Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: John 8: 31-58             Dec. 8, 2024

Message: “Knowing the Father!”  

By Pastor George Gnade

Intro: 1. Last week we began a series on the pre-existence of Christ as revealed through the Gospel of John. In John 17, Jesus personally prayed to His Father and talked about the glory they had shared together before the world began.

a. But because sin entered the world and death through sin, the Father sent the Son into the world to save His people from their sins.

b. This required Jesus to temporarily lay aside His glory until His mission was accomplished. But He prayed and asked His Father to restore to Him all the glory they had originally shared together after His mission was accomplished (John 17: 1-5). 

c. The fact that the Father sent His Son is the story behind the Christmas story. It is the reason why a hopeless world now has hope.

2. Today we are considering a discussion between Jesus and some Jewish leaders. 

a. Please note that John talks about “the Jews who had believed in Him” in John 8:31. Jesus said to them: “If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” 

b. This is important because Jesus was talking to other Jews who did not believe in Him. In fact, in vs. 19, Jesus told them: “You do not know me or my Father.”

3. In vs. 32, this group answered Him and said: “We are Abraham’s children and have never been slaves to anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?

a. Presently the Jews were enslaved by the Romans. They were trying to trick Jesus into saying He was going to fight and free them from Rome. 

b. But Jesus answer was much deeper and more important. In vs. 34, Jesus answered: “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin… But if the Son (of God) sets you free, you shall be free indeed.”

4. Here is something every American should understand. We all think of ourselves as being free, and free to do whatever we feel like doing or believing. Jesus was teaching them that we are all slaves of sin and only He as God’s Son could set us free from sin.

a. To make it even clearer, Jesus picked up on their claim that “we are Abraham’s descendants” (vs. 33). Jesus replied in vs. 37: “I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me because you have no room for my words.” 

b. Jesus knew they were about to try and stone Him because they didn’t believe in what He said. They didn’t believe in who He was. He continued: “If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do what Abraham did… (But instead) you are doing the things your own father does” (vs. 41).

A. Is it possible to have more than one father?

1. Jesus statement made them angry with Him. Was he implying they were illegitimate? In vs. 41 they replied: “The only Father we have is God himself.”

a. But the truth of the matter is that they considered Abraham to be their earthly father and God to be their heavenly Father. 

b. So it is possible to have more than one father. 

2. But Jesus was saying what they did not want to hear. In vs. 42 He continues: “If God was your Father, you would believe in me, for I came from God and now am here.  I have not come on my own; but He sent me… You belong to your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s wishes… He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding on to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he is using his native language.”

a. Remember how Satan put doubts in the mind of Adam and Eve, saying: “Did God really say that?” And how he put anger in the heart of Cain who killed his brother Abel? (See Gen. 1-4).

b. Now Satan was putting doubts in their minds about Jesus and what Jesus said, and placing in their hearts the desire to kill Him.  Abraham would never have done that. And if God was their Father, He would not do that either.

3. So it is possible to be a Jew by birth but not have the faith of Abraham. It is possible to have Christian parents and not become a Christian yourself. 

B. With this in mind, consider Abraham’s relationship to God and His Son, whom we know as the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. The promise God gave Abraham is that through his Seed, the Messiah would come; and through Jesus, the whole world would be blessed.  Now the whole world has been given the opportunity to believe in Him and the kingdom of God has spread to the ends of the earth. 

2. Abraham played a huge role in all of this. 

a. Several times God took on human form and appeared to Abraham. Since God the Father cannot be seen, most scholars agree it was His Son, the Lord Jesus, who took on human form and appeared to Abraham. 

b. He appeared to him in Gen. 12: 1 where He gave Abraham the promise that the whole world would be blessed through his descendants through whom the Christ would be born.

c. In Gen. 18, He appeared to him again along with two angels and promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child in their old age though whom the Christ would come. 

d. And again in Gen. 22, on Mt Moriah, Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, but God appeared to him and stopped him and told him to sacrifice the ram whose head was stuck in a thorn bush instead. Why? Because this was a picture of how Jesus, Abraham’s promised descendant, would someday wear a crown of thorns and give His life in our place, just as the ram was sacrificed in Isaac’s place.

3. In vs. 52-53, everything comes to a head when the unbelieving Jews said to Jesus: “Now we know you are demon possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if a man keeps your word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham?

He died and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”

a. In vs. 54-56 Jesus replied: “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who will glorify me. Though you do not know Him, I know Him… and your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

b. In vs. 57-59, they mocked Him saying: ‘“You are not fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?’  Jesus answered: ‘Before Abraham was born, I Am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.”

In Conclusion: 1. By claiming to be the “I Am”, Jesus not only affirmed how easy it was for Him to see Abraham but also the fact, that He was the One who also saw Moses and told him His name was the “I Am.”

2. Under Satan’s influence, it is no wonder they tried to stone Him.  But under God the Father’s influence, Jesus lived and died on the cross where He glorified His Father in heaven (John 17: 1-15) so that through Him we might come to know God too.

3. Christmas made all of this possible. Because of the coming of Christ, we can now have peace with God. Amen!