is a kind of a warning passage, but of course I'm going to end with the good news. So, if you are in this church playing games with God, it's possible that you will take that so far that one day Jesus will hide himself from you, just like he hid himself from these Jews and went away. I don't know when that is, The Bible doesn't tell us there's a line right here, and if you cross that, then you've gone too far. But it does exist. Right now, Jesus is calling you through the preached word. His Spirit is telling you, I am the Savior. My blood is the only way. But there may come a time when those things just reveal your hatred of Him, and He removes Himself. As Jesus hid in the temple, you might be a false disciple sitting here hiding in Jesus' temple, His people. But the good news is that if that is you, there's wonderful and great hope. Jesus has put you in the church for a reason. He wants you to hear the gospel. He wants He has people to love you and pray for you. He wants you to be drawn to his precious son. Baptism puts Jesus' name upon you. You are identified as his. And your rejection up to this point, it's not final condemnation. You can still embrace him. That's what he wants. On the day of Pentecost, many of you might know, there were a group of Jews who were at the crucifixion and crying for Jesus to be crucified. Well, weeks later, they come back to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and Peter's preaching a sermon, and they hear that sermon, and they're convicted, and they repent and are baptized. These are people who helped murder Jesus. And Jesus still adopted them as sons. If the grace of God can reach people who actually participated in the murder of Jesus, it can reach you. So don't use that as an excuse. So come to Him. The world, the lies of the devil, they are appealing. They can be beautiful. Sin is enjoyable for a season, but it's deceptive and it's temporary. And all that beauty and splendor fades away. It fades into destruction and despair. Jesus is the only way. He's the only one who can satisfy your need for purpose, your need for belonging. So embrace him today. Because as long as you draw breath, it's never too late to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Amen.