Scripture Reading: John 8:31-45
Today we are back in the 8th chapter of John. We are looking at verses 37 to 45 today. I will put the scripture up here on the screen for you to follow along, in case you don’t have a Bible with you. And for a bit of context, I am going to start reading in verse 31. John writes:
John 8 (English Standard Version) 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, as we open Your Word today, give us hearts to receive Your truth. Open our eyes to see clearly, and help us to abide in the words of Christ. Set us free from every lie, every deception, and every bondage to sin, and lead us deeper into the freedom that is found in Your Son. Guide our understanding by Your Spirit, and let Your truth work in us today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Confronting the Serpent Seed Doctrine
It’s good to be back with you today; this is our sixth lesson in John chapter 8. And we have at least one more to go before we finish this chapter. There is so much in this chapter that is important, I have really slowed down here. And the passage we are coming to today is one that is particularly important for people who share our background. Because there are certain things here which are related to a teaching from our past churches. And that is the teaching of serpent seed.
Serpent seed is one of the key doctrines of the message. William Branham told us that he learned it supernaturally, from God. But the truth is, he actually learned it from the church of Roy Davis. Roy Davis was his first pastor, and he was the man who ordained William Branham as a minister. And Roy Davis, in case you didn’t know, was the co-founder of the Ku Klux Klan, and eventually became national leader of the organization. That is where William Branham got his start in ministry. And that is where he learned serpent seed.
And in the past, we have dealt with serpent seed in detail. And if you go into our William Branham series, you can find the lesson “Who Was Cain’s Father” – and we deal with many of the key issues in that lesson. You can also look into our tracts, and you will find the article entitled “The Case for the White Supremacy Origin of Serpent Seed.” And in that, we share key information to help piece that together.
And let me assure you, I am formerly the associate pastor of the second oldest message church. My friends and my family and my acquaintances were in the message from the early days. They were in the message when there was only a couple thousand message believers in the whole world. And everyone knew everyone. And I have heard these things from the mouths of the people who were in the private meetings with William Branham, when he told them the secrets. And he told the secrets to plenty of people. And be assured, serpent seed is a racist doctrine, used by William Branham to explain that white people were descended from Adam, but non-white people were descended from the serpent.
That is precisely what William Branham taught privately. And it is also in at least one of his public recordings. And that is something he learned from Roy Davis’s church – the leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Not angels, not the Holy Spirit, not the scripture. William Branham learned the so-called revelation of serpent seed from demons, because it is a doctrine of demons.
Fathers by Biology vs. Fathers by Faith
And as we examine this passage of scripture today, we are not going to talk at length about serpent seed; you can go to those other resources I have already mentioned. But I want you to see the way Jesus talks about the fathers. And I want you to notice the way Jesus uses that word father – and specifically notice that he is not using it in a way to mean biological fathers.
His use of the word father has a different meaning. And before we examine these verses in detail, let me first point out the verses to help you see this clearly. First look at verse 33. The crowd says:
33 …, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Now notice how Jesus replies in verse 37. He says:
37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham….
He knows they are the offspring of Abraham. In a genealogical sense and a biological sense, they are the children of Abraham. They are the offspring of Abraham. There is no dispute there at all; Jesus agrees with the crowd. They are indeed Abraham’s children; he is their father – in terms of human biology.
But Jesus is not talking about human biology when he uses the word father here. Look at verse 38:
38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
They do what they heard from their father. Now, he just said in verse 37 that Abraham was their father, biologically. But here in verse 38, Jesus is talking about a different father. Let me continue reading this, and see how this goes.
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,
Now, here we have a conflict. In verse 37, Jesus said they were Abraham’s offspring. But here in verse 39, he says they are not Abraham’s children. Do you notice that? These people are Abraham’s offspring, but they are not his children. They are both his children, but not his children – at the same time.
And that might seem a little confusing. But Jesus actually explains what he means right here in verse 39. So there is the concept, and I hope you catch it. They are indeed Abraham’s biological offspring. But they are not doing the works of Abraham. They are biological children. But they are not behaving like Abraham.
The Apostle Paul actually explains this at length in the book of Romans, chapter 4. Abraham believed God, and it was righteousness to him. That is the work that Abraham did – he had faith in God. Abraham is called the father of the faithful. And so, these people are biologically children of Abraham, but they are not children of his faith.
Jesus is drawing a line here. And he is not talking children by biological means. He is talking about children by faith. They share Abraham’s biological DNA. But they do not share Abraham’s spiritual faith. And what matters here is not their DNA. It’s not their biological father. What matters is that they share Abraham’s faith and works.
The Source and Origin of Faith
Now the reason I am belaboring this point, is because I want you to see that when Jesus says – you are of your father – he is talking about something spiritual, he is saying, you do not share the faith of your father. They do share the DNA of their father. But they do not share his faith.
Jesus is using father not in the biological sense, but as the source of an idea, or the founder of a school of thought. And it is a very common way to talk about those things. Euclid is the father of geometry. Galileo is the father of physics. Here in America, we call the men who founded our country the founding fathers. There are many examples like that, I think we are all familiar with. We call people fathers, not because they are biologically our fathers – but because they are the source or the origin of certain things. And Abraham is the father of the faith. He is the source and the origin of faith in God.
If we went way, way, way back in time, after Noah had died, when everyone was still living in Babylon. When people began to spread over the whole world. There was one man who had faith in God. And it was from that one man, from his family, that faith in God continued. That man was Abraham. His faith, his life, his way of trusting God – that was a pattern that people followed.
And anyone who shares the faith of Abraham is a child of Abraham. Not biologically, but in the same sense that George Washington is our founding father, here in America. I am not George Washington’s biological family. But I am part of a nation of people, where he was the founding father of the nation.
Abraham is the founding father of the nation of faith. And being part of Abraham’s family of faith is about following in his footsteps. And it is possible to be biologically Abraham’s child, but not follow in the footsteps of his faith. And that is what Jesus is confronting here, with this crowd.
And once again, I am pointing all this out to you – because I want you to understand that when someone says they are of their father the devil. Or that they are of the wicked one. Or any such things as that – it does not necessarily mean biological children. And here with Jesus, beyond all doubt, he is not talking about biological children in this sense. He is talking about fatherhood in the sense of a father of a school of thought.
Children of the Devil
Let me read it again.
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,
So right there we have it plain. Verse 40:
40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
As I read the rest of the passage to you, we see that Jesus has spoken very hard words to this crowd. He told them their father is the devil. But his basis for saying that is not biological. Because, remember again back in verse 37 – he said they were Abraham’s offspring. So that is not the focus.
The focus is on their works, on their lives, on their faith. Jesus is telling them the word of God, and they reject it. But Abraham believed the word of God. So in that way, they are not Abraham’s children. They are children of his biology. But not children of his faith.
And the same is true of the devil. They are not children of the devil’s biology – we don’t even know that the devil has biology. The devil is not flesh and blood like you and I – the devil is a fallen angel – and they are spirits. But anyone who follows the devil’s ways – they are his children.
If you follow the ways of Euclid – you are a child of Euclid – the father of geometry. If you follow the ways of George Washington – you are a child of George Washington – the founding father. If you follow the ways of Abraham – you are a child of Abraham. And if you follow the ways of the devil – you are a child of the devil.
Jesus is talking about what they are doing, when he points out their fathers. Let me go over it one more time. Verse 40:
40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. But they are refusing to believe God. It’s not what Abraham did.
The Inability to Bear the Truth
Verse 41:
41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
Jesus has been having a conflict with this crowd of people day after day after day. All of these lessons here in chapter 8, and all in chapter 7, and all the ones we will have in chapter 9. All of these things are happening over the space of about one week. This is a nonstop day in and day out dispute these people are having with Jesus. And they refuse to accept his words, because they cannot bear it. It’s too much for them.
You know what it is to not be able to bear something. You just can’t take it. You just have to get away from it. It is pushing your buttons, it’s taking you beyond the limit of what you can handle. And you are going to crack up if you don’t remove the pressure. They cannot bear the words of Jesus. It is breaking them, it’s too much pressure.
It is collapsing their ideas, their self-image. It turns out they are not as holy and clean as they thought they were. It turns out they have some ideas that were dead wrong. And there is a big cost, and big price for them to acknowledge the truth. They risk being thrown out of the synagogue. They risk being shunned by their community. They put their natural well-being at risk. It’s too challenging, it’s too painful, it’s just too much. They cannot bear it.
43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
You and I know it’s true, we have seen it, we have experienced it. There are people who just can’t bear to hear the truth. They would sooner stop up their ears and gnash with their teeth and stone you to death, than to hear the truth. And it’s not because we are wrong or mistaken – but it is because what we are saying is more than they can bear. It breaks up their world, it breaks up their identity. It turns out they are not the holy special people they thought they were. And their hearts are too proud to admit the truth. So they choose lies. Just like this group of people did.
Confronting the Lies of the Message
Verse 44:
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Brothers and sisters – the cloud over Arizona on February 28, 1963, was not made by angels. It was made by a rocket. That is the truth – to say otherwise is to lie. William Branham was not out hunting that day – he was working on a situation in Houston, Texas. That is the truth – to say otherwise is to lie. And he never met angels that day, and he was not given a special message, or a special revelation from them – he actually got his so-called special revelation from his library books. That is the truth – to say otherwise is to lie.
And very sadly, that is what the message is – the message is a lie. There is no message. The Lord did not descend from heaven with a shout. There was no special revelation to a man named William Branham about the seals. There were no angels meeting him in the sky. It’s all a lie. And the truth is more than many people can bear. They just can’t bear it.
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
Jesus told the crowd the truth. He demonstrated it as fully as was possible at the time. And they refused to believe him. Because they are wicked, and they love lies more than the truth.
Deliverance and Hope
But let me remind you what Jesus said – he said when the Son of Man is lifted up, then you will know that I am he. There is still hope – there is always hope. People can open their eyes to the truth. And all it takes, is to look to Jesus, to call on him. That is all it takes.
I want to say something before I close here. The message is a religion of sin. Because it is built on lies. To preach the message is to be a liar. To believe the message is to be sinners like this crowd of people Jesus is speaking to, are sinners. It is a very serious thing. And that truth can be incredibly hard to bear. In fact, most people from the message cannot bear it. But some of us, we have went through the pain of bearing the truth.
But here is what I want to tell you. Jesus has come to forgive you of your sins. Jesus has come to forgive you of the sin of believing in a false religion. He has come to forgive you of the sin of preaching a false religion. He has come to forgive you of all the sins you committed in the name of that false religion. And it’s very hard, very hard for many people to come to grips with. But being in the message made people horrible sinners.
Believing lies, and going along with lies. That makes you children of the devil. It is everything Jesus is talking about right here. It’s awful. And for people who really love God, people who really wanted to do the best to serve God – realizing you were actually behaving like a child of the devil is a very hard thing to bear.
But that is the truth. When you were in the message – you were behaving like children of the devil. You loved lies.
But Jesus has come to deliver us. And the truth is, we needed deliverance. And in Jesus, all those sins are washed away. In Jesus, we can leave all of that behind, and we can be set free. And we can learn the lessons, and we can never go down those dark roads again. And we can be a light to others who are walking this same path.
So let me end with that encouragement. Both for us who have already found that true hope in Jesus. But also for our friends who have not been able to escape the message yet. Jesus forgives, and Jesus saves. It was a very sad and tragic thing to learn that William Branham was a false prophet. But there is good news – Jesus is still a real savior. Amen.
Let me close here in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your truth that sets us free. Thank You for Your patience and mercy toward us, even when we walked in error and believed what was false. Lord, keep us abiding in Your Word. Guard our hearts from deception, and give us courage to love the truth, even when it is hard to bear. We pray for those still bound by falsehood and confusion. Open their eyes, soften their hearts, and draw them to the freedom that is found only in Your Son. Thank You that in Jesus there is forgiveness, cleansing, and a new beginning. Help us to walk as children of truth and light, and to point others to the hope that is found in Christ alone. We ask these things in the name of Jesus, Amen.