Come to the Light - Do You Belong to God?

[0:00] we'll take your Bibles we're going to jump back into the Gospel whoa it's the Gospel of John John chapter 8 John chapter 8 today we're going to study verses 31 to 47 the Bible black Bible that's here in front of you if you need that pull that out John 8 31 to 47 and go to the back page 79 in that black Bible page 79 where you'll find John chapter 8 again we'll study verses 31 to 47 31 to 47 praying where did Susanna go oh there praying for Laura but she's in Tokyo there's a typhoon going through Japan right now right when Laura landed practically so so they directed the flight to Tokyo so now she's in Tokyo she's staying with a friend in Tokyo and they're going to wait until a storm passes and then they're going to do a bullet train to to

[1:12] Yamaguchi Yamaguchi it's not as Yamaguchi okay she said it I'm not going to try and say it anyways yeah so please be praying for Laura thank the Lord that she's okay John chapter 8 31 to 47 I'm going to read and then we'll jump in therefore Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in him it's very important for you to see this these are the Jews who had believed in him these are the people he's speaking to if you abide in my word you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free they answered him we're Abraham's seed we've not been slave to anyone at all how is it that you say it you shall become free Jesus answered them truly truly I say to you all the ones who commit sin is a slave of sin and the slave does not remain in the house forever the son remains forever therefore the son will make you free indeed you are free

[2:19] I know that you're Abraham's seed yet you seek to kill me because my word has no room in you the things which I've seen with the father I speak therefore also you do the things which you heard from the father they answered and said to him Abraham is our father and Jesus said to them if you are Abraham's children do the deeds of Abraham but now you're seeking to kill me a man who's told you the truth which I heard from God this Abraham did not do you're doing the deeds of your father they said to him we're 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've not come of my own but this one has sent me why do you not understand what I'm saying because you cannot hear my word you're of the 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's no truth in him when he speaks the lie he speaks from his own for he is a liar and the father of it 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 the one who's of God hears the words of God for this reason you do not hear because you're not of God there's friends of ours who

[4:15] I think it was in the past year or so had recently adopted a little girl they had two boys and they adopted a little girl and you know it's a huge long process to do this but there was nothing like the finality of it all finally she's ours she belongs to us it was it's a huge party and everything and like he tried to post it on Facebook look at her she's so cute it was just great they're ecstatic so happy there's nothing like belonging and on their side it's them can you imagine what she would be like as she gets older I have a family I belong to them belong to be a member or part of that's what it means to belong this little girl she now belongs to that family in Christianity it's vital to belong to God to be of his family and only the light can bring you to that point and kind of picking up what we did two weeks ago with John and his whole gospel saying come receive Jesus know Jesus believe Jesus and last week we said the title was come to the light and so we're gonna take that theme but then what also goes along with that theme come to the light slash do you belong to God come to the light come to the light come to the light do you belong to God true disciples are defined by the truth are freed from sin a true disciple of Jesus is defined by the truth a true disciple of Jesus is freed from sin a true disciple of Jesus has God as their father a true disciple of Jesus loves Jesus

[6:48] God's son that's what you see from the text another way you could put this and this is gonna be a longer statement and you don't necessarily need to write this down because actually this is the whole message in one sentence this is gonna be the whole message in one sentence once you see this read this you don't have to write it down but you probably will write it down and then fall asleep that's fine if you wanna do that that way but I'm gonna keep it from not falling asleep so don't write it down see I'm not as dumb as I look here's a message in one statement the one who is of God or who belongs to God hears Jesus' words believes Jesus' words and abides in Jesus' words that one believes his identity and mission is a true disciple is freed from sin is a true child of God and loves Jesus which is shown by their deeds that's how you can put it in one sentence or two I should say

[7:54] John 8 31 to 47 and you will notice from the verses it's actually in the negative I put it in the positive well Jesus kind of goes back and forth positive and negative so I'll read to you the negative the negative is the one who's not of God who does not belong to God cannot hear Jesus' words cannot believe his words cannot abide in Jesus' words that one denies his identity and mission is not a true disciple is enslaved to sin is a child of the devil is not a lover of Christ and that's shown by their deeds as well you probably see more in 31 to 47 the emphasis of the negative as opposed to the positive and where does the light come in 812 is pivotal to everything that happens because we need the light to open our eyes to the truth of Jesus if the light is not turned on you see nothing if the light is not turned on you don't belong to God because you're in darkness right you can't see anything until you turn the light on and you notice which I brought this up just a few moments ago when we read verse 31

[9:43] Jesus was saying to Jews who had believed in him unfortunately these people had fake faith or fickle faith spurious faith a faith that did not truly embrace or love Jesus and Jesus called them out revealing to whom they were truly devoted the devil Jesus is not politically correct is he he wouldn't jive in our 21st century type stuff he would not so as we come to this message these verses there's something that is going to challenge three groups of people and the first group of people is going to challenge is those who don't know Jesus come trust him today if you don't know Christ come trust him today this is going to challenge you towards that second group this challenges those who think they're trusting

[10:48] Jesus are you truly trusting him are you truly embracing Jesus your deeds will show that your actions show third group those who are truly trusting Jesus let it bring humility to your life and may you persevere in your trust be humbled let it humble you and may you persevere endure remain steadfast trusting Jesus there's the challenge this message challenges three groups of people there's the three groups there so all this is going to be based upon a premise and I gave part of it to you just a few moments ago this is the premise and from this premise comes the five different statements which I read to you just a few moments ago in that one statement so here's the premise to everything that Jesus says here in 31 to 47 here's the premise you ready the one who belongs to God hears believes and abides in Jesus words and loves

[12:08] Jesus and there's the verses and we're going to jump around I'm not going to go like that I'm going to jump to different parts it seemed to be better this way but this is the premise the one who belongs to God hears believes and abides in Jesus words and loves Jesus the opposite the one who doesn't belong to God cannot hear cannot believe cannot abide in Jesus words and does not love Jesus at all notice how Jesus ends this section verse 47 the one who is of God hears the words of God see there's the premise for this reason here's the negative you do not hear why because you're not of God why do people not believe in Jesus and the idea of of God means belonging so those who belong to God they hear his words which means they hear

[13:09] Jesus the reason they don't hear is they do not belong to God if you belong to the devil you don't belong to God there's no in between for John for Jesus the one who belongs to God hears believes and abides in Jesus words and loves Jesus so this means true children of God find their origin from God himself and those who are true children of God love the son and as far as Jesus was concerned these so to speak believers were slaves to sin indifferent to his word as one writer says children of the devil they did not belong to God actions speak louder and actions are stronger than blood or heritage you'll notice that a little bit later now jump over to verse 31 remember

[14:26] Jesus is saying to the Jews who believed in him these are the so to speak believed they really believed maybe they accepted his claim somewhat Jesus is going to define the nature of true belief you must remain in my word he says if you abide or remain in my word truly you are my disciples there's the real test and remain denotes intimate relationship one writer says a co participatory presence it has to do with spiritual personal connection not a political connection well Jesus is a conservative why do people say that Jesus is a liberal why do you say that we're not talking about this nor was Jesus it's a spiritual personal connection he says you stay you remain in my word and to remain in his word means you remain the person in the word made flesh so

[15:38] Jesus meant you embrace both his identity and his mission that will come later on in our premise statement his person and work this is what makes a true disciple you are truly truly you are disciples of mine he says what separates spurious faith from true faith you persevere in Jesus words you remain in the word you obey his words you stay in his word genuine believers count the cost and follow Jesus true disciple you hear you believe you buy go to verse 37 verse 37 I know that you're Abraham's seed he knew their physical descent I'm no dummy Jesus is saying but when it comes to spiritual slavery freedom physical descent doesn't matter what matters is the conduct of one's life yet you seek to kill me how does that make any sense that's the true gauge oh they're fine to trust

[16:58] Jesus unless he clashed with their prejudices or their religious biases or their political preferences or like for today unless it clashes with our gender identity I'll trust Christ as long as it's convenient for me convenient for you they needed a rebirth John 3 because they wanted to kill Jesus and notice what he says from verse 37 because my word has no room or no place in you there's no place for you for my word they wanted nothing to do with Jesus it did not affect their actions how can a person say

[17:58] I believe in Jesus but his word has no place in them go to verse 42 Jesus said to them if God were your father so they claim that God was their father if God was your father you would love me why because I proceeded from God and I came from God the evidence of who they truly were of who their real father was is displayed by how they treated Jesus the one who belongs to Jesus hears his words believes his words abides in his words and loves Jesus you love me love me allegiance commitment obedience you embrace Jesus he came right on the open declaring his identity and his mission and how it truly matters how they responded to him he came right out

[18:59] I proceeded forth and it came from God true Christians hear Jesus words believes Jesus words abides in Jesus words and loves Jesus true children of God the father love the son who was sent by God on mission to save the world through his death and resurrection there it is Abraham would not try to kill Jesus he would love Jesus you'll see that in verse 40 an affection for Jesus if a person does not hardly embrace and love Christ that one does not know the father look at what he says verse 43 why do you not hear or understand what I'm saying the idea is the contrast between how Jesus spoke his style and what he spoke the subject why didn't they get it why can't they understand the subject of what he's saying why were they not able to make sense because they were unable to hear the subject he says because you cannot hear my word why he says in verse 47 they did not belong to

[20:25] God apart from the rebirth no one will hear no one will believe no one will abide no one would love so the one who belongs to God hears believes and abides and loves Jesus okay so now from that premise five truths follow our main premise above that we just talked about here's number one that one believes Jesus identity and mission they believe it his identity is he's the son he's the speaker of the truth and his mission he's sent by the father he speaks what he hears from God it's all over John's gospel Jesus identity and mission identity and mission identity who he is what he's done who he is what he's done everywhere it's all over this passage as well he's the son he's the speaker of truth and he's sent by the father he speaks what he hears from

[21:28] God look at verse 38 the things which I seen with the father I speak oh by the way the opposite to that that one denies Jesus identity and mission the things which I seen with the father I speak therefore you also do the things which you heard from the father there's no caps in the Greek so father and father is not capitalized and it's quite possible that my and yours were added later not in the original it's hard to tell but whatever the case is the contrast becomes great for Jesus he acted in the authority of the father they acted in the authority of the father the devil you'll see that in a moment so the actions and character of the son big s slash little s son reveals the nature of the father capital

[22:30] F slash little f that's how one writer put it a son reflects the character of his father a child reflects the character of their parents that's what Jesus is saying he's the son he's the speaker of the truth that one believes his identity his mission look at verse 40 but now you're seeking to kill me you want to kill me there's the action yet they claim Abraham to be their father their action betrayed their true identity notice he says a man who's told you the truth which I heard from God this is who Jesus is and this is his mission I told you the truth is who I am I'm the speaker of truth I came from God I heard these things from God he came right out and says what he does Jesus tells the truth and these words that he speaks truth comes from

[23:36] God his identity his mission see when you belong to God you believe his identity you believe Jesus mission that's why he says this Abraham did not do Abraham wouldn't try to kill me but not just his identity his relation mission with the father look at verse 42 again he says if God were your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and have come from God there's his mission for I've not come from my own but this one has sent me I didn't come by myself the father God sent him there's his mission drop down to verse 45 but because I speak the truth you do not believe me Jesus is the speaker of truth but because he did they didn't believe him their action of disbelief showed they followed the devil who was their true father else they would believe him instead they denied his identity and his mission look at verse 46 which one of you convicts me of sin here's two questions he asked him first can any of you convict me of sin in other words prove

[25:07] I've sinned so basically Jesus is saying I'm sinless and then next question if I speak truth why don't you believe me I'm the sinless truth right before your eyes why are you rejecting me because they don't belong to God if you belong to God you'll hear Jesus words believe Jesus words abide in Jesus words and love Jesus and therefore you will embrace his identity and embrace his mission see true statement number two that one is a true disciple of Jesus everybody saw that opposite that one is not a true disciple of Jesus who does not belong to God again 31 if you abide in my word truly you are disciples of my my disciples we went through that already verse 31 so let's go to the third statement third statement that one is freed from the slavery of sin and the devil opposite that one is enslaved to sin if you don't belong to

[26:29] God verse 32 and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free that one who truly believes as a true disciple of Jesus will know the truth that Jesus is the one sent by the father to save the world through whom grace and truth come I mean the truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ the truth is Jesus himself he's the truth so that one is freed from the slavery of sin Jesus sets you free as we sang the songs we were singing talked a lot about freedom from sin freedom from sin because Jesus sacrificed himself we can be freed from sin a true disciple of Jesus is free from the tyranny of sin to know this truth is to make a moral commitment to

[27:35] Christ if you're not Jesus disciple then you serve sin as your master there's no commitment and freedom means salvation by the way so truth liberates people from their sin Jesus gives spiritual freedom to those who trust him to those who are truly his true disciples look at how they respond verse 33 they answered him Abraham seed his offspring they're shocked that he would even suggest that they were not already free and then they say we've not been a slave to anyone at all and they're not talking about politically speaking because obviously a Jew they understood Egypt they were slaves in Egypt that would be ridiculous for them to say that so what are they talking about here they're talking about spiritual enslavement we've never been spiritually enslaved to anyone at all we've never served another god but the lord god the religious leaders these

[28:40] Jews are saying this them at that time we're sons of the kingdom pal we're privileged how dare you suggest that we're enslaved to sin are you crazy but this very challenge from them showed their unwillingness to hold to Jesus word because look at what Jesus says verse 34 he answered them well they said how is it you say we shall be free verse 34 Jesus answered them truly truly I say to you oh important statement you see that in John's gospel you'd be like wake up okay you gotta wake up now truly truly I say to you right okay the one who commits sin is the slave of sin anyone who commits sin is a slave of sin so who commits sin everyone so that means what everyone's enslaved

[29:50] I didn't say that Jesus did that's exactly what he's saying sin isn't defined by your seed or heritage there's a lie we're Abraham's offspring slavery is defined by sin if you sin you're already a slave to sin it means all people pals you're not different from the word are from Gentiles all are slaves we all have self-seeking self-centered evil enslaving devotion to creative things instead of to our very creator God dot dot dot dot Jesus everyone God's law which distinguished Jews from the world it reveals that spiritually speaking they were similar to the world in that as Paul says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God everyone you're no different he's saying to them by the way and this is for free pursuing this social justice agenda that has risen up within evangelicalism today is foolish vain and fleeting unless our deeper issue of sin enslavement is recognized and biblically treated and dealt with in evangelicalism there's such a focus now on social justice if you don't deal with the sin enslavement issue there's no point to dealing with social justice because the problem is not our society the problem is the hearts that's embedded within society embedded within individuals everyone's a slave to sin that's their problem notice what Jesus says verse 35 the slave does not remain in the house forever the son remains forever he's talking about permanent residence a slave doesn't the son does and by the way this contrast is not between

[32:22] Jesus disciples and non Jesus disciples non disciples of Jesus it's between Jesus the son and the non disciples and really the world because notice what he says in verse 36 therefore if the son offers and gives freedom if he gives you freedom truly you are free from the enslavement of sin so this means that the whole world lies in sin slavery until the son rescues you only the son gives freedom from sin's tyranny only the son can liberate us from the enslavement to our selfishness and from the devil only Jesus turns slaves to son from those from the house of the devil to the house of the father only Jesus has the authority by the father to liberate slaves and he liberates us so that we can do what we should do what he calls us to do this is the aspect of the gospel come to

[33:32] Jesus repent and trust Christ he'll free you from sin he'll be free so that one is the disciple of Jesus but that one as we said is also freed from the slavery of sin and the devil statement number four that one is a true child of God the father negative who doesn't belong that one is a child of the devil verse 39 the answer and said to him Abraham is our father the Jews banked heavily upon their physical descent and they're privileged they believe they deserve as God's people but they didn't read the Old Testament heritage is not a moral guide our father's

[34:35] Abraham well yes and no physically yes spiritually nah if you are notice Jesus verse 39 Jesus said to him if you're Abraham's children do the deeds of Abraham but you want to kill me Abraham did not want to do that it doesn't make sense you guys are saying one thing and doing something else only those born of God by the spirit are true children of God John 1 12 13 not born of the blood will the flesh will of men but born of God the important bloodline is not Abraham's but Christ's the truth that it's not about heritage but actions that determine identity you reflect the character of your father what kind of character well they wanted to kill him what kind of character were they describing let's find out look at verse 41 you're doing the deeds of your father they said to him we were not born of fornication we have one father

[35:54] God strongly protested against Jesus statement look buddy our heritage and legit birthright and lineage is this we are God's people he's our God they claim this origin so his words are so offensive and yet their actions reveal their true identity and true father and not only is Abram our father but God is our father wrong look at verse 44 you are of the father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do you belong to your father and your father is the devil now now Jesus defined their father which ran parallel with their actions their true origin and identity is the devil and wanting to do his desires like what look at what he says the next part of verse 44 the devil he he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks of the lie he speaks from his own for he is a liar and the father of it notice the three descriptions of the devil one he was a murderer from the beginning versus

[37:22] Jesus who is life two he does not stand in truth in other words there's no truth in him he hates the truth versus Jesus whose origin is and he's the speaker of truth three he speaks lies and he speaks it of his own supply he supplies it versus Jesus who could only speak truth his identity the devil is a liar that's your father children of God will so love the truth of Jesus that they will believe Jesus children of the devil are consumed with lies that they are not able to embrace the truth not able to embrace Jesus there's no other way so four that one is a true child of God the father who does not belong to Jesus you're a child of the devil five last one that one is a lover of Jesus which is seen by their deeds opposite that one who doesn't belong to

[38:49] God is not a lover of Jesus we saw that in verse 41 and 42 we saw that in verse 37 we saw that in verse 40 Jesus is very clear especially verse 42 if God were your father you would love me but you want to kill me so recap true disciples are defined by the truth true disciples of Jesus are defined by the truth are free from sin have God as their father and love Jesus who is God's son and the premise our premise statement this is our premise the one who belongs to God hears believes and abides in Jesus words and loves Jesus if you miss anything don't miss that how can you sum up these verses 31 to 47 when you come to the light the light will reveal things to you so that you will belong to

[39:54] God and when you belong to God you'll hear you'll believe you'll abide in Jesus words and you'll love him opposite you don't belong to God you don't hear his words you don't believe in Jesus words you don't abide in Jesus words and you don't love Jesus you will embrace his identity and mission you'll be a true disciple of Jesus you'll be freed from sin you'll be a child of the father you'll love Jesus that's what flows so those of you who don't trust Jesus come come and he'll save you and free you for those of you who think you're trusting Jesus are you truly trusting Jesus let this be a time for you to examine and say God am I truly trusting you Jesus am I truly trusting you but also for those of you who are truly trusting Jesus be humbled by it and say

[40:57] God help me to persevere in my trust to remain steadfast and keep trusting you Jesus let's pray for that we pray for those who don't know Jesus they will come we pray for those who may be fooled that they will come and we pray for us for those who are truly trusting Jesus to persevere to be steadfast to hold fast to Jesus knowing that Jesus you will hold us take this time I encourage you next minute or so to fill your mind with truth to fill your mind with

[42:07] Jesus we'll sing we'll pray let this time be a time of such encouragement to you directing you to gospel truth to grace and mercy and freedom that's found in Jesus freedom that's found in God the Father your Father ponder what we've seen from God's word this morning would you please do that now not love you people want to some i