Who Is Your Father

Who Is Your Father
Words of Faith 11-10-16
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2016
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

John 8
[41b] "We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
[42] Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. [43] Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. [44] You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. [45] Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! [46] Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? [47] He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."

Some of the Jews that Jesus spoke to put their faith in Him (8:30), but others protested. They insisted that since they were in the lineage of Abraham this gave them a secure relationship with God. But Jesus makes it clear; He is the dividing line.
If God is actually your Father, you will love Jesus. You will understand the revelation of Jesus if God is your Father. You will understand the language of Jesus if God is your Father and trust Him by faith. The Spirit of God will reveal these things to you.
The sobering truth is that until such a time as the Spirit awakens us to saving faith in Jesus, we belong to the devil or at least are participants in his family. That does not mean that the Lord is not in the process of saving us, but even those who “are being saved” start out in the family of the devil until God reaches them according to His plan.
The devil is the enemy of life and truth. Scripture teaches us that he brought spiritual and physical death to mankind by his lie (cf. Gen. 3:4, 13; 1 John 3:8, 10-15.) To this day the devil still distorts truth. Scripture teaches that there is no truth in him. He is both a liar and the father of lies. He seeks to lead people away from God who is the Source of truth and life (2 Cor. 4:4). Since these particular Jews wanted Jesus’ death and since they rejected the truth and embraced the lie, they showed that their family solidarity was with Satan.
Don’t misunderstand! A frightening historical misinterpretation of this text has been to say that all Jews are “children of the devil”. This is a lie. In fact, virtually ALL the believers during the early years of Christianity were Jews! It was decades later that the Gospel began to reach the Gentile world.
Jesus was speaking specifically to these Jews-- anyone really-- who rejected Him. Paul taught that the heirs of Abraham are not merely those who are descended from him by blood but those who exercise his faith (Galatians 3:16-29). We dare not condemn those that God is still awakening to His truth. We also dare not fail to speak that truth.
Bottom line? You have a spiritual father. It has nothing to do with blood lineage. Your spiritual father is either God or the devil.
You may respond saying, “I don’t even think about the devil. I am just my own person.” This is the very lie that Eve first believed and then Adam; “I can be my own god”. This is the substance of the Fall. This is the lie of the world. This is where we all start and dwell until the Spirit awakens us and we trust in Jesus by faith. So, who is your father?

O God, I trust in Your Son Jesus. I have heard His voice and I am responding to the Truth that is in Him. I desire that You should be my Father for You are the only true God. In Jesus’ name.

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2002, 2016
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an E-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an E-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.