“As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’ ‘Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit’; ‘the poison of asps is under their lips’; ‘whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’” Romans 3:10-18.
Paul quotes from nine different places in, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Isaiah; you will find them in most Bible’s marginal notes.
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.” Isaiah 59:1-4, King James.
“Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood. He made a pit and dug it out, and has fallen into the ditch which he made. His trouble shall return upon his own head. And his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.” Psalm 7:14-16.
“Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” Isaiah 59:9-14, King James.
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:12.
The very first sin recorded after the fall in Eden was one of murder. Man has had a bloodlust ever since, history is marred by a constant record of cruelty and murderous rage; from pedophiles murdering the souls of children to the evil of rape; men throwing acid in the faces of innocent girls to the most horrendous of tortures, sin is a dark maelstrom agitated by Satan and his demons who laugh gleefully as they drown another victim in the flood to hell.
But Satan will feel pain because of his iniquities as fire comes from within him and devours him before all when he is to be cast into the lake of fire.
“…therefore [Satan] I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you.” Ezekiel 28:18b.
Satan, whom the Lord said was a liar and the father of it and a murderer from the beginning who is the instigator of the murder of innocents from the beginning of time including the crucifixion of God the Son will come to an end.
There is only one refuge for the heart on this earth.
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27.
“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” John 8:37-38.
Jesus never denied that these folks were Abraham’s descendants; these Jews were the children of Israel who was Abraham’s grandson, and they, great grandchildren. The Jews took pride in being Abraham’s descendants; something John the Baptist had a lot to say about.
“Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’” Luke 3:7-9.
Abraham’s descendants were relying on their lineage from the man who was known as the friend of God to give them some kind of clout with God, but it is one thing to be his descendant and quite another to be his child – something they fell woefully short of.
“And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God.” James 2:23.
Abraham’s belief in God’s promises was so strong that he was willing to sacrifice his only son at God’s request, which the above quote refers to. These Jews were unwilling to sacrifice anything, but they were willing to ride to heaven on Abraham’s coattails.
However, this is not something peculiar to the Jews, many people will tell you, my folks were missionaries, of course I am a Christian, my father was a pastor, of course I am a Christian, I was brought up in a Christian home, of course I am a Christian, I am an American, this is a Christian country, of course I am a Christian! Same old rhetoric comes out of the mouth, but the heart betrays us.
“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” Matthew 15:7-9.
And do these men, descendants of Abraham, have the faith of Abraham, the friend of God? The proof is in the pudding, as they say, and these fellows are seeking to kill Christ Jesus.
The reason is “My word has no place in you” John 8:37. In the entire world, these people would be best informed and ready for the Messiah; they had the traditions, the prophets, and most importantly, the written word of God.
Yet when the Christ arrived, the word was cobbled up with rules and traditions, salvation was by works, not by faith, and the people were steeped in superstition.
In a way, it was a lot like the Christian church is today. Liberalism, apathy, and a drifting away from the preaching of Christ and solid Bible doctrine have produced the lukewarmness that characterizes the church today.
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Revelation 3:15-16.
“…you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.” John 8:37b.
Ultimately, the reason Christ’s words had no place in them is because of their father.
In a notation in another place this phrase is rendered “My word makes no progress in you”. Or “My word hath not free course in you” in the American Standard Version.
The father of these Jews had blinded them to the truth.
“I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” John 8:38.
So, who is their father? Well, it is not Abraham.
“They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.” John 8:39-40.
Still relying on lineage, the Jews miss the point of being children of Abraham.
“…just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” Galatians 3:6-9.
“You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to Him, ‘We were 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 came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.’” John 8:41-43.
Now they take the moral high ground, God is our Father. Yet, in what way is He their Father? “We were not born of fornication”; fornication is a physical sex act, how could God be their Father?
Once again we are back to physical things like works and relationships; Abraham is our father, God is our Father, we keep the law, we are the chosen people, God has to let us in.
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men – extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:10-14.
Keeping the law is something to take pride in, like this Pharisee, but it is an outward form, not necessarily a condition of the heart; it is the heart God is concerned with.
You will notice that Jesus said the Pharisee, “…stood and prayed thus with himself”, the prayer was by rote, not from the heart, as the tax collector’s was. It is the same for those who keep the law by rote, it is quite insincere.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9.
“You are of your 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 is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.” John 8:44-45.
There you have it, blunt, flat-footed, non-politically correct, clear speech; “…your father the devil”. Words like these are meant to make folks think, not put them to sleep.
In spite of harsh words, Jesus is the good shepherd come to care for the sheep of Israel, however the thief has entered the sheepfold.
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10.
Satan, the god of this age, steals, kills, and destroys his victims; he robs them of peace, kills their souls, and destroys their lives during their short stay on earth.
“But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.
Satan blinds and deceives those who are in bondage to him, deluding them into thinking that the things he offers them are all they need in life. As their lusts run riot, they become his own children by imitating him, killing, stealing, and destroying.
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” Ephesians 2:1-3.
“But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.” John 8:45.
It is because of the blinding of Satan, whom they had succumbed to, that they did not believe the truth. It is absolutely fascinating how some of the most outrageous lies are accepted without any real examination by the unsaved.
Evolution is accepted fanatically, not because it has any real scientific evidence, but because everyone says it’s true. Touchy feely teaching methods are used to teach this along with political correctness, socialism, and situation ethics in schools.
Yet statistics and other clear indicators condemn them as failures which have also put our schools at the bottom of the free world’s education systems and dragged our children into the muck of despair.
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” John 17:17.
Father Abraham, John 8:37-45 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 12-18-12, updated on 11-6-17.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.