John 8:52

John 8:52 says, Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.  The Jews still tried to put a physical interpretation on what Jesus was telling them. They said since He said that if a man kept His saying he would never taste death, they knew He had a devil.  Abraham was dead, and the prophets were dead, and they wanted to know if Jesus thought He was greater than them.  Verse fifty-three adds, Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?  Then they asked Jesus who made Him so.  That He was greater was what He had been trying to tell them the whole time, and that the heavenly Father made Him so. Their first mistake was looking at things in simply physical terms. Jesus' physical death was a necessity. When we look to Christ today it has to be with the understanding that He frees us from spiritual death, not physical.  Their other mistake was thinking no one could be greater than Abraham and the prophets.  They were looking for the Messiah, so they had to know that One greater was coming.  No matter how great a Christian might be viewed to be, there is One greater that they represent.  Verse fifty-four states, Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:  Verse fifty-five adds, Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. Jesus said if He honored Himself, His honor was nothing, but the Father honored Him.  He said they did not know the Father, but He did, and if He said He didn't know Him, then He would be a liar. We, as His followers must honor God in all things, and through the sacrifice of Christ, we can know the heavenly Father.  Then, Jesus said Abraham rejoiced to see His day and saw it.  Did He physically see it?  No, but he saw it by faith looking ahead.   Verse fifty-six continues, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.  Jesus then told them that their father Abraham had seen Him and rejoiced in doing so.  Like Abrham, if we have seen Jesus spiritually, which we must do in order to be saved, we should be rejoicing.  Verse fifty-seven says, Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?  The Jews commented that Jesus was not yet fifty years old and asked Him if He had seen Abraham.  Of course, they were thinking in physical terms and not spiritual.  We have not seen Jesus physically, but we can know Him spiritually.  Verse fifty-eight adds, Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.  Jesus said that before Abraham existed that Jesus Himself had existed.  He didn't say He was or that He would be, but I am.  We serve the eternal God, the great I Am.  Verse fifty-nine continues, Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.  The Jews responded by attempting to stone Jesus, but He slipped away out of the Temple. We today can either accept Jesus for Who He is or attempt to discredit Him, but we can never change Who He is.  He is the great I Am, the eternal God. 

John 8:49

John 8:49 says, Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.  Jesus replied by saying that He did not have a devil, but acted to honor His Father, but that the Jews had not honored Him.  He said He only honored His Father and did not seek His own honor.  If we are attacked about our ethnic or national identity, that has nothing to do with our spiritual condition. Yet, we are often more concerned with nation of origin than with the Kingdom of God.  If we are accused of being a demon possessed individual, then we need to make a strong denial if we are followers of Christ. Whatever we do as Christians, we should always do to honor God, even if other people question our motives. Verse fifty adds,  And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.  Like Jesus, we should not seek our own glory, but should do everything for the honor and glory of God.  Verse fifty-one continues, Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.  Jesus said if anyone would keep His saying, and that is that He is the Redeemer of mankind, that that person would not see death, which means spiritual and not physical death.  One day, we will physically die, if Christ doesn’t return first, but spiritually we will live forever with God if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Jesus said they dishonored Him with their accusations and disbelief, and this is still true today.  Anytime any one refuses to accept the salvation freely given by Jesus, they dishonor Him.  Just as Jesus came to bring honor to the Father and not glory to Himself, so must we do as His followers.  If we get to the point where we are receiving all the glory, then we are not following the leadership of Christ through the Holy Spirit.  Our life must reflect God if we are to be effective.

John 8:47

John 8:47 says, He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.  Jesus said that those who are of God hear His word.  This means to believe what we hear from God. Those who question God when something bad happens to them do not understand the word of God. Just as the Jews of His day did not believe Jesus because it threatened their position, some today question God because of earthly circumstances.  We must truly hear what God is saying to us.  When we do not hear God, we are not of God.  Verse forty-eight adds, Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?  The Jews accused Jesus of being a Samaritan possessed of a devil.  They really didn't want to believe Him. Being a Samaritan was low enough, but being a Samaritan possessed of a devil was even lower.  We should not be surprised today when people accuse us of all sorts of things when we witness and live for Christ. They either must attempt to discredit us or believe what Jesus said was true.  To believe what He said and not accept it as the truth of God would take a truly evil person.  Are there such people in the world? When we see the actions of some people, that would seem highly possible. Some people just don't want to give up control of everything, so they must attempt to discredit God. 

John 8:43

John 8:43 says, Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.  Jesus asked them why they didn’t understand His speech.  Even because ye cannot hear My word.  Why do so many people refuse to believe in the salvation of Christ today.  It is not complicated, but many, many people, when the gospel is presented refuse to accept it.  The Jews in Jesus's day heard the actual speech, but they refused to believe the words that Jesus was speaking.  To be a follower of Christ, we must listen in the faith that God gives us and believe in what He says.  Verse forty-four adds, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.  Again, speaking to those who had just said that they had but one Father, God, Jesus told them they were the children of the Devil.  He continued to say that they would do the lust of their father, the Devil, who was a murderer from the beginning.  He abides not in truth.   The Devil speaks in lies, because the truth is not in him.  The Devil knew the truth, just as all the other angels did, but he chose to follow his own desires.  When he failed, he began to lure people with his lies, and he became the father of lies.  Verse forty-five adds, And  because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.  Jesus said even though He told them the truth, they didn’t believe Him.   If we are the children of the Devil, the father of lies, we cannot accept the truth, because it would condemn us. People always have a simple choice.  We can either believe the father of lies or the Father of truth.  As the followers of Christ, we have chosen to believe the truth of God.  Verse forty-six says, Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?  Jesus asked the Jews, and the religious leaders, which of them could convict Him of sin. That is what they would have to do in order to legally kill Him.  We hear the same idea put forth by Christians at times today. The statement will be something to the effect that God is causing bad things to happen to them, so He must not be much of a God.

John 8:39

John 8:39 says, They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.  Jesus told them if Abraham was their father, they would do the works of Abraham.  Today, if we are God's children, we need to do the works of God.  That does not mean judging and condemning others.  Jesus said He didn't come to condemn but to save, and that is our work today, to lead people to the salvation of Christ. Verse forty adds, But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. He said they were trying to kill Him for speaking the truth of God, so they were not doing what Abraham would do. As Christians, our example is Christ, so anytime we are not doing what He would have us do, we are acting more like the children of the Devil.  This does not mean we are not saved, but that we are working against the will of God.  As the descendants of Abraham, the Jews were not living up to their calling.  Verse forty-one continues, Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.  They claimed to be the children of Abraham and thereby of God.  They said they had one father, even God.  They were relying on the fact of their physical birth and not the relationship with God that it brought. Jesus spent a lot of time explaining His unique relationship to the Father, so it is very important that we never ignore that relationship today.  We must come to God the Father through Jesus the Son.  Verse forty-two concludes, Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Jesus said to them that if God were their Father, they would love Jesus, for He preceded forth and came from God and that He didn’t come of Himself, but He by the One Who sent Him, the Heavenly Father. When we go to witness in the world, we do not go on our own, but we go because God sends us and we go in His name and under His power. 

John 8:37

John 8: 37 says, I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.  Jesus tells the Jews that He knows Abraham is their father in earthly terms.  Sometimes, people today feel the same way about Christianity.  If asked about their relationship to God, they say their mother and father have always been Christians, or that they grew up in the church.  God knows this about people, but the question is what have they done about Jesus.  Jesus said they sought to kill Him, because His word had no place in them.  It was not enough to be born into the family of Abraham without understanding what that meant about their relationship to God. No matter where we were born or who our parents are, we must have a personal relationship with Christ as Savior and Lord to be a part of His family.  He also told them that His word, the truth' was not in them. We can believe the truth of the world, with big bangs and evolution, or we can believe the truth of God with creation and redemption through Christ.  If we choose to believe the world, the truth is not in us. If we present any other way to salvation, the truth is not in us.  Verse thirty-eight adds, I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.  Jesus said He spoke what He had seen with His Father, and they did what they had seen with their father.  Doing the things our fathers do may be a good thing or it might lead us far away from God.  The only way to follow God is to hear what He is saying to us.  Jesus presented to the world the way to follow in obedience to the Heavenly Father, and He is the example we must follow.