Read Matthew 3:1-12 + John 8:31-47 Abe is Our Dad!

The Israelites found their worth in their ancestors. Thought they were entitled because of what ran through their blood. They forgot that sin also runs through them and that blood needs to be shed for all people, including them. They didn’t understand what God had promised Abraham when they looked up at the night sky. The Pharisees and Sadducees thought they were those promised descendants who were going to be great. John the Baptist warns them to repent, but it seems that they didn’t listen.

When Jesus encounters them in John’s Gospel, they still are holding fast to the claim that they are Abraham’s descendants and inheritors of the freedom God promised. Jesus counters their claims by saying, “If you are Abraham’s children, then you would do what Abraham did.” Abraham believed in God’s words and trusted in his promises, but the Pharisees and Sadducees changed God’s Word and trusted in themselves. They claimed to be masters of the Scriptures and yet they tried to kill the one promised by God to save them.

They and us are truly slaves to sin. We cannot help but sin, even when we try our hardest to avoid it. Like Jesus says, on our own we don’t have a permanent place in the family. But how sweet the truth is that Jesus gives! The Son has set us free and we are free indeed. Jesus was speaking the truth of the gospel to these men, but they were blinded by their sin. They would not accept Jesus or his word. They were more concerned about the status they had achieved.

They boasted that their only God is the Father, but inwardly they knew they had an idol in themselves. A work righteous lifestyle does that by making them look down at others who haven’t accomplished as much. But Christ doesn’t let them bask in the glory of their deeds. If they sinned but once, they are slaves to sin! Jesus’ words are intended to make them uncomfortable because the foundation of their belief is crumbling.

Yes, Abraham was their father, their famous ancestor, but that is all he was. They were not a spiritual child of Abraham because they did not trust the promise. We may not have Abraham’s blood running through us, but we have Christ’s blood, which cleanses us from all sin and makes us a child of Abraham.