Who Is Your Father?
John 8:25-49
Introduction:
In 1909, Mrs. James Bruce Dodd thought of her father as she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in Spokane, Washington. She felt the need for a similar day to honor fathers, so she initiated the process. Sonora Smart Dodd organized the first Father's Day celebration on June 19, her own father's birthday. The mayor of Spokane and the governor of Washington State officially support the event. Dodd's father, a farmer and Civil War veteran, had been a single father to six young children after the death of his wife. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge publicly supported plans for a national Father's Day. The National Father's Day Committee met for the first time in New York City in 1926. In 1956 a joint resolution of Congress recognized the observance of Father's Day, and in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed Father's Day to be an official national holiday. In 1972, President Nixon made it permanent by signing a congressional resolution that called for the official recognition of Father’s Day.
About 3500 years before that God laid down the law to Moses and said in Exodus 20:12, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”
As we have in our minds today the concept of honoring fathers, I want to pose a question to each person in the building. It’s a question that someone might ask when he or she first meets another person or when they are reacquainted with someone they have previously met. It is a question that seeks to reveal the ancestry and history and paternal connection of another. The question is, “Who is your father?”
The question is sometimes updated and modified and used, not as a means of recognition, but as a means of reproach. An adversary might say to someone in a mocking way, “Who’s your daddy?”
While this question, in either form, is not utilized in this chapter, the context and content of this chapter certainly inspires this question. “Who is your father?”
I. NOTICE HOW CHRIST REMARKED UPON THEIR RESENTFUL COURSE
ARE YOU A CHILD OF HERITAGE?
(John 8:30-40)
A. The Jews Professed Their Freedom vs. 30-36
B. The Jews Promoted Their Father (Abraham) vs. 37-39a
C. Jesus Pointed Out Their Fallacy vs. 39b-40
They had a profession, but not a persuasion or a possession.
II. NOTICE HOW CHRIST RESPONDED TO THEIR RIGHTEOUS CLAIM
ARE YOU A CHILD OF HEAVEN?
(John 8:41-43,47)
A. Their Lives Didn’t Prove Them To Be Sons Of God vs. 41a
B. Their Love Didn’t Prove Them To Be Sons Of God vs. 42 (cf. 1 John 4:7-10)
C. Their Language Didn’t Prove Them To Be Sons Of God vs. 43
III. NOTICE HOW CHRIST REVEALED THEIR REAL CONDITION
ARE YOU A CHILD OF HELL?
(John 8:38,41,44-45)
A. Consider The Declaration Of Their Real Father vs. 38,41a, 44
B. Consider The Deeds Of Their Real Father vs. 44
C. Consider The Deficiency Of Their Real Father vs. 45
Conclusion:
H.A. Edson wrote: “Who is your father?” may be the first question, but “Who are you?” comes next.
(From The Biblical Illustrator)
Dr. P. W. Philpott tells the story of a father he once knew. A fine Scottish Christian and successful businessman had a son: a splendid, well-educated, and respected young fellow, who was arrested for embezzlement.
At the trial, when he was found guilty, the youth appeared unconcerned and nonchalant until the judge told him to stand for sentence. He then looked over at the lawyer’s table and saw that his father, too, was standing. The once erect head and straight shoulders of an honest man were now bowed low with sorrow and shame as he stood to receive, as though it were himself, his son’s condemnation.
The son looked and wept bitterly.
—Moody Monthly (Paul Lee Tan’s 15,000 Illustrations #3656