The Jewish leaders
believed Jesus had a devil. They thought the devil inside Jesus made Him say
the things He was saying, things completely absurd to their beliefs, to the
truth as they had distorted it. Their
minds were so completely shrouded in darkness that the light of truth couldn't
penetrate it. They didn't want truth! They truly did NOT want truth. They
wanted only that which would support their desired life. They were perfectly
content upholding lies as long as they'd coated them thickly in truth to hide
the lie. Lie mingled truth is just another deception because that lie
overshadows and overwhelms the truth every time. You can't point to the little
bit of poison mingled in the perfect glass of water, it's seeped in to poison
it all. The lie remains a lie, the truth
remains the truth. If you live with even a little bit of a lie, you are living
in deception. These Jewish leaders
didn't want their lives disrupted. They were perfectly content to be the
leaders of the people allowing them to serve God as they taught them. They
didn't want their deception unveiled.
Jesus came and brought TRUTH with Him and they refused that truth,
preferring to believe that Jesus had a devil in Him. Preferring the One who was
doing miracles such as never before seen in all of history, be miracle working
by the devil rather than God. He had to have a devil and that devil was doing
miracles in order to deceive people.
You do realize that THIS is something the devil does. So they weren't
totally lunatic in claiming Jesus had a devil- it was something they could
convince themselves of. However, Jesus
was revealing their hearts to them. Jesus was ripping away their self-deception
and allowing them to glimpse their sin stained selves. They didn't want to see!
They didn't want their truth known! They didn't want to give in to the truth
which would topple their lives as a fallen house of cards. They knew they were fabricating lies about
Jesus to keep Him from revealing lies about themselves.
Joh 8:54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour
is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your
God:
Joh 8:55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him:
and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I
know him, and keep his saying.
Jesus told them that
only the honor of the Father mattered to Him. Jesus plainly revealed that they
did NOT know the Father. Jesus KNEW the Father and would NOT lie and say He did
NOT know the Father. Jesus told them directly that He KEEPS the sayings of the
FATHER. And He went on to further say...
Joh 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day:
and he saw it, and was glad.
The father they
claimed, their ancestor Abraham REJOICED to see the day of Jesus, and when He
saw it, He was GLAD.
How could Jesus say
such a thing?
Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go
out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and
he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth.
Abraham saw the
promises afar off, and believed them, embraced them.
Gen 18:2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo,
three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent
door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
Gen 18:17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham
that thing which I do;
Gen 18:18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a
great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in
him?
Gen 18:19 For I know him, that he will command his
children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD,
to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he
hath spoken of him.
Gen 18:20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom
and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
Gen 18:21 I will go down now, and see whether they have
done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not,
I will know.
Gen 18:22 And the men turned their faces from thence,
and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
Of those three men
that Abraham bowed to, One was the LORD Himself. He talked with Abraham about
what was going to happen to Sodom and Gomorrah. The LORD was with Abraham, most
assuredly He knew of the promise of Him in the future.
Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered
up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten
son,
Heb 11:18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy
seed be called:
Heb 11:19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up,
even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Abraham comprehended
that what He'd been asked to do was a figure of a future event.
The Messiah, the
coming Messiah was NOT a concept lost on the Jewish leadership of that day,
they KNEW there was a promised MESSIAH. They STILL know there is a promised
MESSIAH and they still refuse to believe it was fulfilled in JESUS CHRIST OUR
LORD. The were expecting and hoping for
a Messiah and yet were too blind to comprehend the truth of the Messiah before
them. They had their own CHERISH ideas of how their Messiah would appear and
what He would do and Jesus did NOT fit their cherished idea. How many today have CHERISHED ideas of
things, refusing to see the truth because they are too caught up in the lies
they've surrounded themselves with?
According to the
word of prophecy, the word of Jesus Himself, many are caught up in their
cherished deceptions and are going to cry out to Him telling Him they know Him
but all He'll be able to reply is for them to get away from Him, He never knew
them.
How horrific that
day will be for so many who like the Jewish leadership of Christ's day refused
to see the Messiah, to know the Messiah when He was right there in front of
them.
Joh 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet
fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
Joh 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
If the Jews believed
their own history of Abraham then they had to believe the LORD spoke with
Abraham. However they refused to believe that Jesus was the same LORD, now in
flesh sent to earth to be the Messiah, the Savior, as God's only BEGOTTEN Son.
The only one worthy to pay the price for all mankind, for no mere human being
could ever pay the price necessary to redeem mankind.
What did the Jewish
leadership do…?
Joh 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but
Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them,
and so passed by.
They wanted to kill
Jesus, but miraculously He who had been in plain view speaking to them in truth
was hid from them. It wasn't time for Him to die, and not in that manner.
Satan was alive and
well and ruling the Jewish leadership of Jesus' day. That same leadership was accusing Jesus of
having a devil.
We've talked these
last several days about Satan and his evil angels, about the reality of them.
We know they exist and not in some make believe story or television show, or
movie. They are REAL. And in the last
days they are going to appear as angels of light, as ministers of
righteousness.
2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his
ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end
shall be according to their works.
TRUTH.
Those supposed to be
closest to God in the day of Jesus upon earth were in fact ministers of
Satan. Today it will be the same. Those who appear closest to God, whole
churches that claim to have God as their redeemer will be farthest from
Him. We HAVE to ask ourselves if we are
following GOD'S WORD in all things or just picking out the bits we like and
forming a whole religious experience around that.
People discard the
fact that the saints will be those who KEEP the COMMANDMENTS of GOD and have
the TESTIMONY of JESUS. They discard it by telling themselves they are doing
that when in truth they've completely neglected BIBLICAL truth and the ability
to find out what day is the Sabbath Day that God has commanded they keep.
They've told themselves it doesn't matter as long as they choose one day in
seven. They've told themselves it was changed from Saturday to Sunday by Jesus'
resurrection yet NO WHERE is that claim made in the Bible, NO WHERE. They pacify themselves with believing that
the majority couldn't be wrong in keeping it Sunday their sabbath for thousands
of years. They REFUSE TO SEE! They refuse to see. And in their refusal is their
rejection of truth and in their rejection of truth is their rejection of Jesus
and in their rejection of Jesus is their not being known by Him, not now, not
ever, and they will be among those that cry out about ALL the good things they
did in His name, sincerely crying out saying they did this, they did that, they
gave everything and still He cannot say He knows them because all they did was
for another savior, a disguised savior, Satan pretending to be an angel of
light. They refused TRUTH preferring
their lies to the TRUTH.
GOD HELP US! PLEASE
HELP US PREFER YOUR TRUTH ABOVE ALL ELSE! We know that the deception is going
to be so great that all but the very elect will be deceived! Please we don't
want to be among the deceived! Please, LORD, please save US! Keep us from EVIL!
All in YOUR GLORIOUS
NAME! All in YOUR LOVE!
THANK YOU!
AMEN.
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