John part 10-Who's Your Daddy?

Key Verse: Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”  (John 8:34-38 ESV)

 

When you ask people to give their testimony about how they got to know Christ, many people reference those who were examples in their life growing up.  Some people may even believe they are Christians because they went to church growing up or “it’s what my family believes.”  As we will discover this week, you don’t come to Christ by having a family history of church attendance.  You aren’t a demographic if you are a Christian—you are a new creation, humbled, repentant and covered in the blood of Jesus.  If you don’t have Jesus, you are still a slave to sin.  But there is hope!  You don’t have to remain in bondage…find out how to become Abraham’s true heir…

 

Read John 8:1-11

*This passage was not in the original manuscripts an many doubt it was found in the original gospel.  My study bible says “it seems best to view the story as something that probably happened during Jesus ministry…ye there is nothing in it that is unworthy of sound doctrine.”  Keep that in mind as you study this passage. 

·         How did Jesus use this women’s sin to show the other’s their own guilt?

·         What was His response to her once they were alone?

 

Read John 8:12-30

·         Why does Jesus say His testimony is true?  Find at least three reasons.

·         Jesus speaks about judgment in this passage, who is judging Him incorrectly and why?

 

Read John 8:31-34

·         Are the “offspring of Abraham” slaves to sin or free? How do you know?

 

Read John 8:39-47

·         In this section of chapter 8 Jesus describes more about how the Pharisees real father is.  They claimed it was Abraham, which is why he used that term to describe them in verses 31-34 that you read above.  How do they act that shows their real father? 

 

Read John 8:48-59 and Exodus 3:1-15

As you can see the religious leaders are really hung up on Abraham!  Jesus rebukes them also in Luke chapter 11 where He says they shouldn’t be proud of their spiritual lineage as their ancestors who they align themselves with actually killed the people who came to tell them the truth! 

·         The religious rulers have an idea of what honoring God is.  What do you learn about that from this section?  How is Jesus’s idea of honoring God different from theirs?

·         What was so insulting about Jesus statement in verse 58?  Use your reading in Exodus to answer that question. 

 

Journal prompt:

Are you a slave or a son?  Are you still ruled by sin or experiencing the freedom Christ offers?  Here is a tougher question: are you a son that lives like a slave?  Do you feel like no matter what you do sin still rules in your life and you still struggle?  Journal about who you are and what you need from God.  Pray about the freedom He offers and how you can access it.