Jesus: The Light of the World Part 5 - John 8:39-47

1:56Well, light reveals what is hidden. That's what it does. And what Jesus does here, he reveals what is truly in the heart of those who superficially had come to believe in him. Verse 31. There were those who had believed. Yet what happens as this light continues to shine, as we get a picture of these people really weren't true believers, they're really not true followers. They're not going to continue in Christ's word. They're going to ultimately want to kill him. You see, true believers continue to follow Christ. It brings us down to the question for us today. What kind of a believer are you?

2:44Are you truly a believer in Christ? Or have you professed some sort of superficial faith? Or perhaps you just don't know Christ at all, never have even professed him. Well, I want to make I want you to understand the difference between a superficial faith and a genuine faith. And as I've been preaching in these series, I want you to make room for God's Word in your life. And that's the mark of a true disciple. They make room for God in their lives by giving God's Word a place of honor, a place of trust, a place of rule, and a place of love. That's how you display or make room for God in your life. Well, last time we looked at verse 38, that's where we left off, and Jesus made it clear that these people do not make room for Him and that God is not their spiritual Father. And it's because God is not their spiritual Father that they don't make room for Him in their lives. Pretty simple, right? If you're born of God, if you are of God, you're going to make room for God. If you're not of God, if you have no interest in God, then you're not going to make room for Him.

4:04It's what He said in verse 38: I speak the things which I have seen with my Father, therefore you also do the things which you have heard from your Father. And what Jesus says, what He says here starts this dialogue about spiritual paternity or spiritual fatherhood. And this conversation about spiritual fatherhood is going to go from this point all the way to the end of this. Chapter, and at the end, they're going to pick up stones in order to kill him.

4:38So, just get a flow of the dialogue this morning. We're just zeroing in on a snapshot of this dialogue this morning. But look at verse 39, just to start getting an idea of what's happening. There's two exchanges involved. First of all, in response to what Jesus had said in verse 38, the Jews assert that Abraham is their father. You see that? They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. And basically, what Jesus goes on to say is, no, he's not. And then the Jews get offended and they resort to an even higher paternal heritage. In the second part of verse 41, God is our father. We have one father, and that is God. And to which Jesus basically says, no, he isn't. And that's how this conversation proceeds. Two parts, two exchanges. Look back at verse 39.

5:38They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, If Abraham, if you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. This is something Abraham did not do. What Jesus makes plain here. Is that family likeness is in the character of a person, not in the physical lineage of a person, or even in the creed of a person? So, Jews are asserting that Abraham was their father, and they took comfort in that fact, right?

6:17They took comfort in something other than that their character matched the character of Abraham. They took comfort that they were of the physical descent, so it's some kind of position, physical lineage, or maybe even we've received the religion of Abraham. All of that, Jesus has already said, I know that you are Abraham's descendants. He said that in verse 37. And the Jews are saying, Well, we are like Abraham. That's where they're going with this. Abraham was a man of God, and so are we.

6:58But Jesus made it very clear: you're not. You want to kill me simply because I told you the truth. You see, what's happening here is the truth made them so mad that they wanted to murder him. I mean, the truth, for some reason, the truth really angered them to the point of murder. It's like, nah, Abraham wasn't like that at all. You see the nature, what truth can do, it can infuriate those. Whose spiritual father is the devil. Well, Jesus goes on to inform them that in God's economy, deeds are far more impressive than your family line. You see, God wants us to take no confidence in our family heritage or your doctrinal affiliation or your denominational affiliation, or maybe even what role you play.

8:02What God is interested in is deeds that come out of a heart of faith. That's what he's interested in, that's what matters. Think, well, my dad went to this, my parents to this. That has no basis in God's economy. You see, the reality is the one you imitate is your spiritual father. And that's where this whole thing goes to. Who is your spiritual father? And I want us to do some real honest soul searching today. It would be a tragedy for someone to leave here today thinking they are followers of Christ, believers in Christ, and really they are children of the devil. That would be a tragedy. And that was a tragedy. What was happening right here in our text. And what Jesus is trying to impress upon them is that the one you imitate is your spiritual father. And there are only two. Spiritual ultimate fathers. There is God and there is the devil, and everyone in this room is of one or the other. I'm going to ask you to be honest with yourself. Say, heart, I want to be as honest as I can with myself today. Will you do that? Will you pledge yourself as we go through these words to real spiritual honesty? It doesn't do you any good to think you're one thing when you're not. I want you to really spiritually assess yourself, and I want you to be truly honest with the texts that we're going to be reading and studying. And apply it to your heart and say, where am I really? Honesty. I want honesty of soul from you today. You are one or the other. Well, their second exchange begins in verse 41. And with the Jews' assertion that they were children of God. Look back. You are doing the deeds of your father.

9:59They said to him, We were not born of fornication. We have one father, and that father is God. So the Jews are picking up on the fact, okay, Jesus is obviously talking about a different father than Abraham. And so they get frustrated, they're angry, and they quickly assert that they are not illegitimate children. Those were not born of fornication, which may be a stab at Jesus, by the way. Because in verse 48, they say, Are we not? Right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon. So they're saying, look, we are not illegitimate children.

10:40We belong to God. God is our spiritual Father, and we truly do belong to Him. And it's in this second exchange where Jesus is going to expose not only the character of the devil, but He's going to expose the character of the devil's children. And that's what we're going to look at this morning. I want you to see three characteristics of the children of the devil so that you will not be one or act like one and be able to recognize them.

11:14Three characteristics of the children of the devil. And I want you to be honest in soul as you go through this because that's what the light is doing here. Jesus is exposing the devil and his children and their natures. First of all, I want you to look at the characteristics of the children of the devil. The first one is they do not love Jesus. In fact, they're defined by what they do not do. The characteristics of the devil's children are defined by what they do not do. Verse 42, the first thing the children of the devil cannot do is they cannot love Jesus. Look at verse 42. Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and have come from God. For I have not even come on my own initiative, but he sent me. So basically, if God were your father, you would love me. This is the true mark of a child of God, the true mark of true religion. Very exclusive, right? These are Jesus' words. Do you love Jesus?

12:24Ask yourself that question. Do you really honestly love him? Because if he proceeded forth, that is one act in the incarnation, he came forth. He has come from God. He is here by his Spirit, but certainly in this passage, he is there bodily. And he says, I have not come out of my own volition. I came because I was sent. So if you were of God, you would recognize me having come from him. You know something about those who love? They do the things that love inspires. The one thing that a child of the devil cannot do, that is really love Jesus. You may be able to go through some motions. You may be able to, it may serve you well to look like you love Jesus, or it may serve you well for some interest to be able to affiliate someone. On a Christian level, or whatever. But the bottom of the line is, you cannot truly love one who by nature you hate.

13:43You see, love makes sacrifices that an imposter cannot mimic. You know, one of the most startling things for me as I read through the book of Revelation is this church at Ephesus. Revelation 2:1, Jesus, or the angel speaks to Ephesus, or this message is sent to the angel or the messenger, the elder at the church of Ephesus. And Jesus is saying this in verse 2: He says, I know your deeds, your toil, and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men. I mean, this sounds like a great church. And when you read all the other churches there in Revelation, those seven churches, you realize Ephesus has the, really is the church that seems to have it all together.

14:32They cannot tolerate evil men. You put to test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not. And you found them to be false. You have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake and have not grown weary. This is a good church. But then he says this, but I have this against you: that you have left your first love. All the motions were there of a dynamic body of Christ. But they did not love. They had left that.

15:12And what strikes me about this is this church, though it seems like it has it all together, gets the stiffest penalty if they do not repent. Christ says, This: Therefore, remember where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand. I will take you out of its place unless you repent. You read the other ones, they don't get that. Why? This loss of love. Jesus does not want everything to look like. It could be one of the greatest tools of deception to have everything in the right place but have no love.

16:11You know, what does a satanic empire look like anyway? If a satanic government were to take over and cast its shadow over a land, what would it look like? Well, I can submit that it could look like a lot of things, but I can say this: that it could involve many places. Worship. In fact, it could have a whole bunch of church buildings. You see, the devil isn't intimidated by steeples and crosses. That doesn't intimidate him. I tell you what, he hates is Christ's likeness. He hates Christ, and anything that looks like Christ, he hates. Oh, he's completely fine with Christless Christianity. In fact, I would imagine that's what a satanic empire would look like.

17:01Have all the motions, all the pictures and elements of sincerity and devotion, and yet be without Christ. You see, he can support the forms of godliness that will deny Christ his rightful place. The true mark of true religion is love for Jesus. You want to know what a legitimate denomination is? Do you want to know what a legitimate church is? Do you want to know what a legitimate religion is? It comes down to this: love for Jesus.

17:42And that's where Jesus is. He says, the only explanation why people will reject him is because God was not their father. The only reason why you do not love Jesus today is because God is not your father. That's where Jesus, and He's wanting, and He's telling you this because. Because he loves you. He says it's because he is good and he is of the truth. Do you love Jesus? A true disciple loves Jesus. A true lover of God loves Jesus. Let's move on. But there's second reason, second characteristic of the children of the devil. They do not understand Jesus. Okay, the children of the devil do not understand Jesus. Look back at verse 43 and verse 44.

18:39And the reason why they cannot understand is because they cannot hear. Look at back at 43. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear my word. You cannot. You don't have the ability. You don't have the power to hear. Now keep in mind, he's not talking about audibly hearing. They could audibly hear the sounds resonating from Jesus' mouth. What Jesus is saying is, you can't hear. You really can't hear what I'm saying. That is, you can't get it. You really can't understand. You really can't take it in. You're not on a trajectory to understanding. Why? Because you cannot hear. It.

19:34You cannot comprehend it spiritually. They could hear it audibly, but they could not comprehend what he was saying spiritually. Notice they could not understand what Jesus was saying. Look back there, verse 43. Why do you not understand what I am saying? So he's saying many things. It is because you cannot hear my word. You cannot get my message. So he's saying many things that they cannot understand, and the reason is because they reject his main message. You're not getting my main word. You're not getting my word. Therefore, you do not understand what I am saying. You see, they couldn't understand what Jesus was saying simply because they rejected his message. And what was his message? I am from God. I am of God. I do the things that only God can do. Therefore, receive me as God in your life. And since they rejected this, they couldn't make sense out of everything else that he was saying.

20:37You see, the problem is not with Jesus as the communicator. The problem is with the hearer. In fact, Jesus couldn't articulate things more clearly. But if you reject the possibility that Jesus is God Himself, God the Son, sent into the world to save his people from their sins. Sins, guess what? You will not be able to make sense out of him at all. What he says will seem strange. You won't be able to grasp it unless you understand, yes, he is from God. He does the things that only God can do. He is God in the flesh, and I am to receive him. Then, oh, things start falling into place.

21:28Well, they could not hear so as to understand Jesus. Why? Because they were too married to their own pre-commitments. They were already committed in their mind. They already had it all settled out, and they didn't want any changes to that. They could not understand because they could not hear. Then Jesus takes it a level further. Why couldn't they hear? A series of questions and answers. Look at verse 44. Why couldn't they hear? Obviously, it makes sense. If you don't understand because you can't hear, then we need to know, well, why can't we hear? And in verse 44, look at what Jesus says. You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.

22:23You see, Jesus revealed the inescapable bondage of the fallen. Human will. Do you see that? This is the fallen human will that's in bondage. This is the slavery. You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. Look at their volition. Look what they want to do. You see, man has a volition problem. Look at what he wants to do. You are of your father, the devil. By the way, many today say there is no devil. It's kind of growing in popularity, but obviously you have not taken your cues from the Christ of Scripture because he very much believes in the devil. He says, in fact, the devil has children. You are of your father, the devil, and you eagerly desire to do the eager desires of your father. That's the bondage of the will.

23:29See, fallen man wants to do the desires of the devil. That's his bondage. Fallen man voluntarily and eagerly carries out the desires of the devil. In fact, as one commentator said, they are cheerful slaves. That doesn't mean they're as bad as they could be, right? But it does mean the guiding principle of their lives is carrying out the desires of the devil. That self-interest, that self-seeking. That self-gratification, that didn't originate with you, by the way. That originated with the devil. He was self-seeking. He was self-glorifying. He was all about himself from the very beginning.

24:16You didn't come up with that. That reflects your father, your spiritual father. See, Christ's words conflict with man's natural desires, so fallen man, guess what? They will not remotely give Jesus an honest hearing. Come back to that. Are you giving him an honest hearing this morning? Set aside your minds and let God speak to you. Listen, when you say, I'm going to go do things my way, you really aren't. You're not acting as a free person. You're in bondage. You are doing the will of the ultimate self-serving spirit. I did it my way. I'm going to do it my way. It's all about me. I'm going to do my thing. That comes from the devil. And you're not truly free.

25:18True freedom, there are two aspects of true freedom that I think are important here. Those who do. Go about their own way, do not do their own desires. They're doing the devil's desires to which they are incarcerated. Second, those who go their own way, they're not truly free because you're not truly free from God. You're dependent upon God to give you life, provision, to take care of you, to give you another day, and you're also ultimately going to answer to Him. So there is no freedom from God by going your own way. You're not free by doing the devil's desired. You're incarcerated to His demands, and you still have to answer to God. That is not the way to true freedom. And that's what Christ is talking about. And what Jesus goes on, look back in verse 44, he's going to expose the two raw elements or natural desires of the devil. And if you really want to know what the devil is like, this is where you get your information. Because Jesus is really going to tell you what he is truly like. You don't need to go trying to figure out what the devil is like outside of anything other than scriptural truth. And here is Jesus himself explaining two fundamental characteristics that drive who the devil is. You want to know what the devil's like? This is what he's like.

27:00First of all, he is a man-killer. Look back at verse 44. He was a murderer from the beginning. He, that is, that one. Speaking of he is a murderer. You know what the word murderer translates? It's literally mankiller. He has been a man-killer from the beginning. He was from the beginning. He continues to be a man-killer. And this isn't just talking about Cain killing Abel. This goes back even further than that. The devil killed Adam and the whole human race. Now, think about this. I want you to go back in your mind to this. He robbed Adam. He robbed Adam of life.

27:51Life being union with God. There was something that just didn't set well with the devil. He couldn't tolerate man in this beautiful garden, enjoying the favor of God with his wife, in beautiful paradise, in joyful union, living innocently. The devil couldn't stand that. I mean, what did Adam ever do to him? Why would a being be so evil? Or be so, why would he so despise Adam to kill him like that? And the only answer is, he is purely evil.

28:46He hates people. Let this sink in your mind. The devil hates people, he wants to destroy people. He is a man-killer and has been from the beginning, and those who serve him go to their own destruction. That's what Jesus is saying. Second fundamental characteristic of the devil is that he is a liar. Look back at verse 44. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Look at this. He cannot stand. He cannot exist in the truth. He cannot tolerate the truth. He's got to get out. He just has no place in him. No room in him. And no room in his children either. Truth has no place in him or his children. He cannot stand in the truth.

30:00He does not stand because the truth is not in him. And whenever he speaks, a lie comes out. The pseudo. It's a word pseudo. In fact, pseudo could actually be translated near truth, right? A lot of times, lies are not so categorically different. Sometimes they look very close to truth. He is the father of the lie. He is the father of the liar and the father of the lie. Lies are his weapon. That's how he killed Adam. He is a man-killer and he uses lies to kill you, to kill, to destroy. That's his idea.

30:53This is an evil, evil being. And I hope that you will let this light shine in your heart. I hope that you will let this truth about the devil, he is a man-killer, and he is a liar. And I hope you will let this go deep down in your heart so that you will not want to serve him again, ever, at all, at any time, in any capacity, in thought or deed, from now on forever. He is wicked.

31:30Many of you are incarcerated by him. And you think you're free because you go your own way, but you're very predictable and you are bound. And that's what Jesus is telling these people right before him. Listen, many of you know my testimony when I was in my early teens. I thought it was cool to do wrong. And the more wrong you could do, the cooler you were. And then one day, I heard a message about Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies.

32:13And it was when I realized the truth about the devil and who it was I really was serving that I turned to Christ. Listen, if you don't love Christ, you're serving someone who's going to destroy you, who has already destroyed and continues to destroy. And when I found the joy of serving my Lord, Christ, the lover of my soul, joy came in doing what was right. All of a sudden, the scripture came alive. All of a sudden, those crazy Baptist hymns meant the world to me. It's like Baptist. Bethel opened up like heaven's gates just opened up to me and I was free.

33:07I was free because I went from serving the mankiller who lies to the one who loves my soul and tells the truth. Well, the question comes to you: how do you relate to the truth? I'm asking you to be honest. Who is your spiritual father? And a good test is: how do you relate to the truth? You see, if you're opposed to the truth, it shows who you really serve, who your real father is. Do you prefer a lie? Do you prefer to lie? Do you practice lying? Are you good at lying?

33:57Are you committed to the pseudo, to the close truths? If so, you belong to the father of the lie. Listen, kids, I want every kid listening to me. Do you lie to your parents? Do you lie to your parents? Are you comfortable lying to your parents, whether about small things or big things? That says you don't belong. To God. If you can be at peace with routinely lying to your parents, truth isn't in you. You didn't get that from God. You got that from the devil. And your lie serves him and his interests. I think everybody can understand that, right? Even if you're three years old, two years old.

34:55Listen, students. All right. Texas AMAM, or college, high school, whatever students, do you lie in school? Employees, do you lie in the workplace? Citizens, do you lie to your government? Men, do you lie? Do your women, do you lie? Where is the truth? Husbands, wives? Where's the truth in you? Are you content with lies? Then you serve the father of the lie. Okay, so three characteristics. First characteristics of the children of the devil is they do not love Jesus. Second, they do not understand Jesus. Can't advance it. Will you please advance it? Number three, they do not believe Jesus.

35:55Children of the devil do not believe Jesus. Look back at verse 45. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me. Look at the reason why they don't believe Jesus. Jesus doesn't say, although I speak the truth, you do not believe me. He doesn't say that. He says, because I speak the truth, you don't believe me. It's because I'm telling the truth, you don't believe. It's the truth you hate. It's the truth you are distanced from.

36:29Jesus speaks the truth. And that is exactly why they don't believe, because it is the truth. Like their father, the devil, they cannot stand in the truth. That's what's happening here. They are just like their devil. The devil, because it is truth, he doesn't believe it. And these people here, because it is the truth, they would not believe. And listen, in our society today, we can tolerate just about anything, right? That's the big buzzword. That's the big axiom. Tolerate, tolerate, tolerate. But the one thing we really have no tolerance for is the truth.

37:10And that's because the devil cannot stand in the truth, nor his children. We can talk about toleration all we want until it comes to the truth. Well, look at the nature of Jesus here. And this contrasts very Sharply with the nature of the devil. Look at verse 45. Jesus is the truth speaker. He spoke the truth. He always speaks the truth. But because I am speaking the truth, that's what he does. Truth is his nature, he speaks the truth. Also, notice that he is without sin. Look at verse 46.

37:51Which one of you convicts me of sin? That's pretty challenging. That's a pretty overt challenge. Jesus is saying, Which one of you has proven me guilty of sin? And there has been a lot of accusations hurled at Christ at this time. They are trying to find fault with him, but even in the ranks of the leadership, they're saying, well, he's not really guilty. Yes, he is. No, he's not. They can't get anything to stick. And here's Jesus saying, none of you, which one of you can convict me of sin? Which one of you has proven me guilty of sin? And the answer is none.

38:30And what's happening here, and I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, but I want you to just note, Jesus is conscious of his own holiness here. He knows about his intimate communion. I mean, no one makes a statement like this. I mean, you and I wouldn't make a statement like that. I am, which one of you can convict me of sin, right? No, it speaks of his intimate communion. That he had a clear conscience that Jesus is without sin. He is no man-killer. He is the lover of man's soul. He desires your well-being. He does not desire your misery and your death. And that's why he came. He came giving. He came out of love. Giving.

39:24Freeing you from the man-killer who leads you astray and leads you to destruction, to death. He comes speaking truth to lead you in a good way. Well, then Jesus goes even a little deeper. I know we're kind of going down some layers here. Stay with me. And Jesus circles back around to the fundamental problem. Look back at verse 46. If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me? And he says, if I'm speaking the truth, what's going on in your mind and in your heart so that you don't believe me? If I am really speaking the truth, what's going on? It's not that I'm not speaking clearly enough. There's something else going on here. And this is what he says in verse 47. He who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.

40:23And this brings us back to Jesus' original statement back in verse 42. Look back at verse 42. If God were your Father, you would love me. And he goes and he says, for this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God. So think about what Jesus has done here. Starting in verse 42, all the way down to 47, he has talked about their fruit, and he has systematically gone to their root. What is the fruit? Or maybe we could talk about it the other way around. He has gone from the root to the fruit, or the fruit to the root, right? But he has started with the fruit, and he goes down to the root. They do not love. Why do they not love? That's the fruit. Because they cannot understand.

41:13Hey, doesn't that make sense? You're not going to love Jesus if you can't understand him, right? Why don't they understand him? Because they do not hear him. Well, that makes sense. If you're not listening to him and you're not making room for his words, you will never understand him. And if you don't understand him, you can never love him. Okay, so if you do not love, it's because you do not understand. Why don't they understand? It's because they do not hear. Why do they not be here? Because they don't believe. Okay, if you don't believe something to be true, then you're not going to hear it. You're not going to listen to it. So you're not going to understand it, so you're not going to love.

41:45And why do they not believe? Because they are not of God, but of the devil. They are of the spiritual disposition of the devil, so they will not believe Jesus. So, as to hear him, they will not understand him, and so they cannot love him. But it all goes back to their father. They are too occupied with the devil's desires to really listen to Jesus. What drives you? What is your spiritual disposition? They want to kill him. They want Jesus out of their life.

42:34And many today want Christ out of their lives. In fact, much of our society wants Christ out of our society. In fact, many Christian denominations want Christ, want the Christ of Scripture out of their lives. And this is seen by toning Jesus down, by redefining him, or making him fit our preconceived notions. Say, oh, that's tall. We can do that with Jesus, right? We can redefine him. We can make him fit what we think he ought to do. But the bottom line, that comes from the same Spirit that wants to kill him. You want the Christ of Scripture out of your life, and so you tone him down, you redefine him, you only hear the part that fits you, and you remove him from your life.

43:31And so that's what happens. They seek to silence Christ. And in our culture, that manifests itself by seeking to silence those who speak for him. I have no clock. So that, okay, second overtime. All right, let's go. 11.42. 11.42, thank you. All right, well, we got some time here. I just want to land the plane then. But well, what I was wanting to take you through, and I'd like to spend some more time, how does one change their fatherhood? And that's basically what Jesus is going through. You need a new father. You need to quit doing the things of your father. You need a new father. And Jesus has already made it crystal clear that it is impossible with man to go a shop round and find a new father. The father has to, as John has already said, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must be born again to see the kingdom of God. John 6, 37, all that the fathers gives me will come to me. So you must be coming to Christ. John 6, 44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. So you must be drawn. John 6, 45, it is written, and they shall. All be taught of God. So you must be taught of God. You must be born from above. You must be drawn. You must be coming. You must be taught. So be taught by God this morning, by the proclamation of the word. He is seeking you out, and he is laying these truths bare before you so that you would be drawn to him, so that you would see him for who he really is, and so that you would have relationship with him, so that you would turn and embrace him.

45:36My goal this morning was for you to see three characteristics of the children of the devil and do some honest soul searching. Does this describe you? Do you love Jesus or do you not love Jesus? Do you not understand Jesus? Do you not believe Jesus? If this describes you, then God is not your father. The devil is. And the exhortation to you today is that God can be your father. So, how does that happen? Let me tell you, let's think about it like this. You remember in paradise, in the original garden, God said to Adam and Eve, basically, you can eat whatever you want, just don't eat of that one tree.

46:24They ate of the wrong tree, they fell. Post-fall, we live in. What I will metaphorically say is the garden of the devil. And he has many trees that we can eat from. Oh, he's got a lot of them. And he says to everyone, Yeah, you can go eat any tree you want. If you want sensual pleasure, I have a whole orchard over here, and you can have as much as you want from any one of these. Or maybe you're on the other side. Maybe you want devoutness. Maybe you want some kind of devotion. I've got an orchard of Christless religions over here. Come, have your fill of all of those. Or maybe your desire is power, position. Maybe you are trapped in man's applause that you just have to have. And he's got orchard after orchard after orchard of all things, and you can go and do all those, but there's one tree he doesn't want you eating from.

47:23There's one. And he knows that in the day you eat of it, you will die and you will be raised again. And Jesus already said what that tree is. John 3:14, he says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but has eternal life. The one tree that he doesn't want you eating in is faith in Christ.

48:06He doesn't want you believing in the Christ of Scripture. And so he will lead you astray, with lies. Don't listen to him. Don't pay attention. Those people are weird. Whatever he's going to say to you, don't follow Christ. Don't eat from that one. Because he knows you will die to his nature and you will be born again and raised new. He knows that you will have your death sentence removed. He knows that you will be reconciled with God, and he hates it because he is a man-killer.

48:52So come today, believe, make room for Jesus. Let him let his father be your father. Turn away from your sin and ask him to be your father. Will you do that? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we see your goodness. We thank you for the truth. Father, much of our lives have been incarcerated to the desires of the devil, and all this time we've been telling ourselves we are free. We are free. And yet you speak truth. We are not free.

49:38Unless we come to you and continue with you, then we experience the truth which truly sets us free. Father, do your work as only you can do. In Jesus' name, amen.