Children of the Devil or Children of God

The most offensive thing Jesus ever said was telling religious people they were children of the devil. Today we'll examine what this means and how we become children of God.

John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him."

This is the most offensive thing Jesus ever said to these Jewish leaders. I don't know how you get much more offensive than this. He's telling the religious elite—people who knew the Scriptures, people who were zealous for God, people who had impeccable pedigrees—"You are of your father the devil."

We live in a world that isn't fond of the binary. Even in the church, we don't like the rigidity of saying anybody who's not a child of God is a child of the devil. But biblically speaking, that's the reality.

There are two fathers: God or Satan. Two kingdoms: darkness and light. Two destinies: hell and heaven. We love gray, but the Bible has a lot of stark, clear, distinct contrasts.

First John 3:10 says, "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God." 

Now, this doesn't mean every person outside of Jesus Christ wakes up, puts on a black hood, lights some candles, and starts chanting satanic worship. No. They wake up and serve themselves, and in doing so they serve the purposes of Satan.

When Jesus says "you are of your father the devil," He's not speaking metaphorically. He's referring to a real, personal evil being that rules the world. Jesus calls him the prince of this world (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11). Paul calls him the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Satan is a murderer from the beginning—he convinced Adam and Eve to sin, ushering in death for all mankind. The first crime following the fall was murder. Satan entered Judas to betray Jesus so Jesus would be murdered. Satan is a liar—all he does is lie. And what makes him good at lies is he masquerades as an angel of light. The first lie ever spoken in human history was by Satan: "You surely will not die." Or he implicitly deceives: "Did God really say...?" He operates the same way today—explicit lies, implicit deception.

What a difference between Jesus and the devil! The devil is a murderer who takes life; Jesus comes and gives His own life to give us life to the fullest. The devil is a liar who never speaks truth; Jesus is God who cannot lie, who is the truth, who comes to testify about the truth.

Now, if we're born children of wrath - children of the devil - and with a nature that's repulsed by truth—what, more than anything, do we need? 

To be reborn.

Do you understand the language of the New Testament? The reason you and I need to be reborn is because naturally speaking, the way you are born offers you zero ability to be reconciled to God. You could be a buttoned-up, goody-two-shoes child of the devil.

John 1:12-13: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

How do I know if I'm born again? If you believe in Jesus Christ. If you love Jesus Christ. If you come in faith to Jesus Christ.

Stay dialed in.