“YOU ARE NOT OF GOD!”

 John 8:39-47                                         (ESV)

“39 They (the Pharisees) 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.

46 Which one of you convicts ME of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe ME?

47 WHOEVER IS OF GOD HEARS THE WORDS OF GOD. The reason why you do not hear them is that “YOU ARE NOT OF GOD”."”

FRUSTRATING!!!  Trying to explain to someone TRUTH when the ability to select precisely the WORD that they need to hear can be a trying time.  When my Brain Hemorrhaged, the portion of my brain that was affected was the word recall portion.  Finding the words that I am looking to use can be almost maddening sometimes, and I probably don’t handle it as well as I need to.  

JESUS, GOD IN FLESH, was trying to explain to the Pharisees, the hierarchy of the earthly Jewish faith, that they were of their father the devil, and that was very offensive to them.  The problem was these Pharisees, even though their ancestry was through Abraham, they had NOT been CHOSEN before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), so they had NO IDEA what JESUS was speaking about.  Even with JESUS witnessing to them, they could not have their EYES opened!

When people are unable to SEE TRUTH, it may not be because they are “bad people”, they may not have been CHOSEN before the foundation of the world?  GOD still has a PLAN for them to REJECT HIM, so we cannot just allow them to go to hell without knowing their fate.  They may persecute us, or even kill us (Matthew 24:9), but our calling is to reflect HIS LOVE to a lost and dying world!

Now we can’t know who is apart of “YOU ARE NOT OF GOD”, so we need to follow HIS leadership, just like the Children of Israel followed THE CLOUD on there journey to the Promised Land.  We might not be a Billy Graham sharing with millions of people, but wherever GOD leads us we should be reflecting HIS LIGHT on those in our midst!  There are some who will ridicule and mock us, but they must be a part of the “YOU ARE NOT OF GOD” crowd!  Praise GOD, we won’t ever have to hear “YOU ARE NOT OF GOD”!!!